Attachment-based Therapists in Gunnison, UT

I have over 20 years experience working and growing with the continually developing mental health field. I believe in the immovable strength that all people have within them. Trauma, pain, and disheartenment are all part of the human experience. We are all connected by these experiences, and our abilities to overcome life’s greatest challenges. Therapy is not a "one size fits all" approach and I believe strongly in my ability to work with the diversity of mental health issues.

I strongly believe that people already have the tools and capabilities they need to work through life’s challenges, and they sometimes just need a little help and guidance along the way. I am excited to provide that guidance as I work with you to manage mental health, better your relationships, and find joy in life again. I am passionate about working with couples and adults and am looking forward to providing a safe space for you to find peace and healing. I value warmth and laughter and love bringing that into the therapy space.

My aim as a counselor is to facilitate a space for healing so that adults, children, adolescents, and families can strengthen bonds and develop closer relationships. I specialize in treating trauma, with extensive experience treating complex developmental trauma. Using a variety of methods in my practice, including Trust-Based Relational Intervention, attachment-based therapy, and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, I seek to help you promote deeper understanding and self-awareness of yourself and your relationships.

There is a pathway forward through the distress of disconnection, grief and loss, faith transitions, and anxiety. Transforming painful feelings and meeting unmet needs occurs through creating connections and emotional processing. Therapy is tailored to your specific goals and needs: deepening relational connection, working through anxiety, overcoming addictions, processing grief/loss, faith transitions, emotional challenges, or engaging in family therapy. Creating a validating and respectful therapeutic experience is central to inviting growth and change.

I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist and I trust in your inherent goodness, even if sometimes you don't feel it. Humans flourish when given compassion and grace. My purpose is to help you find your internal wellspring of self-compassion. Healing flows naturally from there. I provide individual, couple, and family therapy and have experience working with depression, suicidality, problematic/out-of-control sexual behavior, trauma, anxiety, OCD, faith transitions, and coping skills.

Do you feel stuck? Do you feel anxiety or depression keeps getting in your way to a normal life? I have worked with all walks of life. From working in the prison system to adolescents in residential treatment. I help people see who they really are and help them get what they want out of life. I can help find your motivation to achieve better relationships and a better career.

Have you ever felt ashamed? Ever felt like others don’t understand you, but say they do? Those have been my own experiences and have led me to work with people in recovery and their families, survivors of domestic violence/abuse, minority communities and teens. I come from a multi-cultural family with an immigrant parent which has both enriched my life and created unique struggles for me. These experiences, however, have helped me empathize with a wide variety of people and situations. My goals are to support my clients as they navigate their struggles and find hope and strength within themselves.

I approach therapy with a nonjudgmental perspective and a curiosity to understand the unique experiences leading clients to therapy. I believe a strong, genuine connection and collaboration between therapist and client can not only be an opportunity to improve coping skills and process through trauma and other difficulties, but also a catalyst to improving access to experiences of joy and contentment in life. I support clients with their therapy goals whether returning or starting for the first time. Therapy is often a brave journey of exploring the parts of ourselves that we might avoid… feeling scared, sad, angry, confused.

Each of us have beliefs and experiences that impact our ability to form meaningful relationships, accomplish goals, or accept ourselves. My hope is to help the individuals, couples and families I work with challenge these negative beliefs and guide them in using skills to develop a stronger sense of self and more stable relationships. Over the past decade I have specifically worked with adolescents, young adults and their families. I love this stage of life, the change that can take place is amazing if given the right tools. Balancing independence and connection for individuals and family is one of my main goals in therapy.

Therapy does not have to be painful or seemingly endless. Having worked in every setting I understand your mental health journey. Clients often come to me when they have tried other avenues of treatment with little to no felt success. Most struggle with mood dysregulation and their connections with others are suffering for any number of reasons. Often they are also wanting to understand how to navigate their own emotional/mental landscape better. Teens, Young Adults and their Parents are who I work with.

I specialize in helping families, couples and individuals. I am also trained in helping single adults, adolescents, children and those in emotionally abusive situations. I am trained in many therapy techniques including EMDR, DBT, CBT, DNMS, IFS and attachment based therapy among others. I use a variety of tools and techniques to ensure each client has a personally tailored experience. Therapy doesn't have to take years - you can be on your way to a healthier happier way of relating to people and the world around you sooner than you may think.

Currently accepting NEW clients! (Telehealth and in person appointments available). I am an attachment-based therapist specializing in PTSD and complex trauma, particularly from various forms of abuse including childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and dissociative disorders. I also work with anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, OCD, ADHD, teen issues and parent-child relational issues.

If you are seeking a catalyst for creativity and change, or a safe container for processing events and circumstances, I will be able to help you with non-pathologizing, traditional and non-traditional services for wellness, trauma, life transitions, behavior modification, spirituality, performance, and groundedness. I believe in human connection and the healing powers of validation, being heard, at times challenged, and seen. I bring myself to the room with my clients and "go there" with them, healing along the spectrum from learning how to experience the deepest wells, to planning coordinated, intellecutalized courses of action.

The fast pace of modern life often conflicts with the natural way our brains and bodies respond to multi-tasking, managing stress, and maintaining relationships. It can be hard to find moments of peace or feelings of safety, and even harder to get our minds to calm when we have that space. This can be especially challenging when we have had traumatic experiences or ongoing mental health concerns. If you are struggling with challenges, relationships, life transitions, or mental health, you aren't a failure. You just may need to learn a different way of approaching these problem and to learn to trust all the parts that make up you.

I am an emotion-focused therapist who works with clients from a place of deep empathy. I offer different interventions and strategies to guide you in regulating emotion as you heal. I can work with you and your family to work through betrayal and other trauma, addiction, attachment injuries, anxiety, depression and grief. I use interventions that are emotion-focused, mindfully self-compassionate, and attachment based. I am certified to treat betrayal trauma, am Gottman level 1 trained, and have training in EMDR and IFS. My office also offers group therapy-resources for betrayal and addiction to aid you in the recovery process.

Summer Simmons, AMFT completed her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Family Studies from Utah Valley University in 2020. She continued her education there to earn a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2023. Summer enjoys working with individuals, couples, and families using an attachment-based, trauma-informed lens. She especially enjoys working with individuals presenting with anxiety, trauma and PTSD, faith transitions/crises, and relationship issues.

I am a doctorate level therapist who specializes in working with teens and their parents. Many of my teen clients have struggled with depression, anxiety, school stress, family conflict, and behavioral issues. I love getting to know my clients on a deep level and helping them overcome these challenges.