William Heard (he/him)

I received specialty training for PTSD in cognitive processing therapy as part of my internship with a VA medical center. As part of that training I had the pleasure of working with multiple veterans whose PTSD was attributed to their service, to a health issue, and to childhood trauma. Since internship, I have continued to receive specialized training in trauma treatment and recently completed the Trauma Research Foundation's Certificate Program in Traumatic Stress Studies via PESI.

As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I have first hand experience dealing with some of the unique difficulties that come with membership of being in a marginalized community. I am currently completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Freelife Behavioral Health and am focusing my clinical work on members of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

My training in grief started as a volunteer for a local hospice center and was continued throughout my training as a doctoral student. I have had the opportunity to work with patients who experienced anticipatory grief related to receiving a terminal diagnosis (cancer), complicated grief of loved ones, and grieving spouses of loved ones who died suddenly and those who died as part of a prolonged medical diagnosis.

I typically utilize CBT in therapy with patients as I find it is a great tool to help identify thought patterns that make the world a more depressing/anxiety provoking place so that we can challenge and change them together. Changing the way we think about ourselves and the world around us does wonders to our mental health and it is often a very eye opening experience to see how mean or down right unrealistic our thoughts about ourselves and the people we engage with are.