“The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love.”
-Marianne Williamson
More About My Journey...
My name is Kim Valdes and I am a licensed professional counselor and registered play therapist and coach that integrates sand tray, meditation, and art in my therapeutic practice with children, adolescent, and adults. My work with children, adults, and families began as a para-professional providing mental health services working in a community agency setting in 2006. I have been a licensed professional counselor in my private practice setting since 2015 in Alpharetta, Georgia.
My counseling practice current focus is children, adolescent, and families experiencing life challenges ranging from abrupt life changes and transitions, school bullying, family conflicts, and communication challenges, and the death of a loved one. Certain diagnosis that children, adolescent, and families come in with wanting to address in my practice are Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, and ADHD.
As a therapist, I am both directive and nondirective and eclectic in my approach. My framework is interpersonal, relational, and attachment focused. I value being compassionate and respecting where people are in their journey, creating a safe space, and being able to appreciate, respect, and seeing the gift of neurodiversity in the children and families I meet and connect with in my office.
When working with children, adolescent, and families, the tools I use in sessions include expressive art and sand tray play that support and create safety for feelings and experiences that are hard to connect with, express, or understand inside of us, or in relationship with others. Art and sand tray gives us a way to work on ourselves at a deeper level, for the mind and body to express itself nonverbally and energetically through images, color, shape, and texture. Art and sand tray can be a container of safety as we move through challenging stories, feelings, and experiences in the therapeutic process.
Another important process that can be implemented to discipline the mind, release emotions, ground, and regulate is including meditation and mindfulness to one’s therapeutic work. Meditation is not only a practice for spiritual cultivation but I have personally felt it has been a healing process in my own mental and emotional life journey. Therefore, I facilitate meditation practice for individuals and group meditation for adults into my practice as a tool to support changes in the brain, grounding the body, self-regulation, and coregulation in a community of others that can reduce anxiety, depression, and support working through trauma in conjunction with any therapy you are currently doing.
If you are interested in any of these approaches, please free to contact me at The Heart Way at 470.227.0169. You can also send an email to kimvaldes@theheartwaycounseling.com
More About My Services...
I love working with children and using play therapy to support children to reduce anxiety and depression and find ways to express sadness, hurt, and release anger. Art is a great tool I like to use to support children and adolescent and I incorporate Mandala work with children in therapy and with adolescent in my coaching program.
I can understand what it is like for children and adolescent experiencing anxiety as I was growing up, I also struggled with anxiety and had not become aware of what it was until I was in my 20’s so, I understand the behaviors of isolation, avoidance, negative thoughts, and physical symptoms that kids and adults experience.
I came to find healing not only in my own psychotherapy but also meditation, art, and spiritual cultivation. I believe that these components are very supportive to rewiring the brain, calming the body, and developing an internal guidance system that is made up of one’s own intuitive loving wise adult-self, and spiritual guidance. In play therapy with children I continue to address anxiety and depression with sand tray virtual play, art, cognitive behavioral strategies and mindfulness, learning to identify, connect and release feelings using a combination of these activities.My work with adolescent is quite different and unique as I currently only do coaching either individually or group work with adolescent. I have developed a Mandala art program that integrates a holistic approach of a spiritual body and mind approach to addressing and healing anxiety and depression.
My program for adults is called Freeing the Heart from Anxiety and is a 3 month and 6 month program I have developed that works with some fundamental components: a spiritual component with meditation, art with mandala and chakra component, and cbt component with a foundation underlying how to address anxiety, depression, and trauma. However, it also very important to the consistency of each week, homework, and group work to keep one activating a NEW Way to healing.
“Without a spiritual wakefulness to divine purposes and connections in all things, we will not know things for what they truly are.”
-John Piper
Meditation
Soul Healing
Child Therapy
Play Therapy
Spiritual Counseling
HeartWay Therapy
There are so many things you have taught me. Our sessions are invaluable and I look forward to them. You have helped me with the emotional chaos that surrounded my life- taught me it is ok to set boundaries and keep them. I am eternally grateful to you.
I'm a mom of a child who suddenly at age 11 had major anxiety and depression issues. This journey with Kim was a journey out of a very dark and black hole in which my son was stuck in and took him from this very dark place into the light within a 4-month period of time.
Thank you so much for always being there for us, and for your words of support in this situation, this has been very stressful. You make such a difference in people's lives, on a daily just with your sessions. It's life-changing!
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