gokc Healing Center
A Kansas City Mental Health Counseling and Nature Therapy Practice
Starting therapy can be tough - for everyone. You can text, email, call or schedule your first visit. Totally up to you.
We can’t wait to meet you!
Meet Our Therapy Team
Hover over a face to see what each therapist focuses on, then click to read their full bio.Tap a face to see what each therapist focuses on and read their full bio.
We’re making a difference
our values
Get to Nature
Nature therapy is really simple: outdoor activities with a little guidance & structure from a health professional or nature guide. Farming, gardening, landscaping, nature walks, shinrin-yoku (or forest bathing for those of us with minimal Japanese language skills) & so much more! Do you garden? That’s Nature Therapy! Do you hike? Backpack? Stroll around the block? All these things can be forms of Nature Therapy if practicing these helpful skills. Sometimes we need to get out of our little boxes and adventure outdoors.
Intentional Movement
Purposeful exercise is a wonderful healer & can be implemented at many levels for most. Some of us are managing chronic pain or fatigue, chromosomal dysfunction, injury recovery or hormonal changes that limit our ability to exercise in all ways. Thankfully, we believe there are purposeful movements we can all practice to increase our moods & decrease anxiety…all while maintaining safety for our bodies.
Connection
In December of 2015, I began writing year-end tangible goals with clear, reachable objectives. A re-occurring theme in that process was my strong need for connection. With myself. With nature. With others. And then it hit me like a brick: backpacking! Outside: check. No screens: check. Meaningful quality time with close friends: check. Then the planning & gear acquisition phase took off. And before you know it, I was taking off into the Ozark woods on a weekend adventure to rejuvenate & re-connect.
Maybe you left months ago and you still check their social media. Maybe you finally set a boundary and then found yourself drafting a text at 2 a.m. Maybe you can list every painful thing they did and still feel your chest tighten when you hear their name.
If so, you have probably asked yourself some version of these questions: What is wrong with me? Why can't I just move on? Why do I keep going back? Many of the people who find their way to therapy with us are carrying exactly these questions, along with a lot of shame about them.
We want to offer a different way to look at it. Nothing is wrong with you. You are responding the way a human nervous system responds to a very particular kind of relationship. In this post we will explain what a trauma bond is, how love bombing sets one up, why the pull can be so strong, and what actually helps you loosen it. You will also meet Teresa Gomez, PLPC, a Certified Narcissistic Abuse Treatment Clinician (NATC) at gokc.