Grief and trauma can be isolating and lonely, leaving you feeling lost in the depths of your pain.

You don’t have to face THIS alone.

“Grief isn’t something you fix; it’s something you honor. There’s no flash sale, weekend retreat or quickly found solution. We often dream of a comeback from grieving, when the healthiest thing we can do is aim to come-through, by waking up every day and honoring our relationship with loss and how we feel in each moment that follows.”

-Addison Brasil

Hi! I’m Molly, proud Austin native, co-owner of Safe Haven, and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate. With nearly two decades of experience working with children and families, I bring a diverse background that includes volunteering with CASA, teaching, nannying, and consulting on child and adolescent development.

Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult experiences that anyone can go through. Grieving is a natural and necessary process that helps individuals process their emotions and come to terms with their loss. However, despite its universality, grief is often misunderstood and stigmatized in society. Similar things can be said for those that have experienced trauma or who are living with chronic pain.

My approach to therapy is holistic, meaning I focus on you as a whole person, considering the systems you grew up in, the systems you live in now, and how these affect your daily struggles. Together, we’ll work on finding tools to ease those daily burdens and empower you to use them both in and out of our sessions. I combine Narrative Therapy (exploring the stories you tell yourself about your experiences), Internal Family Systems (understanding how the systems in your life shape you), and Play Therapy (especially with children, to help break down barriers and explore beliefs). My goal is to help you identify your strengths, work through your challenges, and collaborate on a plan that fits your life and goals.

I am supervised by Valerie Handley, Ph.D., LMFT-S.

I offer in-person sessions on Thursdays-Saturdays, with virtual availability Wednesdays-Saturday. I offer after school and evening session to accommodate your schedule.

Expertise

  • Children, Teens, Adults

  • Couples and Families

  • Postnatal Maternal Mental Health

  • Grief & loss

  • Trauma

  • Anxiety & Depression

  • Chronic pain

  • Loss to Crime and the Legal System

Some of the Approaches I use…

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  • Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP)

  • Play Therapy

  • Family Systems Therapy

  • Narrative Therapy

  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

More About Me

I’ve always had a passion for helping others, starting at age 8 when I told my school counselor, “I want to help sad kids when I grow up” so becoming a grief and trauma therapist was a clear step for me. The official journey towards this goal started with completing my undergrad with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Sciences, with a concentration in child development, from the University of Arkansas and ended with completing my graduate program at St. Edward’s University where I earned a Master’s in Counseling, focusing on Marriage, Family, and Couples Counseling. I’m fascinated by different parenting styles and approaches to death and grief from around the world, and I incorporate this understanding into my practice.

Having personally experienced the loss of loved ones, trauma, and chronic pain, I understand the isolation and challenges they can bring. I’m here to offer compassionate, understanding support. I’ve worked with clients ranging in age from 4 to 76, helping them navigate varied types of grief from loss to violent crime, bereavement, overdose, trauma, and emotional wounds to non-death loss as a result of trauma, divorce, medical experiences, and others.

I am Standing upon the Seashore -Unknown

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white
sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come
to mingle with each other. 
Then, someone at my side says;
"There, she is gone!" 
"Gone where?"
Gone from my sight. That is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull
and spar as she was when she left my side
and she is just as able to bear her
load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. 
And just at the moment when someone
at my side says, "There, she is gone!"
There are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout;
"Here she comes!"
And that is dying.