As a counselor, Michelle Fitzhugh offers several forms of therapy to help her clients on the path to healing.
From Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), brainspotting, addiction treatment to couples counseling, the therapy is based on the needs of the client.
“I meet the person where they are, working to get them to a space where they want to be. I’m helping them see where they are and understand where they are versus being action-oriented,” Fitzhugh explained.
Since 2018, the owner of Redeemed Life Counseling and her team of licensed counselors have been offering mental health resources from their office in Argyle. Starting in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic, demand and need have grown.
“There is a mental health crisis, and it has been coming for a long time,” Fitzhugh said. “The awareness, conversation, people having an idea of what to do and where to turn to get help, have become more of something that people are talking about openly and widely. It’s just continued to grow and expand into our area.
“It’s just my heart to bring quality, good therapy to this area, where people don’t have to leave and go somewhere else.”
Redeemed has grown from four counselors to 14 therapists and associates, with plans to add up to four more by the end of the year.
“I’m thrilled to be in this position where we have 14 available therapists,” Fitzhugh said.
“We’re really selective on who we bring into the practice, making sure their methodology matches what we’re doing. They have to have the same mindset and heart for people.”
Fitzhugh has been a counselor for more than 25 years, working in schools and other practices before starting Redeemed.
Her path to becoming a counselor started while she was teaching. She quickly found she had a passion for helping students and parents with their everyday struggles.
“I had a good friend in the same school who was a counselor and she was going to leave to have a baby. We started talking about it and she said, ‘You’re already a counselor. You just need to go to school.’ So I did,” Fitzhugh recalled.
“I got my master’s and started counseling in the middle of my master’s degree in that school. I absolutely loved it. I’m passionate about finding the things that help hurting people, seeing those victories, and being able to walk through really hard things with people.”
A majority of her patients are working through trauma. Fitzhugh and the other Redeemed therapists offer different methods to help them process and heal. EMDR, which uses eye movements similar to REM sleep to help process memories, is one form of trauma treatment.
“It brings up a memory that they often have a lot of emotion attached to it. They can have some sensations in the body from it,” Fitzhugh said. “The brain begins to reprocess that memory and help the body and the brain understand and realize it’s not happening again. It happened in the past and it’s over.
“It’s such an integral part of my practice as a trauma therapist. I use it for everything — anxiety, OCD and depression.”
Fitzhugh also provides intensive therapy, offering months of therapy to clients in one to four sessions.
Redeemed’s different counselors offer a variety of services and therapy methods to meet the needs of clients. Redeemed’s licensed associates are also available as affordable options for clients.
“The associates have passed all their tests and are gathering their hours to be fully licensed,” Fitzhugh said.
Redeemed is accepting new clients for in-person and online appointments.
“It’s just my heart to bring quality, good therapy to this area, where people don’t have to leave and go somewhere else.” Michelle Fitzhugh, owner of Redeemed Life Counseling
