Rae Linkous

Rae Linkous is a licensed professional counselor based in Virginia with ten years of clinical experience working with children, teens, and adults. Her practice focuses on family conflict, trauma and abuse, anger management, self-esteem, depression, LGBT concerns, grief, bipolar disorder, coping with life changes, and compassion fatigue.

She became a counselor motivated by a belief that human connection sparks meaningful change. Drawing on personal childhood experiences, Rae aims to help people move beyond the limitations of their past and to support them in discovering their strongest selves.

Rae’s therapeutic approach centers on empowering clients to reclaim agency in their lives despite difficult circumstances. She emphasizes practical strategies and education about how trauma affects the brain, using that understanding to inform treatment and encourage lasting change.

Known for a no-nonsense, down-to-earth style, Rae is direct and transparent in sessions, which she uses to challenge clients to face the areas that hold them back. She values teaching clients about the biology of trauma alongside skill-building, believing that knowledge paired with action helps drive progress.

Her clinical background includes an internship at a domestic violence shelter for women and children and work in therapeutic day counseling within school settings. She spent seven years in residential treatment and one year in outpatient care, specializing in youth with complex and severe trauma. Rae has extensive experience addressing self-harm, suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, personality disorders, anger and aggression, defiance and conduct issues, family conflict, sexualized behaviors, and multiple forms of trauma including sexual, physical, neglect, and psychological. She currently provides outpatient therapy to both adults and children.

Rae holds a Bachelor of Science in Pre-med Biology, Chemistry, and Psychology from Bluefield College (2012) and a Master of Education in Human Services and Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lindsey Wilson College (2015). She is licensed to practice counseling in Tennessee and Virginia.

Her therapeutic modalities include Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), client-centered therapy, solution-focused techniques, motivational interviewing, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Rae does not follow a one-size-fits-all model and adapts interventions to meet each client’s unique needs.