Katherine Cullen, LCSW, is a psychotherapist currently based in Knoxville, TN. She is licensed to practice clinical social work in New York, Maine, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Katherine obtained her Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from Fordham University in New York City, where she was born and raised. Katherine is trained in evidence-based psychotherapies including EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy), CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), MI (motivational interviewing), Gottman Method couples therapy, mindfulness, and DBT (dialectical behavior therapy). She is also a certified yoga teacher and the co-author of The Truth About Exercise Addiction: Understanding the Dark Side of Thinspiration.
Katherine’s passion lies in helping her clients build their inner resources, improve their emotion regulation and communication skills, and increase their tolerance for discomfort so that they can face their fears, fully embody their potential, have healthier relationships, and sustain long term improvements in overall wellbeing. Katherine firmly believes that trauma and negative past experiences do not have to define a person, nor become their entire identity. She believes that the same truth applies to diagnoses. We are all so much more than the billable codes in diagnostic manuals and the symptoms we experience as a result of past adversity—or not yet having fully built the skills to manage the emotional turmoil that makes us human. Katherine’s aim is to help clients see the full picture of themselves—not as individuals who are irreparably broken, damaged, or sick, but as persons who are capable of healing, thriving, and gaining strength and purpose beyond the negative experiences they’ve face and the negative beliefs they may have internalized about themselves.
She is also of the firm opinion that diagnoses are simply descriptions for a constellation of symptoms—not the full truth of who someone is. Katherine’s approach to psychotherapy is warm, non-judgmental, humorous when it’s appropriate, engaging, and (most importantly) research-backed. She will help you hone skills and techniques that can reduce stress and improve symptoms of anxiety and depression,
She has experience working with individuals who struggle with anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, relationship issues, low self-esteem, time management and motivational challenges, and decision paralysis.