Katerina Philbrick, LPCA

I have always been curious about the world. And always been non-traditional. As a youngster, my passion was (and still is!) Nature and animals. It was a forgone conclusion that I would study biology - And I did. I achieved a BS in biology from UConn, as a non-traditional student, but on my way to applying to a science PhD program, I got sidetracked by a job at the Yale School of Medicine. Thus I began a career in science making transgenic constructs for human disease models (not nearly as glamorous as it sounds!). Eventually I left the bench and shifted to being a lab manager for a large cancer lab. But none of that was exactly what I had in mind for myself. Fast forward many years later: severely burnt out, depressed, and a shell of my real self - I abruptly left Yale and pursued another big interest I had been nurturing all along - the Mind and Mental Health. I entered and completed a masters in clinical mental health counseling at New England College, and began building a private practice, focusing on childhood and complex trauma. My education is far from over - I indulge in a variety of training courses almost constantly - my curiosity and love of learning will be with me always. My clinical interests and well as my own passions have informed my education and clinical practice. My interest in complex trauma, and the inherent problem of treatment resistance that often tends to accompany it, led me to exploring the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy. The potential is has for helping to process and heal those traumas is heartening, and the benefit it can have for other issues is extremely promising.