Donna Hampton

EDUCATION I earned my Master of Science (MS) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1999. UNCG’s Counselor Education Graduate Program, a highly clinical program, is consistently ranked among the top Counselor Education programs in the country. It was there, in my late 20s, that I knew I’d finally discovered my life’s mission and purpose ⎯ and my sincere dedication to and love for my work has continued to grow since that time. Now, more than 25 years into my Counseling career, I find myself looking forward to each day that’s filled with client sessions ⎯ and I believe my enthusiasm, commitment, and ability to connect easily and quickly with clients shines through. I am a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor (LCMHCS), a National Certified Counselor (NCC), and an EMDR-Certified Therapist. EXPERIENCE Since 1998, I have specialized in grief and loss; caregiving; end-of-life issues; life transitions; relationship challenges; depression; anxiety; and trauma. In addition to ‘traditional’ counseling approaches, I am trained and Certified in EMDR and use it daily, finding it to be immensely effective, powerful, efficient, and all-around amazing ⎯ particularly when combined with my natural ability to develop strong rapport and trusting relationships with clients. I have supervised graduate student interns and other therapists since 2000. As a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor (LCMHCS), I have provided Clinical Supervision to many provisionally-licensed counselors (LCMHCAs) working toward full licensure and to other fully-licensed clinicians seeking to advance, broaden, and strengthen their counseling skills. After many years as an active clinician, group facilitator, educator, and clinical director, I took a leap of faith in summer 2016 to leave the familiarity of an organization I loved in order to pursue a different dream: opening my own Private Counseling Practice! So much of my motivation and encouragement in making this enormous career transition was inspired by the thousands and thousands of courageous, determined, and resilient clients I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with throughout my career. Shortly after making this enormous transition, I knew it was the right move at that stage in my career - and I’ve remained immensely grateful and busy, seeing an average of 30 clients weekly and continuing to intensely value this meaningful work with such insightful, brave, tenacious, and dedicated clients. COUNSELING APPROACH I bring my natural warmth, collaborative approach, humor, 25+ years as both a therapist and as a supervisor, commitment to professional growth, and many sessions provided (nearly 9,000 individual counseling sessions and more than 700 group counseling sessions while at Hospice & Palliative CareCenter + more than 14,000 additional individual counseling sessions since opening my private practice in 2016) to my daily work with clients. People and their stories never cease to amaze, challenge, sadden, and inspire… I never tire of listening - of hearing; of seeking a broader understanding; of helping clients process trauma, loss, and grief; of educating about the realities of living with ADHD as they work to live their healthiest and most fulfilling lives. I continue to learn something valuable and meaningful - and sometimes hilarious, especially through shared therapy memes! - every single day from the insightful, intelligent, funny, and courageous clients with whom I’m fortunate enough to collaborate. My extensive experience with death-related grief and loss and with both complicated grief and complex trauma enables me to help clients with many other types of losses, as well ⎯ and I bring that perspective, understanding, and insight to my private practice. Because death-related grief knows no boundaries, the population with whom I work is extremely diverse on many levels: age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental health history, physical health, spiritual/religious affiliation, etc. Since 1998, I have worked with clients who are at the most frightening and vulnerable points in their lives ⎯ and I remain inspired by the bravery and determination exhibited every day. I am grateful for the privilege of helping clients discover or rekindle their own resilience and strength. I am also deeply honored and humbled to sit with them when they do not feel resilient or strong or hopeful. I believe counseling is a process that empowers clients to identify strengths, coping skills, patterns, and themes ⎯ and to make changes in their lives that enable them to live more fully and to find relief, meaning, and purpose. I believe, too, that therapy can help clients come to terms with “what is,” such as a death or a breakup, and to find their way back again from such immeasurable loss. I welcome the opportunity to discover if we might work well together in the safe, non-judgmental, collaborative, engaging, and trusting space of counseling.