Elise Comber (Howell), M.A., LCMHC

Counseling is a space for authenticity and vulnerability in the midst of the challenges you face. Elise creates a nonjudgmental space for clients to process their stories, build skills to move them toward their goals and reconnect with what’s most important to them in life. She believes that health is not found in the elimination of pain, but in changing our relationship with pain and pursuing our values.

Her passion is to support women in cultivating healthy relationships with their most authentic selves. She enjoys working with individuals seeking to heal from painful relational patterns and create healthy boundaries and secure attachments. Elise specializes helping teen girls navigate the ups and downs of adolescence, while supporting parents with skills to connect and support their teen in tough emotional moments.

Elise collaborates with women and teen girls (11+) in their journeys with anxiety, trauma, disordered eating, grief and loss, identity development, life transitions, body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, relationship difficulties, and chronic health concerns.

Her approach to therapy is holistic, relational, and trauma-informed, grounded in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, & Dialectical Behavior Therapy. To help untangle the confusing and lingering effects of trauma, clients receive trauma-informed care based on training in Internal Family Systems Therapy and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Elise also provides ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) for clients seeking to overcome anxiety, OCD, & disordered eating patterns. Spirituality and creative activities can be incorporated into therapy when desired by the client.

Experience

• Master of Arts in Christian Counseling, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary-Charlotte
• EMDR Level I and II Training
• Supervised training in Internal Family Systems Therapy
• Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Winthrop University
• Extensive experience counseling teens, adults and couples through clinical internships at Southeast Psych & Eternal Church
• Clinical practicum experience serving hospice patients and their families

Areas of Expertise

• Anxiety
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Chronic Health Problems
• Eating/Body Image Issues
• Grief & Loss
• Identity & Growth
• Life Transitions
• Parenting
• Self-Esteem
• Spiritual/Faith Integration
• Trauma and PTSD