Carmel Counseling // Emily Peirce, LCSW

Hello! My name is Emily Peirce and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in the Denver Metro area. I graduated from the University of Denver with my Masters in Clinical Social Work in 2015, and I have over 10 years of experience working as a therapist in the mental health field. I have had the privilege of working with adults and children in mental health crisis centers, community mental health centers, outpatient mental health clinics, and most recently, the military with active duty members and their family members of all ages. I have extensive experience with individual and couples counseling and offer both in my practice. My area of expertise is treating PTSD, trauma, and anxiety. Many of my clients are adults who have experienced trauma in childhood and have found it difficult to break free of negative patterns. Many people seek out therapy as adults due to a recent stressor or difficult events that have made it harder for them to cope with life, where things seem to reach a "boiling point." I am passionate about meeting my clients where they are and working on what is most important to them in the moment. I also enjoy "deep diving" and getting to the root of things as well, as I believe this fosters the most transformative and long lasting change. I find that EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is the most effective way of getting at the root of trauma, negative beliefs, panic attacks, complicated grief, addiction, and upsetting memories. I also use DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) and mindfulness techniques in my practice and approach things from a trauma informed and person centered lens. I also have a passion for working with survivors of narcissistic relationships, domestic abuse, and adult children of narcissistic parents. During my time working in outpatient community mental health, I started and led a supportive and psycho-educational group for women who were in abusive or unsafe relationships where group members learned about trauma bonding, the dynamics of abusive relationships, and coping skills to increase safety and honor themselves (in a nutshell). These are things I educate my clients about in individual sessions. I believe in these situations, knowledge is power, and it is key to understand the complex workings of abusive relationships as well as healing the emotional wounds and trauma they cause. COUPLES I have been working with couples of many different walks of life for the last 8 years and I am happy to assist couples at any stage of their relationship. It is very common that at some point in relationships, there are “thorns”-or issues/patterns that continue to come up repeatedly even though we attempt to address them. This can be very frustrating and distressing, as fights may tend to escalate when these “thorns” arise. Helping couples release these thorns is a passion of mine. I will analyze communication styles in the relationship and identify and assess underlying behavioral patterns and emotional triggers for each person that may be contributing to discord in the relationship. I will focus on building upon your strengths together, increasing trust and connection between you, and incorporating various skills that can aid in your journey in healing and strengthening your relationship.