Syracuse Location
Stephanie Killion
Therapist / Owner
Stephanie has been practicing therapy since 2011 after graduating from Syracuse University with her master's degree in social work. She has experience working with adolescents, adults and families. She treats a variety of issues including anxiety, depression, OCD, anger management, trauma, grief and loss, low self-esteem, and adjustment to life stages/events. Stephanie has experience using several modalities of treatment encompassing cognitive behavioral therapy, DBT, strength-based interventions, mindfulness practices, solution-focused therapy, and the developmental model for couples therapy. She is committed to collaborating with clients to heal from past trauma and develop a treatment plan that leads to greater connection with their present lives and relationships.
Specializing in Anxiety Treatment, Depression, Couples Therapy and more.
Anxiety
Anxiety can cripple your life. It can stifle your personal and professional growth, prevent your ability to start relationships, and take away your freedom to choose your own destiny. The worst part? Without successful treatment, anxiety can then become a ravenous vacuum – sucking your confidence and talents and leaving you vulnerable to the “quick fixes” that only serve to sustain your fear. But to effectively treat anxiety, we first understand how it overwhelms your ability to calm yourself. We look at the specific way ambiguity triggers your anxiety and how what’s happening in the brain interacts with the physiological effects of panic to sustain your anxiety. We offer practical skills and core strategies to our clients to break the panic-anxiety loop. We help clients transform their fear that drives their anxiety into confidence and expand their tolerance for discomfort. We assist them with exploring the true source of their anxiety and help them redefine their values.
Depression
Depression can consume your life and take away meaning, joy and a sense of value. If left untreated, it can be a life sentence of suffering. To successfully treat depression, we look at matters that sustain it.
We look at low motivation, which impacts your ability to make any positive changes, leaving you feelings of shame.
We help you look at thought patterns that can make you feel defenseless against the weight of depression, as well as changing environmental and lifestyle factors.
Trauma also plays a major role in depression, and we help you understand and change the way trauma can trick your body into shutting down. Lastly, we partner with specialists that provide cutting-edge treatments like IV Ketamine treatments and Neurofeedback therapy.
Trauma
To help you heal from your trauma, we help you understand what is happening in a traumatized brain. Your brain responds reflexively to ensure survival when experiencing trauma, but the reflexes that ensure your survival during a traumatizing event can keep you trapped in cycles of traumatic memory. It can even negatively impact your ability to feel and experience love in your relationships.
Trauma can make you feel hostage to threat cues and triggers from the event.
We help you identify your trauma responses, teach you tangible strategies to regulate your trauma-related emotions, and regain hope with exploring your unique post-traumatic growth.
Couples Therapy
When only fixing surface-level issues with your partner in therapy, your progress languishes, and you keep focusing on the issue of the week.
We move beyond the weekly arguments and focus on the growth of you individually within the relationship dyad.
We can help you as a couple see how you both have unique coping mechanisms that are there to protect you emotionally, but as a result, prevent direct communication and real intimacy in your relationship.
We help you navigate conflict in an emotionally safe space that can lead to authentic repair from past relationship wounds and foster a deeper connection.
Treating
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Many clients we have seen come into the office believing they are struggling with intense anxiety. After assessing and exploring further during intake sessions, we sometimes discover they are in fact suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. If you suffer from OCD, you most likely feel hopeless and afraid “to get better” because the OCD thoughts create this false sense of control and safety. OCD can negatively impact your daily life, intensely interfering with your relationships and life satisfaction. We have helped many clients overcome their OCD through scientific based therapy approaches like Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Exposure Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. We create a safe and positive environment to and help you explore your obsessive thoughts, navigate compulsion triggers and identify underlying factors that lead to the obsessions and compulsions. We assist you with developing healthier coping skills to replace the OCD behaviors to utilize outside of session.
Adolescent Therapy
Teens can benefit from therapy just like adults.
We help teens navigate their emotions, learn coping skills to reduce their anxiety and/or depression symptoms and adjust to major life challenges or changes. Adolescence is a chapter in life that we develop our identity as well. We strive to help them explore their identity with while providing a safe, supportive environment.
We also believe the importance of communication with the family to support the teen with their work in therapy and to maintain healthy relationships.
“I first started seeing Stephanie when I realized I was battling with social anxiety. It left me in fight or flight and I ran into problems in college when I was focusing more on myself than the lesson. Stephanie has been a major contribution towards beating it, and continuing even further into exploring other struggles that were related to my anxiety. The insight and empowerment Stephanie has given me has been invaluable throughout our sessions. She genuinely cares about her clients, and has showed me that she does by remembering the conversations we’ve had. She creates a comfortable environment, and gives me space to talk about anything that I need to. I am forever grateful that I met Stephanie."
C.G.