I work with individuals, couples, and families from diverse and various backgrounds and relish the opportunity to help clients overcome the challenges that hinder them from experiencing self-acceptance, functional and fulfilling relationships, and improved quality of life.
Lauren Pulido - CPC Student Therapist
Life is full of adventures and good times, but there are also times in life when things get hard and life is complicated. I want to hear about both sides from my clients and encourage them to meet their goals, as well as be a pillar of support when life is challenging. Sometimes the first step to wellness is reaching out and asking for help and slowly working towards a goal of coping strategies for mental and emotional well-being.
It can be nerve wracking asking for help and thinking about the unknown, but there is no shame or judgment in seeking services. I want to help others through their journey of healing. No one should have to face their problems alone. I want to work with adults, adolescents, and youth who struggle with anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues, and stress. I am also interested in exploring the fear and anxiety surrounding death and meaninglessness, for there are many forms of death and a major part of the human experience is making meaning in our lives.
Breaking Down Therapist Titles: MFTs, CPCs, CADCs, CSWs
Explainer: Therapists at Red Rock Counseling
Carrah Jones - MFT Intern
Carrah works with individuals, couples, and families using an empathetic and client focused approach to therapy. Carrah believes that all individuals have the ability to understand and regulate their emotions once given the tools to do so. She places a strong emphasis on collaboration with the client to find solutions and provide support in improving overall quality of life. Carrah earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Nevada State College and is in the process of obtaining her master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from Touro University.
Andrea Salazar- MFT Student Therapist
Growing up in a big family, Andrea is driven by her passion for interpersonal relationships. Through her upbringing, she has gained the ability to understand differences in human connections and societal cultures. Her socially adept and empathetic nature has led to her determination to pursue a field that provides service to others. Andrea believes that she can achieve this by sharing her knowledge in mental health and wellness. Andrea creates a safe environment for each client to explore emotions and learn how to regulate them. By identifying each client’s goals, she is able to formulate coping strategies as a guide to a fulfilling and purposeful life. Andrea’s approach embodies open communication, transparency, and non-judgment. She aspires to assist clients towards finding balance and purpose in their multifaceted lives by implementing accountability, goal-setting, progress monitoring, and sustainable healthy habits.
Neeka Wittern- MFT Student Therapist
Neeka Wittern - MFT Student Therapist
Neeka Wittern is a graduate student at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas in the MS Couples and Family Therapy program. She is also currently working on becoming certified in Sex Therapy with AASECT. She is trained to work with individuals, couples, and families from various backgrounds and help guide them through any challenges, trauma, or unexpected life changes. She especially has a passion for working with sex workers, LGBTQ+, multicultural couples/families, sexual issues and trauma.
She takes an evidence-based approach that combines well researched interventions from Internal Family Systems, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy models to help clients grow and navigate life. She views clients as the expert of their own lives, and has a trauma informed approach. This provides clients with a safe and comfortable environment to express themselves freely, without any fear or judgement. Neeka personally understands the grave importance of a strong and healthy therapeutic bond between clients and therapists. She hopes to create a space where clients feel they are always cared for and deserving.
Neeka believes that clients have everything that they need to make positive changes in their lives within themselves. She focuses on finding Self-energy and establishing reachable goals with her clients. These goals are created to be maintained, even after clients have graduated from attending therapy sessions. Neeka's practice is open and affirming to all people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, socio-economic status, religious or political beliefs, and/or alternative forms of sexual expression and lifestyle.
Fostering Mind-Body Connections in the New Year
What's the Difference? Student Therapists & State Interns
JoLae Brandt-Shaprio - MFT Student Therapist
JoLae has always been passionate about helping people achieve their highest potential. She utilizes a creative, holistic approach to meet individuals, couples, and families where they are in life, addressing symptoms and relational conflict systemically. She values the client’s experience and the unique perspective they bring to their relationships. Providing a safe space, free of judgment, JoLae encourages others to find and express their authentic selves. In this space, she believes in exploring the positive intent behind all behavior and the underlying desire for connection in families and intimate relationships.
