LPC-Associate, Supervised by Adriana Velazquez Sanders, LPC-S

Specialities

Kayla is deeply passionate about helping individuals navigate depression and anxiety, along with the many challenges that often accompany them. Such as suicidal thoughts, self-harm, panic, excessive worry, low self-esteem, and struggles with self-worth. She understands how overwhelming these experiences can be and works to ensure clients feel understood, supported, and not alone. She provides support for those struggling with feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or just tired of carrying so much on their own , while offering a space that is compassionate, nonjudgmental, and grounded in genuine care. Her priority is to create a space where you feel safe, understood, and able to show up exactly as you are.

Kayla believes therapy can be more than just talking. It can be an active, creative, and a meaningful experience tailored to you and your needs. She incorporates hands-on exercises, visual tools, expressive arts, and creative coping skills to help clients process emotions in ways that feel engaging and accessible.

Her work often focuses on building emotional regulation skills, distress tolerance, and personalized coping strategies. Kayla takes an individualized, collaborative approach to therapy, using “outside-the-box” techniques to support healing, self-understanding, and lasting change.

Whether it’s developing customized tools, creating visual reminders, or building something tangible together in session, Kayla helps clients apply what they learn in therapy to their daily lives.

Above all, Kayla is committed to creating a warm, inviting space where clients feel safe to be themselves, including the parts that feel overwhelming or hard to talk about.

Experience

Kayla’s experience includes working in higher levels of care, such as Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient (IOP), where she supported individuals through acute distress, crisis, and some of their most challenging moments. This background allows her to meet clients where they are, whether they’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or simply looking for support and direction.

In her work, Kayla draws from evidence-based approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and expressive arts, and is trauma-informed in her care. She is also currently expanding her knowledge through training in Internal Family Systems (IFS), continuing to grow in ways that best support her clients.

Kayla’s personal journey with mental health plays an important role in how she shows up as a therapist. She brings a genuine sense of empathy, understanding, and compassion into the room, creating a space where clients feel seen, supported, and not alone in what they’re going through.

She works with adults of all ages and has experience supporting concerns such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and trauma. Kayla is especially passionate about helping clients build self-esteem, reconnect with their sense of worth, and move toward a life that feels more meaningful and fulfilling.

Education

Kayla holds a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of North Texas (2023) and a Bachelors in Psychology from Stephen F. Austin State University (2020). Kayla was granted her Licensed Professional Counselor-Associate in February of 2024. She is in the final stage of completing her hours in pursuit of independent licensure and is currently under the licensure and supervision of Adriana Velazquez Sanders, LPC-Supervisor.