Elayne Smith, LMFT & Founder

Welcome to The Center for Connection, Healing and Change.

I created CCHC as a space for clients to deepen their connection to both themselves and their loved ones. I believe that the degree to which we experience our relationships as satisfying and responsive holds great power for our well-being.

It was also created as a place that invests in the work of creative and skilled therapists. The Center offers a place for therapists to thrive, grow, and develop their professional identity as relationship-focused therapists.

Clients I work with: Adult individuals. I also provide specialized therapy for leaders, entrepreneurs, therapists, clinical directors and supervisors, and group private practice owners.

Issues I work with: Identifying and exploring issues at their origin/root, relationships, patterns of survival, adaptation, and protection, deep healing, shadow drivers, life transitions, and cultivating potential.

To read more about Elayne, click here

Jennifer Rulli, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Director of Clinical and Growth and Training

Early family of origin experiences lay the foundation for internal and interpersonal patterns that continue to play out in later life. Though these patterns are not set in stone, they are often automatic and hard to recognize, change, and understand. Together we can explore the ways in which our adaptations may have served us well in earlier times but are no longer proving to be helpful, effective, or authentic.

In my work with teens, we explore ways to process and cope with distress, supporting your teen to feel more confident and less burdened by anxiety. Together, we find ways to balance the need to explore the world and an emerging identity with independence and individuality with the security of connection and belonging.

Parenting can feel like a roller coaster as children’s needs change from one developmental stage to the next, or when circumstances change, the support needs your child may have. We can work together to help you adapt to these needs and work as a parenting/caregiving team.

In working with individuals, I value working with parts of clients that may be overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, loneliness, confusion, or shame. Honoring our wounded parts allows us to learn more about our unmet needs, nurture self-compassion, and engage differently in relationships. I also work with major life transitions/changes so that you can be true to your own needs and values even when stress or hurt feels overwhelming.

Clients I work with: Adolescents aged 12 to 18 and their families/caregivers, parents and caregivers, and adult individuals. I also offer EMDR to adult individuals. 

Issues I work with: Adolescent and parent relationships, increasing connection in relationships, family of origin issues, managing emotions, trauma, ADHD, anxiety, depression, shame, self-esteem, identity exploration, chronic illness/special needs, life transitions, gender/sexual identity, school issues, neuro-diversity.

To read more about Jennifer, click here

Rachel Pendergraft, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist,  Clinical Supervisor, Systemic Residency Program

I believe in the restorative and healing power of being truly known by self and others, through a process of deepening emotional intimacy, healing pain, and understanding needs. I specialize in working with clients to identify blocks in their relationship and supporting each person to feel seen, heard, and understood.  

It might be that you each have a different way of navigating emotions, conflict, disconnection, or stress. I take time to connect with each of your perspectives, working as a translator for the things you need, your different ways of being, and the relational ‘misses’ that drive you apart. For most couples, one partner tends to pursue for connection, upping the ante when they can’t feel their important other, while the other partner tends to withdraw or shut down in an effort to reduce tension and diffuse conflict.

I can help you to slow your old cycle down, get access to what you truly need, and support you to share your internal world with your precious person. Where this is new, risky, or foreign for either of you, I will guide you through the process, step by step, until you can build a new map for catching yourself and your partner in your moments of need.  

I am skilled in working with individual clients who are looking to explore the ways that relationships have shaped them, both in the past and present. I can help you organize your early experiences and the messages they may have offered about your worth, lovableness, and boundaries. Where you may have developed any limiting beliefs about what you deserve, what you can ask for, and what you can receive I can help you heal, risk new interactions, and build your self-worth.

Clients I work with: Adult individuals and couples.

Issues I work with: Communication, emotional intimacy, deepening connection in relationships, conflict repair, family of origin issues, adult attachment, trust, boundaries, codependency, anxiety, depression, neurodiversity (ADHD and ASD) challenges in relationships, life transitions, trauma, and young adult concerns

To read more about Rachel, click here

Vanessa Nieves, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

My approach is relational and trauma-informed, grounded in the science of attachment and the belief that healing happens in connection. Many of us learn to cope in ways that make perfect sense given what we’ve been through. Maybe you’ve learned to stay strong and self-sufficient, to care for everyone else first, to keep busy, or to hold your feelings close to the chest. These strategies helped you survive, but they can also create distance from yourself and the people you love. 

In couples therapy, I go beneath the arguments to access your needs — to feel important, to be understood, to know your partner is truly there. When these needs go unspoken or unmet, both partners begin to protect themselves in ways that create even more distance.

Our work together helps you slow down and see these patterns clearly. Instead of getting lost in blame or defensiveness, we’ll explore what’s happening underneath the surface — the fears, hurts, and hopes that each of you carries. Together, we’ll map out the cycle that keeps you stuck and begin to shift from reacting to reaching, conflict to connection, and protection to intimacy.

With individuals, we’ll explore how your experiences and relationships have shaped your current patterns — how you protect yourself, how you manage emotions, how you commuicate, and how you set boundaries. I bring a relational and trauma-informed lens to this process, paying attention not only to your emotions and thoughts but also to your body’s cues — the tension, exhaustion, or restlessness that often hold untold stories.