Christine Ramos - MFT Student Therapist
Christine’s work is dedicated to helping individuals, couples, and families achieve meaningful change that may allow for deeper and more satisfying connections. Through the therapeutic framework offered in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), the goal is to develop a stronger sense of self as well as safe and secure attachments both in and outside the therapeutic room. In this manner, the troublesome issues that may have been previously challenging to discuss may be safely explored and addressed. Her 23 years of bringing healing in the medical field has enhanced her passion for understanding the essence of the mind-body connection and the important contribution that the family brings into resilience and recovery. This has been her constant inspiration to further her studies. She is in her final year at NCU as a graduate student in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program.
Jordan Grassé - CPC Intern
Jordan is excited to work with individuals, couples and families. Her focus is on clients who need a boost in working through their daily stressors, anxiety and depressive feelings they might be having. With her creative approach, she will approach the counseling relationship allowing the client to become comfortable with their own creative side. Doing so will give the client a different perspective on the healing process and different interventions to use outside of the office.
How to Free Yourself From Chronic Pain (Even If It Seems Like It Will Never Get Better)
Pain demands your attention, it demands an explanation, and it demands a response.
If you’ve been dealing with chronic pain for any length of time, then you know this all too well. You also know that the attention pain demands can be exhausting, its explanations are rarely satisfying, and treatments are often disappointing.
Though you might feel hopeless at times, you can learn to better manage your pain and live a productive, fulfilling life. It starts with understanding how your relationship with pain influences the pain you experience.
Jessica Gerloff - MFT Student Therapist
Jessica comes from a multi-faceted and diverse background. Traveling around the world throughout her childhood, adolescence and adulthood has culminated in an empathetic and compassionate approach to anyone she meets. As a child of an active-duty military father, she had to move every three years. With every new move, she learned to adapt to situations, cultures, and structured systems to survive. This ability has affected every aspect of her career. As the Director of Social Services for a 180-bed Skilled Nursing Facility, she learned what true advocacy and compassion are. Serving a lower-income socioeconomic caseload introduced her to the many trials and tribulations of not only happiness but survival.
Sarah Runyon - MFT Intern
I am passionate about helping couples, families, and individuals navigate the nuances of life and relationships by fostering a collaborative, safe, and connected therapeutic relationship. If you find yourself feeling trapped in a cycle of conflict with your partner, child, or family member that seems hopeless and never-ending, I can walk along with you on the path to regaining hope, peace, and meaningful connection.
Are you ready? - Lisa Toms M.S., MFT-Intern
People tend to avoid going to therapy. There are lots of possible reasons why; financial concerns, time concerns, not knowing how the process actually works, fear, etc. While I genuinely understand all of the hesitations and reason I also want to explore what is holding you back from living a more authentic life, a more peaceful life, a more fulfilling life.
What Will You Gain When You Lose Diet Culture? - Written by Melanie English
With spring on the horizon, many people recommit to their new year’s resolutions to lose a few pounds to achieve that perfect summer body. For some people, dieting may lead to an unhealthy relationship with food and their body. Prevalence rates of eating disorders are on the rise in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, The National Eating Disorders Association hotline experienced an increase in calls by 70-80%.
What is structural integration? by Daniel Akins
What is structural integration? Basically, I use manual therapy and self-care education to help you find lasting relief from pain and stress. My approach is tailored to your needs and oriented around a process that takes your whole body, and you as a whole person, into consideration. This work is about helping you learn how to find a sense of comfort and ease in your body that’s authentic and sustainable so that you can be more fully yourself, at home in your body, and available for life. After a session, clients often report feeling lighter, taller, with less pain and fewer movement restrictions. With diligence, these feelings can often deepen and sustain over time.
Teletherapy VS In-Person Therapy by Cassandra Rodriguez
There are some disadvantages that should be acknowledged when deciding whether to meet online or in person. One thing that should be considered is the internet; if the connection is slow there may be a lot of buffering and cutting out which could make a session unsuccessful and difficult to follow. Another consideration to be made is that not having that face to face contact can lack nonverbal cues and can make it difficult for people to feel validated or understood. The therapist might also miss cues and could potentially dismiss something that might have more importance than it seems.
