Meet Our Team

A therapist that best suits your needs.

**THERAPY, COACHING**

**Christine Williams**, PhD, LCPC, DBT-C, CCTP II, International Psychologist, Board Approved Supervisor
***Lead Clinician & CEO***
Christine is the lead clinician and owner of Live. Balanced. Life, LLC. With over 13 years of experience in the mental health field, she has come to find her niche; working with clients who have experienced trauma. In recent years, she has started showing increased interest in treating clients with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and chronic pain and have found success with treating complex trauma using a variety of techniques including DBT, Somatic, EFT/Tapping, EMDR and IFS. She equates counselling techniques to medicines doctors give their patients. Her philosophy is that like patients who take medications, no one pill cures an illness, therefore she believes no one therapeutic technique fits all. Her goal is to engage in lifelong learning to amass enough therapeutic approaches, so that she can offer various interventions for clients to choose from, and that each client can have a tailor-made treatment plan-resulting in better treatment outcomes.
Christine has interned in a psychiatric hospital and worked as an in-home IOP therapist where she offered interventions to at risk youths and their families, who experienced trauma. Additionally, she has served as a behavioral health senior level case manager at a leading insurance company and as a case manager to the homeless population in Howard County Maryland.
She holds licenses in DC, MD, and VA and is a board-certified clinical supervisor in Maryland. She is certified in Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) and is a level II Complex Trauma therapist. Currently she is working on being certified in EMDR-which she has received extensive master training in.
Christine has completed her PhD in International Psychology, with an emphasis in trauma studies. Her focus was on vicarious or secondary trauma, which mimics PTSD symptoms, without the affected person being directly exposed to the trauma. She is a member of American Psychological Association’s Division 52 (International Psychology).
Christine likes to say “I find myself nerding out, with using the various research-based and cutting-edge techniques to support my clients who are experiencing PTSD/complex trauma.”
She truly believes counseling/therapy is her calling and loves doing it!
*Not accepting new clients at this time.

**Gail Feldman,** MA, LCSW-C, Board Certified Supervisor

***Clinical Supervisor***
Gail joins Live.Balanced.Life,LLC as the Clinical Supervisor for Social Workers. She received her MA and MSW degrees from Catholic University of America in the District of Columbia. She has held her Maryland LCSW-C since 1980 and is certified by the Maryland State Board of Social Work Examiners as a clinical supervisor since 2006. She has worked as a clinical supervisor since 2008.
Most of her professional career was at St. Agnes Hospital where she provided intervention for critical and chronically ill adults in the ICU and cardiac units. Many of her patients suffered from comorbid medical and mental health issues including cancer, pulmonary issues and stroke, along with adjustment disorder, anxiety and depression. Gail provided crisis intervention, trauma-focused and grief counseling, as well as discharge planning to her patients. She also owned a private practice (Health Counseling Associates of Columbia) in the 1990’s and provided individual and couples psychotherapy to clients with comorbid disorders such as cancer and mental health diagnoses.
Gail has provided clinical supervision to many passionate and talented Maryland master’s level social workers to achieve Maryland LCSW-C licensure. By using empathy and humor as a part of the supervisory and therapeutic process, she expects this opportunity to be both educational and fun!

LGPC, Mental Health Counseling, Trauma therapist — **Hermela Tsegaye,** MA, LCPC, NCC
***Clinical Counselor***
Hermela holds a Master's Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Capella University. Hermela has previous experience working as a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Coordinator as well as a mental health therapist intern where she worked with a variety of issues; including depression, anxiety, anger management, life transitions, self-esteem, social skills and relationship issues.
Hermela embraces Person-Centered and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) approaches. She aims to establish mutually trusting, nonjudgmental, and authentic relationships with clients. She respects and acknowledges that everyone’s journey is different and for this reason aims to implement evidence-based therapeutic approaches tailored to clients. Hermela works with children, adolescents, and adults.
Hermela has licensure from the Maryland counseling board.

**Roger Williams,** MA, LCPC, NCC
***Clinical Counselor***
Roger holds a Masters in Professional Counseling Psychology, and has licensure from the Maryland counseling board. Roger’s experience prior to working at Live.Balanced.Life involves providing community counseling in both Michigan and Maryland and he interned in both states as well. He also interned at Adventist Healthcare on their inpatient unit; and was later hired there as a Psychiatric Aid where he assisted psychiatrists and therapists with individual and group counseling sessions.
Roger also worked as a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP) worker for 3 years-working with at-risk teens, children and their families. After getting his Maryland license, he has continued in this same vein, by offering therapeutic intervention to at-risk teens and their families, and those who have had exposure to multiple traumas.
Roger is passionate about serving clients who have suffered from trauma and wants to become a certified trauma therapist in the near future.
Roger has licensure from the Maryland counseling board.

Sarah Miranti, MS, LCPC

Clinical Counselor

Sarah holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from The University of Texas at San Antonio, and has licensure from the Maryland counseling board. Sarah has experience working with teens, adults, and young adults with a variety of presenting concerns. Her prior work experiences include working with at-risk teens, college students, and adults in the Texas State Hospital System. She is passionate about walking with people through the most challenging times of their lives. Sarah has worked with individuals struggling with life transitions, complex grief, trauma, anxiety, and depression. Sarah’s integrative approach is trauma-informed and person-centered, with techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). She is always learning and growing in her professional skills with the goal of helping more people become the best version of themselves.

Sarah has licensure from the Maryland counseling board.

*Not accepting new clients at this time

Colleen Whelan, MA, LMSW, NASW

Clinical Social Worker

Colleen has a master’s degree from Salisbury University in Social Worker. She has prior experience working as a clinical intern with a local clinic, where she worked with a variety of clients offering individual and family therapies for children and their families. She also worked as a case manager with Goodwill Industries.

Colleen brings to LBL the unique experience of being hard of hearing. Her family discovered she was hard of hearing at the age of three, and this discovery necessitated her attendance at Gallaudet University the “deaf mecca”, located in Washington, DC. Her sojourn at Gallaudet and the lessons learned there, influenced her perception of her sense of self/identity, community and culture. as growing up she had difficulties with her identity.

Colleen emphasized that she knows the feelings of frustration one can experience when they sense of self as a person is overlooked. As such, she wishes to work specifically with the LGBTQ+ community to offer them a safe space to process their challenges while holding space for their identity.

Colleen loves the field of trauma and intentionally applied to LBL to grow in this field of study. She is eager to expand her knowledge and experience in trauma-informed care, as well as, trauma-focused psychotherapy, while implementing evidence-based approaches. Currently, she embraces person-centered and CBT modalities, but implements other evidenced-based approaches to meet the needs of her clients.

Colleen is licensed by the Maryland Board of Social Workers.

In her work she embraces the words of Brené Brown “Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness. Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity.”