Tonya Toutge

Do you feel like you are living your very own “Once upon a time”…but the “Happily ever after” seems elusive? Real life is often no fairytale. I want you to know that I will hold space for your story with the honor that it deserves. I will respect your identity, culture, agency, and pace. I use a trauma-informed lens to look at events that have happened in your story along with Internal Family Systems or ‘parts work,’ Somatic Experiencing or nervous system work, and I like teaching clients about the powerful tool of mindfulness. I enjoy being creative in therapy and I trust that together we can explore to find what works for you.

At Care Counseling, I provide individual therapy to female, male, and non-binary clients from age 14 and up. I have a special interest in working with family units, adolescents and their parents, the LGBTQIA+ community, and individuals who are navigating life transitions or coping with trauma, stress and anxiety.

I am licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist which means I seek to understand you in the context of the systems that influence and impact who you are. I graduated from Saint Mary’s University with a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and did post graduate work at Adler Graduate School in Marriage and Family Therapy. I also have a graduate degree in Theology from St John’s University SOT and I am open to working with clients with a wide range of spiritual expression or none at all.

I am currently training to be a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (currently trained through Intermediate 3). SE is a “bottom-up” treatment modality that brings the nervous system into the conversation in contrast to talk therapy alone which is a top-down approach to treating mental health distress. SE can help people with trauma and stress, but also anxiety, poor stress management, low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, feeling numb, relational trauma and much more.

When I am not practicing therapy, you can find me healing by walking in nature or kayaking, supporting my nervous system by cuddling my animals, feeding my soul by traveling, and reading all the literature I can find to support you! I love spending time with my favorite people, especially my young adult children. Humans are endlessly fascinating to me and I can’t wait to meet you!