Who are my clients?

We have a diverse audience that we serve because we work from the perspective of person within their environment. So it makes sense that we want to work with these groups:

  • Professional Organizers
  • Home health agencies
  • Primary Care Physicians
  • Non-profit agencies 
  • Estate brokers
  • Real Estate professionals
  • City of Austin Code Enforcement
  • County First Responders
  • Austin Tenants Council
  • Indivuals, familes, and community

Hoarding Disorder

 

  • Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value.
  • Difficulty is due to perceived need to save the items 
  • Difficulty discarding possessions resulting in modifying the intended use of space in the home
  • Causing significant distress or impairment  in social,  occupational, or other important areas of functioning
  • Rule out other conditions (dementia, TBI)

 Qualifiers include: level of insight (poor, fair, good) and accompanied with excessive acquisition

Direct Care

Clinically approved and evidenced based intervntions delivered face to face or virtually.

Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety is a word to describe a state of being that causes the person (system) to have excess worry and nervousness in every day normal life. Common anxiety signs and symptoms include:
  • Feeling nervous, restless or tense
  • Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom
  • Having an increased heart rate
  • Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
  • Sweating
  • Trembling
  • Feeling weak or tired
  • Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry
  • Having trouble sleeping
  • Experiencing gastrointestinal (GI) problems
  • Having difficulty controlling worry
  • Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety
 

Why select Laura Jo for your therapist?

A Good Fit

Being able to relate to your therapist goes along way to building a therapeutic alliance, which is very important to facilitating positive change.

My attributes include: being a native Texan, well-traveled, a mother, caregiver tonging parent, a UT-Austin Alumni, karaoke enthusiast, and sister to two siblings, and I have a great sense of humor. I bring a LOT of perspective to our work together.

Training

My Master’s of Science in Social degree prepared to work with the individual and the community. Ongoing and recent training include:
  • Somatic Experiencing through the Healing Trauma Institute (framework for understanding and addressing trauma physiology)
  • Behavior Therapy Training Institute through the International OCD Foundation (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)

Collaborative

Acknowledging my strengths and limitations, the collaborations I have in the community mean that you are going to be connected to other helpful resources. Referral sources for past clients include:  

Treatment for Hoarding Disorder

Utilizing evidence-based treatment for hoarding disorder includes good differential diagnosis and the Handbook for Treatment of Hoarding Disorder by Dr. Steketee and Dr. Frost. A 26-week individual, outpatient program for those person with the disorder. A 16- week group program and Family Support classes offered monthly. 

Treatment for a Mood Disorder

Cognitive Behavior Therapy involves investigating your thinking patterns, the emotions that associate and lead to behaviors. Change your mind, accept different feelings and witness different behaviors. 

Treatment for Anxiety/OCD

Cognitive Behavior Therapy works for anxiety. Prolonged exposure (ERP) to a feared stimulus is used when addressing obsessive complusive disorder.Â