About Bloom Counseling Center
At Bloom Counseling Center, I provide trauma-informed mental health counseling and psychotherapy to help individuals find healing and growth. My goal is to create an environment of safety, understanding, and acceptance. I understand how challenging it can be to work through mental health issues, and I strive to make the healing process easier. I offer individual, couples, and family therapy for a wide range of mental health needs. My services are tailored to each individual, and I take a person-centered approach to mental health care, focusing on the mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing of my clients. I look forward to helping you Bloom!
About Me
Hi everyone,
I'm Allie, the founder/owner of Bloom Counseling Center. Bear with me as I provide important information so you can be assured that I am a certified professional.
Educational background: I received my Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in children and adolescents in June 2022 from Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, I completed an 8-month practicum and 10-month internship with Thompson Child and Family Focus in Charlotte, NC. In this capacity, I have been practicing counseling since January 2021. Additionally, during my time at Northwestern, I contributed to a graduate level textbook by writing a chapter regarding Trauma-Informed Counseling. I hold an associate level license to practice in North Carolina and am actively obtaining all required supervision by a fully licensed clinician per my license. I am certified by the National Board for Certified Counselors.
Work Experience: Although I did not begin to officially practice therapy until January 2021, I have been providing therapeutic services in various positions since March 2019. I began my journey working with at-risk adolescents placed in an emergency shelter due to Child Protective Services involvement. These youth had histories of trauma and displayed behaviors such as substance use, delinquency, risky sexual behaviors, violence, self-harm, and more. My experience working with these teens made me realize that my passion lies in working with this population specifically.
I transitioned from my residential position to begin working as an Intensive-In-home Specialist. In this position, I worked with youth and their families to prevent the youth from being placed out of the home. These cases were acute, with most youth having significant mental health and behavioral challenges.
Currently, I am a Certified Family Centered Treatment practitioner. This service is provided to families in acute crisis and is the highest level of care before being placed in foster care or a residential facility. The youth in these families typically have other systems involvement, such as Social Services or Department of Juvenile Justice. I work with the family and youth to meet the family's identified goal of stabilization or reunification.