About Us
Pallavi Lal, LPC
EMDRIA Approved Consultant
IIE-CT, DBT-C, IFS Level 1, Level 3 DBR/AT Interweaves
AZBBHE Approved Supervisor
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Pallavi Lal is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Clinical Supervisor based in Arizona, with 20 years of experience supporting individuals through trauma resolution, identity exploration, and relational healing.
Her clinical focus is developmental and early attachment trauma, emotional misattunement, and intergenerational wounding, with particular attention to core wounds rooted in aloneness and abandonment pain. Pallavi integrates bottom up somatic techniques, evidence-based modalities, and creative metaphors to help restore what trauma can disrupt: connection, safety, and self-trust.
Blending clinical precision with a body-centered, holistic approach, Pallavi is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant (AC), a IFS-Informed EMDR Certified Therapist (IIE-CT), a DBT Certified Therapist, Level 1 IFSI trained, and Level 3 DBR and S2 Protocol trained.
Her advanced EMDR training includes a focus on preverbal and early trauma, including the Neuroaffective Embodied Self Therapy (N.E.S.T.) protocol. Her foundation in holistic practices is grounded in Yoga, Mindfulness, and Hypnotherapy, along with specialized training in Breathwork, Trauma-Informed Movement, and Alexander Technique interweaves.
As a first-generation South Asian woman navigating the intersections of culture, identity, belonging, and expectation. She is particularly interested in the stories we inherit, the ways culture and systems shape how we understand ourselves, and what becomes possible when previously unnamed experiences are given language and space.
She brings this lens to her work with clients and clinicians through cultural humility, curiosity, and attunement to what has not always been named — creating space for the felt experience of being seen, held, and heard.
In addition to her clinical practice, she provides clinical supervision as an Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners Supervisor and EMDRIA consultation for therapists seeking to expand their skillset while remaining grounded in authenticity, ethics, and embodied presence.
To learn more, visit: www.expandinghorizonscounseling.com.
Current Courses:
→ Supervised Private Practice Guidelines for Business Operations
Lianna Purjes, LCSW
Certified Discernment Counselor
EMDR, EFIT, EFCT, Gottman Level II, DBR Level II, DBT, ART
AZBBHE Approved Supervisor
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Lianna Purjes, LCSW, MSEd, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, educator, and clinical supervisor based in Arizona, with nearly 20 years of combined experience in education and mental health.
Her clinical focus includes neurodivergence, complex and attachment trauma, and relationships, with particular expertise in working with ADHD and autistic adults and neurodiverse couples. Drawing from her backgrounds in both special education and clinical social work, Lianna brings a developmental and neurodiversity-affirming lens to understanding behavior, relationships, emotional regulation, and trauma.
Lianna is an Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners Approved Clinical Supervisor and Certified Discernment Counselor. She has advanced training in EMDR Therapy, Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), and Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and Gottman Couples Therapy.
Her background in special education provides a unique foundation for her work with neurodivergent clients and clinicians. Rather than approaching ADHD and autism as a collection of symptoms to eliminate, she focuses on understanding how differences in nervous system regulation, sensory processing, communication, executive functioning, and lived experience shape the way people move through the world and relate to one another.
Lianna is particularly interested in what happens when traditional clinical approaches do not quite fit the person sitting in front of us. Her work emphasizes moving beyond rigid application of protocols toward thoughtful clinical decision-making that considers neurotype, developmental history, trauma, relationships, and the individual needs of each client.
In addition to her clinical work, Lianna provides supervision and consultation to therapists seeking to strengthen their clinical skills, deepen their understanding of neurodivergence and trauma, and approach complex cases with greater confidence and flexibility.
To learn more, visit www.fuzzysockstherapy.com.
Current Courses:
→ Supervised Private Practice Guidelines for Business Operations
→ Introduction to Discernment Counseling
→ Cultural Competency Considerations for Neurodiversity-Affirming Care
Meet The Trainers
Meet the clinicians, educators, and field leaders helping therapists deepen clinical skills, expand their perspectives, and stay connected to the heart of the work through on-demand trainings, live courses, and expert talks.
Pat Schober
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Pat Schober started his career as an editor-in-chief in the Philadelphia region. After a few years in journalism, he moved across the state to Pittsburgh and transitioned into the exciting and competitive marketing industry.
In 2018, he founded Poetica Marketing, and he's since helped companies and solopreneurs all over the world enhance their online presence while increasing sales.
A writer at heart and a strategist by trade, Pat is passionate about creating compelling campaigns through websites, email, SEO/GEO, social media, and more.
When he's not in the office, you’ll find him spending time with his wonderful wife, Regina, and their son, Zayden.
