Behavioral Health Care & Counseling Services

Camelia Guernsey, LPC-MHSP
Integrative Counseling Coordinator

Licensed Professional Counselor, LN, MHSP

Camelia has been involved with the mental health field for over 15 years. She began exploring this profession in 2006, continuing on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Family Studies from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 2010. While completing her B.A., Camelia interned at the Center on Alcohol, Substance Abuse, and Addiction (CASAA) where Motivational Interviewing (MI) was extensively researched. This experience sparked her interest in therapy, as well as her desire to assist patients from various backgrounds to realize their fullest potential in life through the development of constructive communication, beneficial coping mechanisms, positive change, and healthy relationships with both their family and community.

Camelia completed her master’s degree in Counseling from a CACREP accredited program at UNM in 2013. As a licensed mental health therapist, she has experience in individual, child-centered, family, and group therapy in outpatient, in-home, and residential treatment settings. She works with clients, as an ally, to address concerns related to anxiety, depression, mood instability, life stressors, and traumatic experiences using evidenced based practices. She has completed training in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing. Camelia’s approach to working with patients is strongly rooted in the understanding each person brings a unique set of life experiences to the counseling relationship, therefore it is person-centered, comprehensive, and collaborative in nature.

Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her husband and son, exploring Tennessee’s outdoor amenities, running, cooking, and travel. 

About

My primary goal in working with clients is to build a trusting and transparent relationship where together we can explore the relationship they have with themselves, important people in their lives, and the unique environments they navigate. This means my approach is insight-driven and built on the belief that self-knowledge is an empowering tool needed to create a deeper understanding of patterns, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. In my experience, this process creates space for the brain to consciously make the desired changes.
I offer individual and family sessions where evidenced-based approaches like CBT and CPT are used to explore impactful or traumatic life events, outline desired goals, identify personal strengths used to meet goals and process helpful tools and techniques to change unhelpful patterns that keep humans feeling stuck.
I understand the decision to begin therapy often comes with conflicting emotions and beliefs along with many questions. If therapy is an option you are considering, feel free to reach out and we can schedule a phone consultation or face-to-face session where we can discuss if the approach I use would be a good fit for your needs and goals.

Free 15 minute consultation for first time clients.  Call office @ 865-212-2211 or email: cguernsey@valor-medical.com

Types of Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy stresses the role of thinking in how we feel and what we do. It is based on the belief that thoughts, rather than people or events, cause our negative feelings. The therapist assists the client in identifying, testing the reality of, and correcting dysfunctional beliefs underlying his or her thinking. The therapist then helps the client modify those thoughts and the behaviors that flow from them. CBT is a structured collaboration between therapist and client and often calls for homework assignments. CBT has been clinically proven to help clients in a relatively short amount of time with a wide range of disorders, including depression and anxiety.

Cognitive Processing Therapy

Family Systems
Family Systems therapists view problems within the family as the result not of particular members’ behaviors, but of the family’s group dynamic. The family is seen as a complex system having its own language, roles, rules, beliefs, needs and patterns. The therapist helps each individual member understand how their childhood family operated, their role in that system, and how that experience has shaped their role in the current family. Therapists with the MFT credential are usually trained in Family Systems therapy.

Interpersonal:
IPT is a short-term psychotherapy in which therapist and client identify the issues and problems of interpersonal relationships. They also explore the client’s life history to help recognize problem areas and then work toward ways to rectify them.
There are specific Interpersonal therapies, such as Imago therapy, which focus on intimate relationships.
Interpersonal therapy is not to be confused with transpersonal psychology, which is the study of states in which people experience a deeper sense of who they are, or a sense of greater connectedness with others, nature or spirituality.

Motivational Interviewing
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a method of therapy that works to engage the motivation of clients to change their behavior. Clients are encouraged to explore and confront their ambivalence. Therapists attempt to influence their clients to consider making changes, rather than non-directively explore themselves. Motivational Interviewing is frequently used in cases of problem drinking or mild addictions.

Multicultural
Multicultural awareness is an understanding and sensitivity of the values, experiences, and lifestyles of minority groups. Differences in race, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, are all tackled by Multicultural counseling. In the counseling setting, the counselor recognizes that the client is different from the counselor and treats the client without forcing the client to be like him or her.

Person Centered
Person-centered therapy uses a non-authoritative approach that allows clients to take more of a lead in discussions so that, in the process, they will discover their own solutions. The therapist acts as a compassionate facilitator, listening without judgment and acknowledging the client’s experience without moving the conversation in another direction. The therapist is there to encourage and support the client and to guide the therapeutic process without interrupting or interfering with the client’s process of self-discovery.

Strength-Based
Strength-based therapy is a type of positive psychotherapy and counseling that focuses more on your internal strengths and resourcefulness, and less on weaknesses, failures, and shortcomings. This focus sets up a positive mindset that helps you build on your best qualities, find your strengths, improve resilience and change your worldview to one that is more positive. A positive attitude, in turn, can help your expectations of yourself and others become more reasonable.

Trauma Focused
Trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) helps people who may be experiencing post-traumatic stress after a traumatic event to return to a healthy state.