JULIE MULLINS, MA, LPC, NCC, CCTP-II, ADHD-CCSP

I am an experienced trauma counselor dedicated to helping individuals and families process and move forward integrating experience in healthy ways. I am also experienced in working with clients struggling with anxiety, depression, other mood, and attention issues.

Why Orange Therapy? Early in my counseling career I had a client in front of me who couldn't concentrate. It turns out they were hungry and I offered them an orange. It was about meeting the client where they were. Meeting a need and helping them to their next step. My supervisor said "you were doing Orange Therapy" we laughed but in my mind that day Orange Therapy LLC was born. 

Each client before me has a different need. My job is to help each client move to the next step using empirically proven tools and methods. I will help you find your orange. 

You can only make the best decisions if you have enough information and understanding of how psychotherapy works. Let me discuss some aspects of psychotherapy as I see it. I embrace an integrative approach to counseling. In other words, my style is a combination of many techniques, some of which include cognitive and somatic approaches, dialectical behavior therapy, emotional freedom tapping technique, solution focused, rational emotive therapy, short-term psychodynamic therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and others.

Therapy can be a large commitment of time, money, and energy, so a counselor should be carefully chosen. I strongly believe - and the science agrees - you should be comfortable, encouraged, and optimistic with the counselor you chose in order for therapy to be effective.

You have the right to ask me about other treatments for your condition and the risks and benefits. If you could benefit from any treatments I know about that I cannot provide I have an ethical obligation to assist you in obtaining those treatments – including referrals for medication.

Psychotherapy is not like visiting a medical doctor in that it requires your very active involvement and efforts to change your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I will ask for your feedback and views on your therapy, the efforts and progress we are making, and other aspects; and I will expect you to be open about these. Offering your views and responses when they are important to you even if I don’t ask is one of the ways you can be an active partner in your therapy. There are no instant, painless, or passive cures, no magic pills. Instead, there may be homework assignments, exercises, practice sessions, and record-keeping, and perhaps other projects. Probably you will have to work on relationships and make long-term efforts. Change will sometimes be easy and swift, but more often it will be slow and frustrating with a need for repetition. I may also at times suggest you reach out to another care giver for the possible addition of medication and medication management.

I do see this therapeutic discourse as a collaborative process.

Periodically, together we can evaluate our goals, and if necessary, design a treatment plan, goals and methods.

As with any powerful treatment, there are both benefits and risks associated with psychotherapy. Risks might include experiencing uncomfortable levels of feelings like sadness, guilt, anxiety, and anger. Difficulties with people important to you may occur; family secrets may be disclosed; and despite our best efforts, therapy may not work out well.

Despite this, you should know that psychotherapy has been repeatedly scientifically demonstrated to be of benefit for most people and in most situations. Benefits might include lifting of a depression or no longer feeling afraid or angry or anxious. You will have the opportunity to “talk things out” fully and completely until you are satisfied. Relationships and skills may improve dramatically. You may be better able to cope with social or family relationships, and so receive more satisfaction from them. You may better understand your personal goals and values and thus grow as a person and become more mature.

I do not take on clients whom, in my professional opinion, I cannot help using the techniques I have available. I will, therefore, enter our relationship with optimism and an eagerness to work with you, and if you need an orange...provide you with an orange.