Katie Barillas (she/her)

The relationships that shape us most are often the ones that hurt us most. I work with clients navigating family estrangement, enmeshment, people-pleasing patterns, and the exhausting work of unlearning what love was supposed to look like. Many of my clients have spent their lives being who everyone else needed them to be. Therapy is often the first place they get to figure out what they actually need.

Many of my clients come to me in the middle of deconstruction, questioning beliefs they were raised in, grieving the community or identity they built around faith, and trying to figure out who they are on the other side. I specialize in religious trauma and spiritual abuse, and I work with people across the full spectrum: those leaving high-control religions, those rebuilding a spiritual life on their own terms, and those who just need someone who won't flinch at their story.

Affirming care means all of you gets to show up. All identities, all relationship structures, no exceptions. Many of my LGBTQ+ clients are also navigating religious trauma, family rejection, or the long process of untangling their identity from systems that told them who they were allowed to be. This intersection is one I know well and take seriously. You don't have to minimize any part of yourself here.

EMDR is one of the most effective trauma treatments available and my primary clinical tool. It works by helping the brain reprocess stuck memories so they lose their charge and stop running the show. I use EMDR with clients carrying complex trauma, religious trauma, and deeply held beliefs about themselves that logic alone hasn't been able to touch. We get to the root, not just the symptoms.

How we learned to connect with others early in life shapes everything, how we show up in relationships, how we handle conflict, how much we trust ourselves and other people. I use attachment theory to help clients understand why they relate the way they do and start building relationships that feel safe rather than just familiar. A lot of my clients have never experienced a truly secure relationship. We work toward that.

CBT helps us look at the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and start to notice where the patterns aren't serving you anymore. I use CBT to help clients identify the stories they've been telling themselves, often for decades, and start to question whether those stories are actually true. It's practical, collaborative, and gives you real tools to use outside of session.