Courtney Olinger (She/Her)

I have worked with the autism community in various settings since 2000, in various settings including mental health clinics, in home behavioral programs, educational settings, a neurology healthcare clinic, and community based mental health. I have worked with ages 12 months to 65 years and have supported individuals with all sorts of different abilities and experiences.

There are thousands of theories on parenting that can be maddening and overwhelming. I work with clients to discover the parent identities that best fit for them and navigate the pressures the rest of the world will put on parents. I utilize my background in behavioral, cognitive and neurological approaches while engaging parents to locate and further develop their own parenting skills.

I will work with clients to identify social factors that are contributing the existence of anxiety while also understanding the neurological processes that are connected to this experience. This will give clients space to develop skills, strategies and their relationship with anxiety. My training comes from different behavioral, cognitive, and neurological lenses and I most closely align with Narrative Practices in my work.

My training for my masters and doctorate at Alliant International University centered around family systems.

My traineeship was at a Narrative site with supervisors all versed in Narrative therapy. I also did a year long certificate program in Narrative Therapy through Dulwich Centre in Adelaide Australia

I will work with clients through life transitions that can often lead to feeling of unrest and unease. I support individuals through school/college/higher-ed transitions, family transitions, identity transitions, and relationship transitions. I will work with you to navigate change, limbo, and settling in.

I will work with you to identify factors that are contributing to the existence of anxiety while also understanding the neurological processes that are connected o this experience. The goal will be to shift the relationship to anxiety, building skills and strategies to navigate the many things that will come your way in life. Ultimately, anxiety will no longer succeed in taking control, even if it remains present.

Let's be clear- the work is not to make someone allistic. I work with autistic clients on all sorts of challenges, concerns and transitions, sometimes having little to do with autism, but sometimes connecting to neurodivergence. This is not a one-size fits all approach! Neurotype, communication and processing will inform engagement practices while we discover your preferences for yourself and how you relate to others. This often means exposing harmful social messages that may be internalized

"The problem is the problem. The person is not the problem." We often experience life through a set of stories and sometimes those stories are not preferred, do not support us, or are defined by others. The problematic stories often get talked about as if they are us when they are not. There are a variety of ways to engage clients to separate the problem from their identity and connect more intentionally to preferred ways of being and relating.

Often times, individuals find themselves grappling with challenges that are connected to others. While those others may not be present in therapy, we will continuously explore the social and relational factors that are contributing to problems and those that are supportive of who the person wants to be.

Family therapy does not just mean having multiple members of the family present, but instead engaging the system of the family around common values, hopes and intentions. This often starts with exposing the problem that is working on the family and causing havoc in relationships. The focus is intentionally not on any one member and can occur in dyads, triads, etc.