Vanessa Knight, LCPC, NCC, CCMHC is a licensed clinical professional counselor (LCPC), certified by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NCC). She is also a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CCMHC) with NBCC. Co-owner and President of Secure Counseling Clinic, Vanessa has a Master of Arts in Counseling from MidAmerica Nazarene University. Vanessa has lived in the Kansas City, MO Metro Area for over 12 years with her husband, three children, and three Labradors. In her private counseling practice, Vanessa helps couples, as well as parents and their children, to bond with each other. She helps clients experiencing relationship difficulties, and treats clients who are experiencing pain due to a life circumstances. She also has a special interest in loss-related concerns – those associated with death, divorce, adoption, addiction, affairs, abuse, and relationship losses from birth to death. For six years before obtaining her Master’s degree, Vanessa worked full-time with families of teens in churches and uses the Christian faith in counseling when it is initiated by her clients.  In her work as a couples’ counselor, Vanessa has completed professional training with the International Centre for Excellence in Emotion-Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), and is nearing an Advanced Certification in Couples Therapy. Emotion-Focused Therapy is a highly-researched form of counseling, which combines love and the neurobiology of human relationships known as “interpersonal neuroscience.” In summer 2015, she will complete Portland State University’s Certificate in Interpersonal Neurobiology. In Spring 2012, she was nominated for a professional scholarship with Focus on the Family and trained in TBRI at Texas Christian University’s Institute for Child Development, a program for behaviorally at-risk, adoptive, and foster-care children and teens. She completed her masters-level internship at Solace House, a grief and loss supportive counseling center for adult individuals, couples and families in affiliation with Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care. 

Vanessa’s blogging comes from a history in the creative arts – Vanessa’s BA from Texas Christian University is in English with creative writing emphasis, a minor in Art History, and an “almost degree” in music. Vanessa actively presents locally and nationally, writes, and teaches, enjoying opportunities to help organizations. Vanessa belongs to the American Counseling Association, International Association of Marriage and Family Counseling, the National Board of Certified Counselors, Chi Sigma Iota professional honor society, Kansas Counseling Association, Kansas Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, and the International Centre for Excellence in Emotion-Focused Therapy.