Patricia Ringold, MS, LPCC-S, NBCC

Clinical Therapist

As a clinician, I highly respect the courage and honesty that my clients bring to the counseling relationship.  It is an honor for me to engage with others in this work of moving closer to being the person we wish to be.  In my years of practice, I have come to hold firmly the belief that we all have the capacity to progress and grow. While I hold great admiration for those who are doing the best they can in their situation, I welcome people to my office so that they can transcend their current experience and have a more fulfilling and enjoyable life.      

Relationships are a key to healing.  Each of us requires community and connection for any change to occur; this is why our brains and bodies are designed for interaction with others.  When we can feel a level of safety within our relationships, we create a framework in which we can move forward.  Being supported in recognizing and evaluating our own patterns allows us to either continue or change our directions.  This is why I strive to create an environment of safety and respect in the therapeutic relationship.  I consider this relationship to be a sacred partnership, in which we each bring our own strengths.  The person with whom I’m working is always the expert on their own history as well as their desires for their future directions. They choose priorities and agendas.  My part within the relationship is to bring my education and experience to facilitate the healing process.   

Sometimes people arrive at counseling with the thought that something is wrong with them or that they are somehow broken.  There is a line in a Leonard Cohen song which goes, “There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in.” I appreciate this observation because it helps point me toward re-examining and re-assessing major life experiences which once held us back but can now serve as a point from which we grow anew.  Within the safety and partnership of the counseling relationship we can engage in reflection, reassembly and healing.  We rarely have space for these vital activities in our daily, often frantic, lives, and counseling allows the space for them.   

Clinical Experience
After completing more than 20 years in the world of business, I returned to school and received my training as a counselor.  In the 25 years since, I have worked in private agencies, community agencies, agencies serving homeless persons, on military bases, and in residential treatment programs for substance use.  I have worked with people ranging in age from two years old to about 80.  Having been certified as an EMDR therapist, my current work focus is often in areas which involve trauma history.  I began with a generalist background and over time have continued to work with clients who struggle with anxiety, depression, substance use, and/or major life transitions. 

Some of my most rewarding experiences have included serving those who were displaced after the Katrina and Rita storms.  I spent four months supporting those who were in temporary shelters by locating family and making plans for their next steps. We also grieved together for their many losses.  I also appreciated working with military families on various posts within and outside the US.  I learned much about the commitment of our individual military service persons.  My respect for them increased as a result.  For a time, I worked with an agency specializing in housing and supporting those who were homeless.  During my time there I witnessed people who once could not care for themselves progress to where they began volunteering and supporting others in moving toward self-sufficiency.  Here more than anywhere else, I learned the importance of ongoing community and relationship from these heroic individuals. 

Preferred Modalities:

Attachment Assessment
Brainspotting
EMDR
HeartMath
Internal Family Systems
Somatic Experiencing