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 agenciesÂ
- 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 itemsÂ
- 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:- Seton Mind Institute (Dr. Gayle Ayers)
- Senior Adult Specialty Healthcare (Dr. Jared Winston, Cherie Simpson)
- Nancy Brown, LPC-S
- Samantha Bray, LCSW
- Randi Lyman, Professional Organizer
- Aging is Cool, Amy Temperly
- Caritas of Austin