In-Person & Online Therapy in Akron, Ohio for Adults Healing from Difficult Family Relationships
You're not broken.
You're ready to heal.
You drove to your parents' house with the best intentions.
You had a plan: stay a few hours, keep things light, leave before anything gets too intense. By mid-afternoon, it had escalated.
Your mom made a comment about your appearance. Not cruel, exactly... Just that particular flavor of "helpful" your family had always used as cover. You took a breath and said calmly, "Mom, comments like that make me uncomfortable."
The room went cold.
Your dad looked away. Your mom's face did that thing - the wounded, trembling lip - and suddenly you were the one comforting your mother for having shared your feelings. By the time you left, you'd been quietly pulled aside and told you'd "really upset everyone." That you always make things so hard.
You drove home in silence, replaying everything.
You think: Was I wrong? Was I too harsh? Maybe I should apologize.
But then, something newer: Why do I always leave there feeling like I did something wrong just by existing?
That night you googled "is it okay to take space from a parent" and cried reading the results. For the first time, someone was describing exactly what you've been living.
You started wondering, for the first time, if talking to someone might help.
You don't know if what you're experiencing is "bad enough" to bring to a therapist.
You still love your parents. You wonder if the problem is actually you. You've been told your whole life you're too much, too sensitive, too difficult... And part of you believes it.
But you're exhausted after every visit. You're replaying conversations at 1am. You're shrinking yourself in advance just to keep the peace - and it never works anyway.
You don't need someone to tell you what to do.
You need space to finally figure out what you actually feel, maybe for the first time.
If you recognized yourself in any part of that, therapy might be the first place you've ever been allowed to make it about you.
👋 Hi, I’m Allison — an Ohio therapist specializing in family trauma.
I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor seeing clients in-person in Akron, Ohio and virtually throughout the state.
I use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), EMDR, and Relational Therapy to cultivate a compassionate, empowering, and trauma-informed experience.
I won’t tell you that you’re “too self-aware”. I won’t give you worksheets (unless you want them). I won’t talk more than you.
Learn more about my approach here 
I specialize in therapy for adult children of narcissistic or emotionally immature parents, family estrangement support, and complex family trauma. If you’ve spent years managing a parent’s emotions, questioning your own reality, or grieving a relationship that never felt safe, you’re in the right place.
Therapy shouldn’t be about finding the right combination of coping skills and cliches to “fix” yourself.
• Specializing in narcissistic parent recovery, estrangement support, religious trauma, and complex PTSD •
- This is a space of deep care and affirmation, where all sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions are welcomed without question. Your truth is honored here.
- I reject the messages of diet culture and support body liberation. Healing and wholeness are possible in every body, at every size.
- You are free to define what love, connection, and relationship mean to you. All ethical relationship structures, including non-monogamy and polyamory, are respected here.
- I am committed to anti-oppressive and anti-racist education, knowing that trauma does not exist in a vacuum. I aim to hold space that is conscious of both individual and systemic harm.
- Our work together is grounded in honesty, mutual respect, and authenticity. You are always in control of your pace, your story, and your healing.
Plus…
You can do it all from home!
Yes, even EMDR!
And you don’t even have to call to schedule.
If we seem like a good fit, schedule a FREE 15-minute video consult!
Empathy Counseling offers in-person therapy in Akron, Ohio and online therapy to adults throughout Ohio, including Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, and beyond.