To learn more, visit: https://www.poeticamarketing.com/
Current Offerings:
Expert Talks: Blogging for SEO Success for Therapists
Shelly Thome, LPC, CCTP, CCTSI, CTMH, CCFP
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Shelly Thome is a seasoned Licensed Professional Counselor with 30 years of experience supporting adolescents, adults, educators, school communities, mental health professionals, and families across high schools, community mental health settings, hospitals, and private practice. Throughout her career, Shelly has developed a strong focus on supporting adolescents experiencing anxiety and helping the adults who work with them respond effectively during moments of heightened distress.
Shelly is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Arizona, Florida, and South Carolina. Through her private practice, she provides counseling to adolescents and adults navigating anxiety, depression, and trauma. She also serves as a Clinical Supervisor, mentoring emerging counselors and supporting their professional growth.
A passionate educator and trainer, Shelly has extensive experience training both school staff and mental health professionals in practical, low-intensity strategies that can be used in the moment to help adolescents manage heightened anxiety and regain a
sense of safety and regulation. Her approach emphasizes accessible, immediately applicable tools that empower caring adults to respond with confidence.
Shelly is a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional and holds additional certifications in trauma and telehealth. Her work also focuses on helping professionals recognize, prevent, and recover from compassion fatigue, equipping those who care for others with strategies to sustain their purpose while protecting their own well-being. Shelly brings to her work a unique combination of clinical expertise, decades of real-world experience, and a deep understanding of the emotional demands placed on those supporting young people and their communities.
To learn more, visit: https://www.getfocuscounseling.com
Current Courses:
Sandra Paulsen, Ph.D
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Sandra Paulsen, Ph.D., is an international instructor, author and illustrator of principles and procedures for using EMDR with complex trauma including structural and somatic dissociation and trauma held in implicit memory.
Her books include coediting The Neurobiology and Treatment of Traumatic Dissociation: Toward an Embodied Self. She wrote and illustrated Looking Through the Eyes of Trauma: An Illustrated Guide for EMDR Therapists and Clients; and When There Are No Words: EMDR for Very Early Trauma in Implicit Memory, and coauthored We’re Listening Body: Integrating EMDR, Somatic and Ego State Therapies.
Other books include: The Beauty and Burden of Autism: An Illustrated Guide and Workbook, and Indigenous Trauma and Dissociation: Healers, Psychotherapies and the Drum, with Shelley Spear Chief. She also coauthored and illustrated a children’s book that is also useful for dissociative adults called All the Colors of Me: My First Book on Dissociation. Sandra is a Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.
She developed the first protocol for the use of EMDR with highly dissociative individuals, publishing cautions about EMDR with dissociation, and for first urging the screening of every client for dissociation before administering EMDR.
She has trained thousands of mental health professionals in these special procedures since 1993. She lives in a log house in the forest on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, Washington, USA where she does intensive treatment in the three-day format.
To learn more about Sandra Paulsen and her work: www.paulsenpsychology.com
Current Courses:
Cliffard Mayo, MBA, MS, LAC
Cliffard Mayo, MBA, MS, LAC is a licensed associate counselor, behavioral health consultant, author, and the creator of the Imposter Identity Framework (IIF) and the Imposter Identity Mapping Model (IIMM).
His work sits at the intersection of professional identity, burnout recovery, and the emotional lives of people in the helping professions. He holds a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Grand Canyon University and a Master of Business Administration with a specialization in Organizational Leadership from Ashford University, Forbes School of Business. He is also a Certified Trauma Professional (CTP) and a Certified Anxiety-Informed Professional (CAIP).
Cliffard's career in behavioral health spans more than a decade and is rooted in direct community mental health practice in Mohave County, Arizona. He began his work in the field at Southwest Behavioral and Health Services, later joined the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), and He is currently a therapist at Fearless Journey
Counseling and Consulting, PLLC, where he provides humanistic, trauma-informed, and multicultural counseling with a focus on identity development, burnout recovery, and anxiety.
In August 2026, Cliffard launched Cliffard Mayo Coaching and Consulting, an identity-centered coaching and consulting practice serving helpers and behavioral health professionals.
The practice reflects his broader mission: to bring the same level of care and intention to the professional lives of helpers that helpers bring to the lives of the people they serve.
Cliffard is a published author of eight titles, including So, You Want to Work in Mental Health?: The Good, the Bad, and the Unforgettable, which received the International Impact Book Award in the Memoir category, and Reclaiming Your Identity: A Workbook for Understanding and Transforming Imposter Syndrome, the companion workbook to this CE training. He has been featured on the Inside Mental Health Podcast on Psych Central, hosted by Gabe Howard.
For more information, visit https://www.cliffardmayocc.com/
Current Courses: Reclaim your Identity: Transforming your Imposter Syndrome
Continuing Education Information
Therapaideia Training Collective, PLLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 8113 for On Demand Courses Only.
EMDRIA APPROVED CREDIT PROVIDER: 26047
Programs that do not qualify for NBCC or EMDRIA credits are clearly identified. Therapaideia Training Collective, PLLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
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