Exploring Life & Business with Katie Weidenkeller

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Weidenkeller

Katie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I received both my Bachelor’s and Master’s from St. John Fisher College, now known as St. John Fisher University located in Rochester, New York. My Bachelor’s was in Psychology and my Master’s is in Mental Health Counseling. After graduating in 2014, I moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming where I received my first job in community mental health working with children and families. I provided individual therapy and ran groups working on social skills, emotional regulation, and healthy coping mechanisms.

I then moved to Denver, Colorado where I continued to work on my hours toward licensure as a Licensed Professional Counselor. I began working at an eating disorder treatment center as a Milieu Therapist where I helped run various groups and worked with patients during meal times to help them gain a healthier relationship with food as well as healthy coping mechanisms and a healthier relationship with their bodies.

I finished my licensing hours and passed my LPC exam in 2018 where I then began working as a Behavioral Health Clinician at a non-profit organization providing individual therapy, crisis management, and clinical case management tasks working with people experiencing homelessness.

Since then, life has taken me in a different direction with growing a family with two beautiful daughters and a supportive husband. I open up my Private Practice providing telehealth services to individuals who struggle with managing life stressors and working on gaining healthier coping skills and emotional regulation skills so that they can live a healthier, more authentic life.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I wouldn’t say it was not all sunshine and rainbows to get where I am today. However, I am very proud of everything I have overcome and accomplished since starting this journey working as a therapist. During my graduate program and beginning my very first internship placement at a non-profit organization, my dad passed away unexpectedly. While taking the necessary time off to grieve, I also needed to get back to my internship and it was a hard balance of work/life. But, I ended up graduating and this has been something that has motivated me daily to achieve and overcome hard things. And I know that to this day, my dad is proud of everything I have accomplished.
Aside from that, I have moved many times due to life’s unexpected hiccups from New York to Cheyenne, to Colorado, to south Georgia and currently residing back in New York all while trying to maintain a Private Practice. However, my resiliency and drive to become the best version of myself as a mom, wife, and therapist have remained strong and at the forefront of every decision I have made.
As with any small business, there are always things that pop up causing us to pivot and adapt and that has been something that I am continuously trying to practice both on the business end of things as well as life.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I opened my Private Practice in April of 2022 after working with an online therapy platform and realizing how much I enjoyed working for myself and creating my own schedule. There was also a big push to do so after having my first daughter and wanting to figure out a way to continue to make a living while also being able to spend as much time as possible being a new mom and enjoying everything that comes with that role. This was also during the pandemic and I wanted to be able to still provide therapy services to those in need, especially during such a stressful and chaotic time.

I provide telehealth services as a Licensed Professional Counselor and am dually licensed in Colorado and Texas. I work with individuals who struggle with maintaining or creating healthy boundaries with those around them. I also help individuals explore their past and past relationships, combat negative thought patterns, and walk alongside them as they learn and develop healthy coping skills, and emotional regulation skills. My hope for my clients is that they gain a better sense of who they are so that they can live their most authentic life.

I believe a strong therapeutic relationship is the foundation for effective work, so my approach is warm, supportive, and validating of clients’ emotions and experiences. I trust that clients know themselves the best, and I meet them where they are. My approach is highly client-centered, incorporating various therapy modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Solution-Focused techniques and working collaboratively with clients to identify goals and tailor their treatment to best support their unique needs.

I believe that my experience working with various populations of people struggling with eating disorders, emotional difficulties, substance use, and people experiencing homelessness has given me a diverse and well-rounded perspective, enabling me to deliver effective and compassionate therapy.

Currently, I am still working in my Private Practice and continuing to network with other therapists and other health providers. I am also collaborating with a fellow friend and therapist working on providing products like planners, flashcards, and journals that will help clients further explore their therapeutic journey. Our hope is to have some finished products for the end of this year.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success as achieving the goals we have set for ourselves. I also think that people’s definition of success varies. Personally, I would describe myself as successful because I have achieved and/or currently working towards achieving the goals I have set out for myself. With that being said, I believe that the definition of success is fluid and is an ever-evolving concept. The person I was 9 years ago is not the person I am today and that is because of the things I have overcome throughout my life. MY definition of success has continuously aligned with my actions and values as I have grown.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://headway.co/providers/katie-weidenkeller
• Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/katie-weidenkeller-greenwood-village-co/956675