Clients I work with: Adult individuals and couples.

Issues I work with: Relationship patterns, communication, emotional intimacy, ADHD, sexual concerns, premarital/pre-commitment concerns, attachment styles, emotion regulation, trust, life transitions, grief and loss, trauma, identity, self-worth, family of origin/issues from childhood, intergenerational patterns, anxiety, depression,  military life, and first responders.

To read more about Vanessa, click here

Carrie McDaniel, Licensed Professional Counselor

Often, the ways you’ve learned to survive — shutting down, people-pleasing, overachieving, holding everything in — were brilliant strategies that got you through. But they may also leave you feeling stuck, unseen, or disconnected from yourself.

In our work, we’ll gently explore those stuck places. We’ll get curious about the protectors you’ve relied on, the wounds that still need tending, and the parts of you that are longing for more freedom, safety, and love. I believe healing doesn’t happen by erasing your past, but by making sense of it — by giving voice to what was hidden and compassion to what was hurting.

Through this process, you may find yourself becoming more attuned to your needs, more compassionate toward your feelings, and more willing to trust your own inner voice. You might discover the freedom to set boundaries that honor you, to risk being vulnerable with those you love, and to show up as more of your full self. Sometimes, healing means not only tending to wounds but also reclaiming the strengths, resilience, and wisdom that have always been within you.

Clients I work with: Adult individuals in all stages of life

Issues I work with: Life transitions (going to college, having children, divorce, career changes, empty nesting, retirement, etc.), relationships, communication, attachment style, anxiety, depression, grief, loss, trauma, emotion regulation, self-worth, life purpose, identity, boundary issues, intergenerational cycle breaking, and issues stemming from family of origin or childhood.

To read more about Carrie, click here

Delayna Choat, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

I work with couples who navigate emotions, stress, conflict, and disconnect in different ways.

I can help you slow everything down and identify the emotions and missed needs that underpin your struggles. From there, I can help you find more satisfying ways to reach for and respond to each other. Step by step, I support partners to deepen security, emotional intimacy, and trust with each other.

I am passionate about helping your teen explore their sense of self and gain confidence in their passions, boundaries, identity, and capabilities. My goal is to support tweens and teens to scaffold a solid sense of who they are and what makes them special and worthy in the world, so they have the security they need to continue to explore, make mistakes, regulate emotions, and balance connection with being an individual.  

I work with individuals vulnerable to people pleasing, perfectionism, and overfunctioning. If you find yourself saying yes out of obligation, real or imagined, or out of a fear that if you say no, you are letting somebody down, I can help you get to the roots of these patterns

Clients I work with: Couples, tweens/teens and their families, parents, young adults, adult individuals, and adult families.

Issues I work with: Communication, couple and family relationships, parenting, anxiety, depression, ADHD, neurodivergence, autism, grief and loss, trauma, self-worth, emotional regulation, relationship patterns, emotional intimacy and connection, childhood experiences, intergenerational cycle breaking, school issues, behavioral concerns, life transitions, premarital/ pre-commitment concerns, and boundaries.

To read more about Delayna, click here

Shana Avery, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Your experiences form maps on the inside of you about what can be available to you in the world, who will be there for you, what needs or emotions are acceptable, and the extent to which you are loveable, worthy, and deserving.

I am certain you have found ways to survive, protect against, or adapt to the stressors of life or unmet relationship needs. These brilliant strategies have helped you get through all the hard moments, and they may also leave you feeling limited, stuck, or wounded.

I work with couples to learn more about their missed needs, unseen emotions, and protective strategies that show up for each partner during moments of relationship distress. Sessions help you build a bridge between your different ways of being in the world and develop a shared language for connection, security, and intimacy that you can lean into time and time again.

I work with individuals wanting to move through old pain, family dynamics, trauma, or loss. My role is to help you organize what is happening on the inside of you so that you can access your inner needs, wisdom, and healing. From there, I can help you find ways to share who you are with the people you care about the most, risk being more fully yourself, and create balance in your world.

Clients I work with: Adult individuals and couples.

Issues I work with: Relationship patterns, communication, emotional intimacy, sexual concerns, premarital/pre-commitment concerns, attachment styles, emotion regulation, trust, life transitions, grief and loss, trauma, identity, self-worth, family of origin/issues from childhood, intergenerational patterns, anxiety, depression,  military life, and first responders.

To read more about Shana, click here

Ruth Pascoe, Licensed Professional Counselor

Finding our way back to our whole self can be a difficult journey, one that asks us to connect with feelings not yet owned, wounds not yet processed, and longings not yet voiced. When our needs for comfort, validation, protection, and predictability are not met in our relationships, we can be vulnerable to feeling unworthy, unsafe, and that our needs are unimportant.

The strategies we have for dealing with our unmet needs often show up in similar patterns for managing stress, distress, and disconnection. Some move towards others, hoping that if we fight loud, long, or hard enough, our pain and anger will eventually be acknowledged. Some move away from others, minimizing or numbing emotions to keep from being hurt or judged. 

