Karla is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor with a Master’s degree in Counseling. She began counseling at Phoenix House Feinberg Academy in Dallas treating adolescents with substance use disorders. She discovered there that she is passionate about helping youth and families who are suffering from addiction as well as mental and behavioral issues. During her three years there, Karla worked with a diverse socio-economic clientele in admissions, the outpatient program, and the residential program where clients’ stay ranged from 2 weeks to 6 months. She had the opportunity to do individual, group, and family therapy in addition to group family therapy on topics such as the stages of change, enabling others, codependency, and communication skills. 

She gained experience in working with children, adults, and geriatric populations at Hickory Trail Hospital where she supervised the admitting process for clients who were actively suicidal, severely depressed, psychotic, homicidal and assaultive. Karla now works with Homeward Bound as a Co-Occurring Disorder Specialist, which allowed her to counsel clients who are simultaneously diagnosed with addiction and mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, personality disorders, eating disorders, and schizophrenia. 

Karla enjoys working with individuals of all ages, couples and families with a variety of concerns. She specializes in treating any kind of addiction, relational and sexual issues, grief, victims of sexual and emotional abuse and anxiety-related disorders such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She enjoys working with the LGBTQ community. Karla is also trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) which is utilized to treat anxiety-based disorders including PTSD, emotional/sexual trauma, and negative beliefs about oneself.