HELLO!

Since finding my way into the world of behavioral health I've spent my career working through one question: what happens when a nervous system doesn't take in the world the way everyone else's seems to?

After completing my MS in Clinical and Community Counseling at the Johns Hopkins School of Education in 2013, I've worked with children, adults, and couples navigating anxiety, attention and impulse differences, sensory sensitivity, and the life transitions that tend to overwhelm a system already running near capacity.

Prior to becoming an LCPC I worked in the  competitive equine industry (Hang in there, I promise this is relevant). My time working with horses and their riders turned out to be more pertinent to future me than I expected. You cannot talk a horse out of being in their big feelings. You learn to read what their body is doing before anything has been said. You have to be in control of your own body and mind before you can help this massive prey animal be in control of theirs. And you have to do all of this while staying patient and knowing that what works in this moment may not work again, the process isn't always fluid.

That is most of what I still do today, just with a different species! I'm trained in various forms of cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, expressive behavioral approaches and certified in emotionally focused therapy for couples. Though, technique only carries so far. Change starts in the relationship, you have to trust me enough to move toward the uncomfortable stuff and that trust gets earned with time and patience.

Kendra Benesch, MS, LCPC