I work with individuals and couples to reconnect, build security, and identify and share unmet needs.

We consider the ways relationships have shaped you and influenced present-day interactions. Together, we will bring understanding to places of reactivity, validation to still-open wounds, and clarity to unmet needs. I work in a manner that fosters inner resilience, strength in vulnerability, and taps into the unparalleled power of connection.

Clients I work with: Adult individuals and couples.

Issues I work with: Communication, emotional connection, and intimacy, relationship patterns, self-esteem, shame, guilt, trust, identity, life transitions, limiting beliefs, grief, trauma, issues from childhood, emotion dysregulation, anxiety, and depression.

To read more about Ruth, click here

Sophie Borchers, LMT, and Zen Shiatsu Practitioner

Our body can hold a lot as a means of protection and adaptation, but it is not always clear about when it can release these strategies and return to balance, calm, and safety. The body has innate wisdom and is wired for resilience. It knows how to heal, adapt, self-correct, and protect, and sometimes needs support with the ‘how’. 

Embodied healing modalities such as Zen Shiatsu are helpful in retraining our nervous system to react appropriately to external stimuli. At its core, when there is disconnection, we may find our bodies automatically responding or sending signals that send us into a parasympathetic (fight/flight) or functional freeze state when there is no threat present. These “up” and “down” dysregulated states can feel like a rollercoaster or pendulum wildly swinging from one side to the other. This process can leave us feeling exhausted, defeated, unprepared, vigilant, or worse.

The problem is NOT you, and you are not alone. Your system and its symptoms are just an expression, an indication, of how hard your body has worked to protect you based on your lived experiences. It is possible to create change, find more satisfying and calm ways of being, and support a gentler and more secure relationship with the world around you.

Clients I work with: Adult individuals and children 8 years old and above. 

Issues I work with: Muscle and joint pain, quality sleep, respiration, energy levels, stress, trauma, digestive disturbances, anxiety, depression, symptoms of PTSD, neuropathy, pregnancy, post-natal wellness, chronic health conditions, mystery pain, autoimmune disorders, sympathetic nervous system resets, and emotionally overwhelming or dysregulated states.

To read more about Sophie, click here

To learn more about Zen Shiatsu services, click here

Maureen Flaherty, Licensed Professional Counselor 

I specialize in the deep, change-worthy work of family-of-origin issues, reduction of the symptoms of mood disorders, decision-making about the future of relationships, the issues of living that are specific to men, and the treatment of substance use issues.

In my twenty years of practice as an agent of change, I have come to know that many of our emotional and relational difficulties can be connected to the experiences we have growing up in our family. My goal is to help you resolve and heal the unfinished business of the past so that you don’t have to keep recreating them in the present.

My style of therapy is targeted, structured, and focused on the creation of lasting change. I believe that therapy should help to restructure your experiences so that you see life through a different lens. This new lens allows for continued change, long after therapy has ended.

Much of my clinical experience and expertise has been in working with men. Cultural expectations of men often look to them to be independent, self-sufficient, stoic, problem-solvers, and invulnerable. I support men to explore more effective ways to manage stress, relationships, emotions, and problem-solving.

Clients I work with: Adult individuals, groups, and families. 

Issues I work with: Anxiety, depression, trauma, chronic illness, shame, guilt, trust, self-worth, identity, relationships, emotional intimacy and connection, emotion regulation, family-of-origin issues, childhood experiences, men’s issues, and adult family relationships.

To read more about Maureen, click here

Thomas Macalik, LPC

As a child and family therapist and father of three, I deeply understand the journey of parenthood. While this experience is incredibly rewarding, it is also paved with unique challenges, moments of overwhelm, and points of pain. I see the exhaustion, self-doubt, relational strains, and emotional toll that can accompany the constant striving to meet all the individual and collective needs of a family.

My approach acknowledges these multifaceted struggles, understanding that parents often carry the weight of societal expectations, past experiences, and the deep desire to nurture thriving children. Within this context of both immense love and inevitable struggle, I aim to connect with parents, offering a supportive space to explore these challenges and collaboratively build pathways towards greater understanding, resilience, connection, and joy in their parenting journey.

I frequently work with adults struggling with trauma, feelings of unworthiness, insecure attachment styles, or relationship patterns that don’t feel satisfying or secure. Where you have needed to develop protections or believe that a secure connection is not available to you, I can help you work through the unresolved pain that limits your present reality. You deserve to feel worthy, valuable, safe, and seen, and I look forward to being alongside you in your journey to feeling whole.

Clients I work with: Children and teens, and their families, parents and caregivers, adult individuals. 

Issues I work with: Anxiety, depression, parenting strategies, emotional regulation, coping skills, communication, loss and grief, life transitions, self-worth, trust, peer relationships, social skills, attachment, defiance, military life, behavioral concerns, ADHD/ADD, school issues, and chronic pain/illnesses.

To read more about Thomas, click here