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Discover how starting cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) therapy can support your own journey toward a happier, more fulfilling life.
2 therapists available in Austin
I am honored that you are considering me to accompany you on your mental health journey....
About
I am honored that you are considering me to accompany you on your mental health journey.
I am a Resident in Counseling with 5 years of experience supporting clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. I specialize in helping individuals facing depression, anxiety, work stress, and addiction. I provide a safe, nonjudgmental space to explore challenges, build resilience, and foster growth. My goal is to empower clients to manage stress, improve relationships, and overcome patterns of self-doubt so they feel more balanced, confident, and connected in their daily lives.
I have a Master’s in Social Work from Our Lady of the Lake University. I integrate evidence-based practices such as dialectical behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and trauma-informed care. I tailor therapy to meet each client’s needs, ensuring that every person feels understood, supported, and empowered in their healing journey.
I believe everyone deserves a safe place to feel heard and supported. Life’s challenges can be heavy, but you don’t have to face them alone. Through warmth, compassion, and care, I help clients find healing, balance, and hope while working together at a pace that feels right for them.
Education and training
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Kelly Pedersen is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor who specializes in redefining perception: assisting individuals wi...
Kelly Pedersen is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor who specializes in redefining perception: assisting individuals with trauma recovery and couples with intimacy-rebuilding with insight and useful techniques for bypassing roadblocks. She helps people hone their anger management skills and address the flip side of the coin: initiating the healing process after someone has endured physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. In addition, she helps people with trauma, life transitions, LGBTQ-related challenges, mood disorders, and geriatric issues.
Kelly is trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) as a technique to treat PTSD, and she assesses trauma through the dual lenses of spirituality and culture. She also uses cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) in her therapeutic processes.
"Stuck" situations require creative solutions! Solving a problem in isolation isn't easy, which is why collaboration with an experienced counselor can prove invaluable. The details of each person’s thinking may be varied and unique in every case, but Kelly believes that what is really important is the sense of being enough, sufficient, responsible, capable as yourself on top of the situation. When the work goes well (which certainly is the intention) the outcome will be the same: an increase in the sense of one’s own ability to manage life, and a feeling of growth and empowerment.
Kelly has a clear approach to counseling with people and it relates to what she sees as the ideal outcome of such work. The highest goal, the gold standard of good counseling, is an increase in client morale, significant growth of feeling competent and confident to work with the feelings and situations that brought you to counseling in the first place. A good counseling relationship has worked when one hears, “You know, I think I can handle this now. I feel a lot better and think I know what to work on and what to do.”
As a counselor, Kelly strives to encourage a therapeutic connection that serves as a "secure base", enabling you to challenge your misconceptions about yourself and refocus on your strengths. She believes that accessing new experiences in the context of a therapeutic relationship can help us rewire our brains and our lives.
You deserve dedicated time with a mental health professional — it can be life-changing.
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My go-to approach for helping people in cognitive behavioral therapy is to guide clients in connecting their behavior to their thoughts and feelings. I find the best benefit in connecting their whole experience, watching clients grow, experience new behaviors, and express how they feel about themselves.
I teach the following tools in CBT: journaling, cognitive restructuring, and unraveling cognitive distortions.
I know a client is making meaningful progress in CBT when they describe how they've utilized learned tools and coping skills that gave them a different experience they didn't previously believe possible.
Clients can supplement their time in CBT with self-care, reflecting on scenarios they want to play out differently in the future, and practicing setting simple and small boundaries.
To prepare for their first CBT session, an individual can be prepared to change and willing to learn how they can make those changes.
At Thriveworks, Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a widely recognized and evidence-based form of psychotherapy or talk therapy. It focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns, emotions, and behaviors that can contribute to various mental health issues or challenges that people are struggling with.
Cognitive behavioral therapists specialize in Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and can help you to identify and comprehend your thought patterns, which often encompass automatic negative thoughts, cognitive distortions, and self-defeating beliefs. Once these negative thought patterns are pinpointed, cognitive behavioral therapists aim to challenge and replace them with the objective of fostering more constructive and logical thinking. In addition, these therapists place significant emphasis on implementing positive behavioral changes based on the newly established, healthier thought patterns.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is particularly effective for addressing conditions like anxiety disorders, depression, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. It focuses on identifying and modifying negative thought patterns and behaviors, making it well-suited for issues related to distorted thinking and emotional regulation.
At Thriveworks, we accept most major insurance plans, allowing many clients to pay as little as $0–$50 per session with their co-pay. We also offer self-pay options for those out-of-network or without insurance. Self-pay rates for talk therapy range from $160 to $240 for intake sessions and $135 to $195 for follow-ups, depending on your state. For psychiatry services, self-pay intake sessions are $255–$375, with follow-ups ranging from $175–$300, also varying by state. More information on current self-pay costs is available on our pricing page.
The success rate of CBT varies depending on the intentions of the client and their condition(s).
The selection between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is based on an individual’s unique needs and challenges. CBT is commonly chosen for addressing conditions such as anxiety and depression, whereas DBT is especially beneficial for individuals dealing with borderline personality disorder, emotional regulation issues, and difficulties in interpersonal relationships.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with our Thriveworks therapists in Austin, TX is conducted both in person and online by video. We encourage you to choose the option that works best for you.
Generally, CBT is considered a short-term therapy, typically lasting for about 12 to 20 weekly sessions. In some cases, it might extend to around 16 to 20 sessions for more complex issues.
Any positive change usually begins with one’s own thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and perspectives. If you are ready to make a change in your life but are not sure how, CBT may be able to help. In studies, clients who underwent CBT made substantial and sustainable life changes by first changing their thinking. Even clients who face significant mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, experienced as much symptom relief with CBT as medication gave them. Further, individuals who participated in cognitive behavioral therapy were equipped with emotional and cognitive skills that they were able to use long after their counseling sessions finished.
Thriveworks Austin offers cognitive behavioral therapy because we have seen the power it can bring to an individual’s life. Our therapists and counselors have seen lives transformed as people transform their own thinking. Reach out today to start your own journey.
It is possible to change negative, untrue thoughts to positive, true thoughts, but it is not as easy a changing the channel on the TV. In many ways, doing so is a skill that takes practice, and CBT provides the opportunity for clients to build these cognitive and emotional skills. In this way, CBT is very practice. During sessions, clients and therapists usually focus upon a current and specific problem the client is facing. This issue can be social, emotional, relational, and/or psychological. For example, CBT has been used to treat…
When people put an inaccurate and negative spin upon a situation, these are called cognitive distortions. Some of the most prevalent distortions include…
After reading through this list of cognitive distortions, did you recognize any? Most people probably will, and many are learning that these negative thoughts do not have to rule their lives. With cognitive behavioral therapy, many people are learning how to change the channel in their mind from negative, untrue thoughts to positive, true thinking.
If you are ready to make a change, the therapists at Thriveworks Austin are ready to help. When you contact our office, you may be meeting with your therapist the same week. We also accept most insurance plans.
Let’s work together for a positive change. Call Thriveworks Austin today.
Includes individual, couples, child/ teen, & family therapy
Includes reducing symptoms with medication & management
Thriveworks Counseling & Psychiatry Austin is located on Crown Colony Dr, off of Monarch Hwy. We share a building with Onion Creek Homeowners Association and other businesses. Sullivan Park is nearby.
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