Erin Nes, LCMFT

Here’s something that’s true: your emotions, your sensitivity, and your desire to be vulnerable are your greatest assets.  

Here’s something else that’s true: we live in a culture that teaches us that vulnerability, emotion and intuition are signs of weakness. You probably learned from an early age to put on a happy face, hide your feelings, put your head down, and conceal so many of the qualities that make you unique, compassionate, and powerful.

It’s time for you to believe in your true, inherent strengths. It’s time to do the healing that’s necessary for you to feel truly strong and resilient.

I’m here to help you discover and embody your truth, one layer at a time.

Hi, I’m Erin Nes. I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist. I’m also a mother, a wife, a wild woman, a creatrix, and a pink unicorn who feels best when covered in sparkles and mud.  

My work with individual women, couples, and groups is all about helping you solve the practical problems and dive deeper into mysteries of the heart and spirit.

That looks like tuning into the brain-body connection and learning how to repair or release old relationships and stuck feelings. It also looks like learning how to love your shadows as well as your light so you can embrace the whole of who you are.

I’m not your mama’s therapist.

In my office and at my events, we’re on a mission to heal the heartache and uncover your genuine superpowers - those you’ve forgotten and those you never even knew you had.

And one of the best things about being a therapy geek with over a decade of experience and years of advanced training in healing modalities is that I can offer you a creative, expansive journey to healing that is as unique as you are. Whether it’s in heart to heart sessions in my office, outside sessions “on location”, in transformative group experiences, or during in depth soul-soaring retreats, I invite you to not only heal, but to expand and transform your life.

How do we make that happen? We create spaces where you can witness and accept your past, your present, and your dreams with grounded honesty and fierce compassion. We introduce you to a creative, soulful, and fully embodied way of living that is sassier and juicier than you have ever given yourself permission to experience before.

Ultimately, I’m here to hold the lantern for a little while as you feel into who you are, what you want, and what needs to be healed. I’m here to listen and offer a new perspective and tools to support you while you start to embody what it means to build a soulful connection with yourself and the people you love.

And, we’re not just doing this by sitting on a couch….

This “work” will often look a lot like play, self-discovery, wonder, mindfulness, and maybe even a little bit of “woo” (that is, only if you’re curious…) as we explore things like archetypes, spirituality, and the human energy system.

Sometimes, it’s about daring to pull out a paint brush and relying on color instead of words. Sometimes it’s about using sand therapy to explore and uncover your feelings through symbols. Sometimes, it’s about journeying within with me as your guide to uncover the soft parts that need healing and drawing boundaries with your inner and outer critics. Other times, it’s about rewriting your story with new words, going on an adventure, sharing in sacred circles or dancing wildly with like-hearted women. (I can’t wait to invite you to come to my soul shaking Qoya classes!)

The creative in me sees the creative in you. The healer in me sees the healer in you.

And no matter where we are or what activity helps us get closer to the transformation you need, the work often does involve tears - including the kind when you laugh and cry at the same time because you just realized something amazing about what it means to be alive.

And, by the way...

If, just for a moment, you’re wondering whether a therapist with pink hair and crystals in her office is too “out there” for you, I need to tell you about my “by the way” side.

A Texas-born-and-raised overachiever who always put practical matters first, I found countless ways to suppress my emotions and keep pushing myself to keep up with the crowd. Over time, I realized that my path to happiness wasn’t supposed to look like the “fake-it-til-you-make it, hustle harder, keep wearing the mask of invincibility” bill of goods that gets sold to so many women.

I wasn’t made to keep it neutral and to stick to the beige palette. I am here to live life in color and spread that pink sparkly shit everywhere.

Not to say that I want to paint everything in rainbows and sunbeams and ignore the hard truths and trauma of life.

I became a therapist because I know we need to acknowledge and tend to the root causes of suffering.

I became a therapist because I’m on a mission to help the individual and collective soul fly free.

And that, my dear, gets us into the territory of real transformative magic that just might make this a better world.

Education:

• Bachelor of Arts, University of Texas at Austin, 2003

• Master of Science in Couple and Family Therapy, University of Maryland, College Park, 2010

Training:

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)

• Emotion Focused Couples Therapy (EFT)
  -Clinical Fellow, International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT)

• Advanced Training in Jungian Sand Therapy, Center for Culture and Sandplay

• Advanced Trauma Treatment Training, Ferentz Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education

• Certified Child-Centered Play Therapist, National Institute for Relationship Enhancement

Professional Affiliations:

• American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT)
  -Clinical Fellow
  -Approved Supervisor in Training