About Therapy with Us

CloudLet’s face it: life can be profoundly hard.

You’ve done all the right things and followed the rules. You’ve been a good person and have done right by people. But that didn’t stop bad things from happening, did it?

The tragedy, the diagnosis, the infidelity, and the loss weren’t your fault, but they still happened. And not only did the bad things happen, but now you’re stuck with all the anxiety, the trauma responses, and a looming heavy fear that life might never get to be good again.

You’ve worked hard to become successful, and yet you feel like saying yes to success meant saying no to so many other things important to you. It isn’t easy to even shut off all of the thoughts long enough to have dinner with your family.

It seems like enjoying your life should be easy, because it’s all right there just waiting for you. And you just can’t seem to get out of your own head or get those overwhelming emotions under control.

Difficulty in life is something you understand.

We don’t have to tell you that life is difficult – do we? You already know this. And it feels completely unfair. And while everyone else around you is telling you that everyone in the world experiences challenges, the difficulty you’re facing still feels completely lonely and isolating.

But there’s also this sense that life isn’t over yet. Is it? You’re still standing with a lot more life left to live. There is also hope that these challenges will not define you but are vital to the story of the fantastic and illuminated person you are becoming.

BeeTherapy here is all about Illumination.

Illumination is the action of illuminating or the state of being illuminated: spiritual or intellectualenlightenment. b(1): a lighting up. – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

We’re all about the light here! We believe the therapy process empowers you to illuminate yourself from within, so you may illuminate the world around you.

Illuminating from within means shedding light on the pain, anxiety, and trauma you’ve been living with. Admittedly, it can be hard work, but it is necessary so you can begin to heal.

Illuminating from within also means letting your genuine, amazing, authentic self radiate in all the best ways. It means getting unstuck and learning to be present to live a life full of meaning and vitality while using your pain to shed light on where you want to go next.

Shedding light starts on the inside.

Illuminating the world around you happens much more quickly and naturally when you’re lighting up from the inside. You mend the hurt relationships, create boundaries that enable healthy connections with others, and might even find ways to make the world around you less demanding.

Therapy should be honest, competent, and a positive experience to build a bright and happy life. Creating such a life means that you need to be action-oriented and authentic while also being very fun and encouraging.

We believe therapy should feel positive, warm, engaging, empowering, affirming, and tranquil while doing extremely important and life-changing work. There’s a lot of calm and warmth here!

Learn why you keep moving away from who you want to be.

Becoming the amazing, authentic individual you want to be is easier said than done. If it were easy, you would have done it by now! Sure, it’s easier to be the person you want to be when life goes your way. But it’s when life gets challenging you find yourself being the opposite of who you want to be. It’s like you can’t switch off all the unpleasant thoughts and feelings, and you’re stuck in your head. And to cope, you find yourself moving away from what you care about and value the most.

Again, if it were easy to switch, it would have happened by now. Learn what’s keeping you back and why you can’t get out of your head and back into your life. Have you tried everything? Maybe it’s time to try something different.

Develop life-changing tools that last a lifetime.

Learn and master skills that help you get out of your head, contact the present moment, manage your emotions, and build the kind of life you want. Learn valuable tools and skills in a safe and supportive environment that you can take with you for the rest of your life.

Live your life…your way!

Get back in the driver’s seat of your own life and discover the things that bring you a sense of peace, meaning, power, and vitality. Find what your values are and gain the courage to live by them.

Not sure what your values are? We can help with that.

Hi! We’re Matt and Amanda!

Helping Others Regain Their Power.

We’ve been married for over 19 years and have worked together in the mental health field for over a decade.

We started Illuminate to bring the best of our combined experience to busy, stressed people who feel disconnected from their power.

Our goal was to create a friendly, encouraging, and effective practice. Everything we teach comes from our own training and personal experience. Everything we teach, we do ourselves.

AdminAmanda…

I love empowering others to live their lives authentically. When we do live authentically, we are secure and recognize our worth. As a result, our relationship with ourselves improves, informing all other relationships in our lives. And the best part is that when we live authentically, we allow others to live authentically just by being in our presence.

My personal story is about finding the courage to be vulnerable and myself. I was taught from a young age that “being me” wasn’t accepted, and I had to conform to those expectations. This early teaching created a lot of anxiety and codependent behaviors within me. Through the years, I’ve learned life-changing actions that have allowed me to finally accept myself and live the life I’ve always dreamed about.

I have been in the mental health field for 14 years and counting. I have experience working with various ages, from 2 to 72, in community-based work and programs, multiple disorders, private agencies, and those in the military and their families. Currently, I am licensed to practice in both Florida and Virginia.

My favorite things are the beach and tacos. I enjoy reading, practicing yoga, making sourdough bread, the arts, all kinds of animals, and being with those I love most.

MattMatt…

Professionally speaking, I’ve been in the mental health field for over 18 years and cut my teeth working with at-risk youth in various roles, including supervising other counselors for nearly a decade.

Apart from my professional license, I’m officially certified in Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). I also have extensive experience with military men, women, and their families. I’m most known for using art in therapy, mindfulness therapies, arming my people with many tools and resources, and helping others transform from a place of pain to a place of purpose.

Apart from therapy, I’ve done some cool stuff with my life, like surviving colon cancer, reinventing myself, and creating an award-winning webcomic about it (cancerowl.com), resulting in speaking engagements at Stanford and Harvard!

I draw a ton and have sometimes illustrated books. One book was for an author who is now an NYT bestseller! But quite honestly, my relationship with Amanda and our daughter Annie is the joy of my life. We laugh a lot and do a ton of walking, reading, and exploring. And I like to add to the house by making some pretty killer pizza.