Courtney Baker, Ph.D., LPC

Phone: 636-336-2436

Fax: 636-794-0987

License# 2011010037

Professionally, I have worked as a counselor since 2006. I worked at a community mental health setting until we began St. Charles Counseling Associates in 2016. I have always been interested in relationships and the change/healing process and it is a continual honor to be a part of my clients’ growth. I consider myself a life-long learner, and love discovering new findings in the therapy world.

Personally, my family and friends are also very important to me. I'm a wife and mother to two little ones, and one miniature dachshunds. I value balancing work and fun, and love relaxing with my family/friends, traveling, entertaining, and sitting on my patio on a nice day. I try to maintain health in my life, and remain active in causes that are important to me. I value diversity and strive to make my practice a safe place for everyone.

I work with adults and couples, who may be experiencing depression, anxiety, relationship struggles, and trauma.

I often work with individuals struggling with depression and anxiety. When working with individuals, many of my clients struggle with feeling “good enough” which can lead to lack of motivation, excessive self-doubt, interpersonal problems, feelings of isolation, and worry. I work hard at identifying what is driving this struggle and help clients find self-compassion and self-acceptance, which is usually helps with many of the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Much of my counseling experience has also been helping clients heal from a range of traumatic events. Trauma can lead to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but can also lead to general anxiety and depression and can really just wreak havoc on many areas of a person's life. There are many evidence-based trauma treatments that can really help, and often lead to healing.

When working with couples, I specialize in a range of problems, including communication problems, parenting issues, conflict, co-dependency, power/control issues, trust issues, feeling alone/isolated in the relationship, and infidelity. After therapy, many couples begin to communicate better, trust each other more, feel closer, and develop healthier relationships overall.

First and foremost, developing a strong therapeutic bond is important, and I will always prioritize my therapeutic relationship with you and/or your partner. I will give you a non-judgmental, confidential, emotionally safe place to work through your struggles. From there, we collaborate to decide the best way to actively take on your therapy goals together. There are many different routes in therapy, and depending on your history, problems, and needs, I will explain treatment options, and together we will decide how to move forward.

In general, my approach is collaborative, non-pathologizing, straight-forward, and caring. While struggles are not fun, I find they usually have a reason that makes sense and are often related to being hurt at some point (or multiple points) along the way. I often focus on the mind/body connection, having new and corrective emotional experiences, self-acceptance/self-compassion, self-care and calming strategies, finding belonging/meaning in life, and working on the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

When working with couples, I often use Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) which aims to decrease conflict and distance by building bonds, healing old wounds, addressing harmful relationship patterns, and having new, more connected emotional experiences. During EFT, couples often learn they do matter to their partner, and find emotionally safety and closeness that might have been missing.

I also often used Evidence-Based treatments, which are those that have been researched and found to be effective. I’m either trained or certified in the approaches listed below. While I don’t always use a specific evidence-based approach, my work is always guided by the most cutting-edge research on what works in therapy.

• Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), State of Missouri
• EMDR Trained Therapist

• Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy, Saint Louis University
• Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling, University of Central Florida
• Bachelor's Degree in Child Development, Florida State University

• Emotional issues
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Life changes
• Communication problems
• Conflicts
• Trauma
• Grief/loss
• Infidelity
• Trust issues
• Perfectionism/Self-Criticism

• Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Advanced training in Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
• Exposure Therapy (ET)

Cigna, United Healthcare/Optum, Out-of-Network

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