Chana Rivka Hersh

Chana Rivka Hersh is a licensed professional counselor practicing in Texas with 25 years of experience helping people move toward healthier, more satisfying lives. She earned a Master of Arts in Community Counseling from Texas State University with a concentration in individual counseling and marriage and family therapy.

Early in her career, beginning in 1994, she worked with individuals with severe and persistent mental illness who had been served by the Texas state hospital system. In that role she partnered with clients and their families to support community-based living, successfully assisting more than sixty people and their families to transition out of institutional care.

After that work, she shifted her focus to supporting people who have experienced abuse or neglect, including physical, sexual, and family violence. Her clinical experience includes counseling for severe depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, phobias, habit change, family systems concerns, suicidal ideation and self-harm, marital and relationship issues, LGBTQ matters, substance use and sexual addictions, and eating disorders. She has provided both crisis intervention and ongoing therapy across these areas.

Her therapeutic style is grounded in a person-centered stance that emphasizes listening, building a trusting nonjudgmental environment, and following the client s lead. From that foundation she collaborates with each person to clarify what they want from therapy and to design a plan to reach those goals. She draws on an integrative set of tools - including neuro-linguistic techniques, cognitive-behavioral strategies, gestalt approaches, and family systems work - selecting methods that fit the client s goals and comfort level.

Her overarching aim is for every person she counsels to feel understood while experiencing progress, success, and fulfillment. By setting clear, shared outcomes at the start of work, clients commonly report that they achieve their goals and follow a practical road map through the counseling process. She looks forward to meeting new clients and walking alongside them on the path to a better life.