“Happiness cannot be pursued; It must ensue”
Viktor Frankl
Claire Gordijn, LMHC, MS, C-PD, ART Certified
About Claire
I was a loud and opinionated child growing up. I spoke my mind readily and I didn’t really have an inside voice. Over time, I learned that this rubbed some people the wrong way and I had to learn to navigate other’s expectations while also keeping true to myself.
I had different phases of my life where I felt shame, anger, or rejection because I am this way and I struggled with figuring out whether it was more important to me to be myself or to be accepted.
The reason I worked to become a therapist is because I was bullied in school, possibly because I was too loud who knows! It effected me badly and my mom arranged for me to talk with a school therapist. Her attentiveness and empathy helped me through one of the hardest points in my life.
Something you may have noticed is the nature and animal pictures on my website. Most of them were either shot by myself or my dad. Photography is a hobby that I picked up from him and it’s something that we share together whether we’re chasing butterfly’s or laying across rocks to get pictures of a waterfall.
I love nature in all it’s gorgeous scenery and especially when everything is in full bloom. Unplanned photos with animals are my absolute favorites though, because they are so rare and so funny to me. (I think black cats were made for these photos with how big their eyes are).
I put these pictures across my website because I want to share beauty and if I can do it in my little corner then I’ve done something special, at least to me. Nature’s ability to just recover, despite drought or floods, natural disasters and unnatural, is amazing to me and I love this wild swamp jungle that is Florida for its determination.
But what about your therapy experience Claire?
I’ve been working in the therapy field for over 5 years because it’s my passion to help people build a life worth living. My background includes rehab facilities for substance abuse, law enforcement and veterans, people struggling with identity and self identification, college campus clinic’s, stress, trauma, anxiety, and depression.
I’m a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Florida, I graduated from Brenau University with a Masters of science in clinical counseling, and from the University of North Georgia with a Bachelor’s in psychology. I also specialize in substance abuse, Adult Children of Alcoholics, trained in Exposure and Response Prevention therapy, trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapist, and am a certified Personality Disorder Therapist.
I work with many groups to provide the best care possible:
Here I am accepting the certificate from a training with The Fire Watch who helps educate the community in Veteran suicide awareness and to support the community of first responders. Working with first responders is so important to me because they often don’t get the support they need nor the understanding for their experiences and the things they continued to carry with them. They spend so much time helping others, sometimes even they need someone to help carry that with them.
Mycroft and Sherlocke will also attempt to join our sessions at times. They are very invested in your mental health, I assure you.
For more photos and quotes, visit my Instagram!