Clerissa Cooper MS, LPC, SEP, CPCS

Licensed Professional Counselor, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, Certified Professional Counselor Supervisor
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

I identify as a Black, Queer, cisgender Southern woman. I was born and raised in Atlanta, GA, and my primary language is English.

Background & Approach:

I am the Clinical Director of The Clearing: A Healing Collective. I received a M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Mercer University and have provided therapy in private practice, outpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient settings.  I have provided therapy and support services to the community for over 14 years.

I value honest and thoughtful communication, which means I communicate in an attentive, supportive, compassionate, empowering, and non-judgmental manner while being authentic, direct, and transparent. I utilize validation and humor in therapy to foster connection and to create space for healthy, long-lasting perspective shifts and change. I seek to help my clients deeply accept and understand their own thoughts, emotions, actions, and experiences so they can more effectively navigate their relationships with self and the world.

I have past professional experience in the women’s reproductive health field and I utilize Black Feminist and healing justice frameworks to inform my work with clients. I have worked to expand accessibility of Dialectical Behavior Therapy with clients and clinicians who identify as Black, Indigenous, Non-Black People of Color, and other folks who historically have been under-represented and not included in the DBT community and clinical research. I work with clients of various identities and backgrounds, including Black women, the LGBTQIA+ community, community organizers, social justice activists, and healers. I work to support individuals addressing the impact of interpersonal, structural, historical, generational, and complex trauma while strengthening healing and wellness from a somatic approach that also incorporates intuitive, traditional, and ancestral healing practices.

Theoretical & Clinical Orientation:

I provide individual, group, and relationship-centered counseling for teens and adults. I specialize in supporting folx with mood disorders, anxiety disorders including Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders, personality disorders, and issues associated with adoption and trauma. I offer Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT-Prolonged Exposure Protocol, Exposure and Response Prevention, clinical hypnotherapy, and somatic approaches that provide a holistic body-based approach to resolving trauma. I am a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner and am also an assistant for the Professional Training Program at Somatic Experiencing International. I am also the current coordinator for Somatic Experiencing International professional trainings in the Atlanta area.

I also provide consultation, workshops, and training related to understanding Borderline Personality Disorder, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and integrating holistic trauma-informed and resolution frameworks into evidence-based practices within a culturally responsive, anti-oppressive, and somatic lens.