MEET noelle

I am currently accepting telehealth new clients. I have limited weekend and evening availability. 

Who am I?

My name is Noelle Prax (she/her) and I am a trauma healer and fierce advocate for my clients. Before becoming a therapist I was an Emergency Medical Technician, and often assisted with reproductive healthcare and sexual violence cases in the Emergency Room. Holding the hands of my brave patients inspired me to pursue a counseling career where I could heal the psychological trauma that interactions with our healthcare system often leave behind. I believe the connection between mind and body is fundamental in creating change in people’s lives, and if trauma has touched your story this connection may have been severed. Our bodies often give us cues like feeling overstimulated, feeling disconnected from our surroundings, or even just shutting down. To rekindle a relationship between your mind and body, we need to familiarize ourselves with these cues and learn what they mean. You may have heard of “The Body Keeps the Score” and be curious about where your trauma lives in your body. Let’s find out together. Once we have established safety and autonomy we can move onto finding meaning in your story and promoting empowering change.

In general, I am not a band-aid therapist that will only validate how strong you are for 50 minutes straight. Because you are brave and resilient, I know that you can handle turning towards problems that have felt too daunting to face in the past. I am very intentional with pacing our work together, but when you are ready for change I am ready to go there with you.  We will restore your power in your life together using your resiliency as our tool for change. 

Outside of being a therapist I am a nurturer. I love to garden, create delicious food for my loved ones that won’t upset their stomachs, and take care of my senior dog, Oliver (who is on Prozac). Photosynthesizing in the sun is a required daily activity for me, and I am happy to discuss incorporating nature walks into our work together because of this. I consume an ungodly amount of young adult content, and would love to discuss mythical worlds and vampires with you. My Spotify describes me as an “angsty but uplifting badminton player” which accurately captures how I simultaneously feel 16 and 65 years old internally. Finding humor and small moments of beauty in life are important aspects of the person I am. 

• A trauma healer

• Utilizes bottom-up, somatic techniques

• Focused on rekindling your mind-body connection

How do I work?

As a trauma-informed therapist first, I honor that everyone's stories are likely going to involve some type of trauma. A phrase that resonates with me is “People make sense." Many people that have experienced trauma come to me with behaviors they hope to change such as people pleasing, difficulties enforcing boundaries, and having a hard time trusting others. These behaviors are not your fault or personal failures, they are your body’s firewall. We must acknowledge that these behaviors all come from your brain trying to keep you safe from future harm. Together we will get curious about how the "problems" you bring me may have kept you safe previously and how they are no longer serving you. This process allows you to begin to trust yourself again, and understand that your body has been working to protect you all along.

A large part of my trauma counseling approach involves disentangling shame from the stories we tell ourselves. Shame is a very powerful force, and unfortunately one that has touched many trauma survivors’ lives. As we find meaning in your story, I will also be intentionally building empowerment and dismantling shame from the events that you have survived. All thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are welcome, but shame must be released for change to happen.

Grief is another entity that is often tied to trauma. Whether you have lost a loved one, a part of yourself, or even a future you imagined for yourself I am willing to explore how your loss has impacted your story. Grief can be all consuming and evolve in front of our eyes. As we make sense of your story together, I will encourage you to mourn your losses and find new ways to honor your past while still moving forward. 

• Behaviors can be both protective and no longer serve you

• Dismantling shame is the cornerstone of complex trauma work

• Grieving the past is critical for making progress

Who do I work with?

I welcome all individuals who are seeking therapy and honor the bravery that it takes to begin this journey. I specialize in working with people with disabilities, people experiencing grief, and adolescent, young adult, and elder populations. I acknowledge that marginalized communities (especially BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and low-income people) are underserved in mental health counseling. I am dedicated to increasing access to care for these communities. 

I have had an invisible disability since I was a teen, and much of my passion lies in advocating for and providing counseling to people with disabilities. If you are looking for support navigating life while carrying a disability and ever-changing energy levels, we may be a good fit for each other. You may be struggling with exhaustion from interacting with the healthcare system or from years of invalidation from your providers, and I am here to be in your corner. I will never ask you to “prove” your diagnosis or chronic pain to me. I believe you, and will work with you towards feeling peace and comfort in your body once again. 

Before becoming a therapist, I had my own journey with counseling and understand that not all therapists are created equal. Many of my clients are high-achieving intelligent people that already have awareness of their emotions, but may have previously left therapy couches questioning if therapy works for them. If you are a self-aware individual, the many popular counseling theories that stop at awareness and may have left you feeling stuck or hopeless. I utilize bottom-up techniques, meaning we will start by listening to your body and learning the cues it is communicating about your stress and emotions. Bottom-up techniques help you actually feel your emotions rather than intellectualizing or avoiding them. This can be a very powerful and transformative process for people who weren’t given permission or the space to express their emotions previously.

Although I have experience working with all ages, my favorite age ranges to work with are adolescents, young adults, and elders. Both transitions of entering adult life and your advanced years are rich areas to explore further, and it is an honor to help clients make meaning of these significant chapters of their stories. 

• 16 years and older

• People with disabilities

• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

• Endometriosis

• Fibromyalgia

• Chronic Fatigue

• Narcolepsy

• People seeking academic or workplace accommodations

• Self-aware people

• People who previously haven’t had success with therapy

• People who struggle to sit in their emotions

• BIPOC

• LGBTQIA+ people

• Low-income people

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)

• Acute Stress Disorder

• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• Prolonged Grief Disorder

• Attachment Disorders

Theories/Trainings

I believe that you are the expert of your experiences and therefore have the power to make the best decisions for yourself. I enjoy understanding the systems that people come from and am committed to learning how the family home that you grew up in impacts your symptoms today. I am also interested in how your attachment style or unmet needs from childhood manifest in your current relationships. I pull most of my therapeutic tenants from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Narrative Therapy. Bottom-up techniques such as Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Meditation are foundational to my practice as we reconnect you with your body and begin disentangling shame from your story. I believe in both the science and art of therapy. I always utilize evidence-based approaches AND I believe leaning into creativity and adapting my counseling style to you is just as important as the technique itself. 

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

• Narrative Therapy

• Mindfulness Techniques

• Self-Compassion Meditation Techniques

Commitments and Values

As a trauma therapist, I honor that trauma takes many forms, including collective trauma from social injustice. I treat trauma holistically, and am committed to understanding how your identities intersect with your trauma. Social justice and dismantling oppression from within mental healthcare is a value that I integrate into my counseling practice as well as my advocacy efforts outside of the office. 

If you have been grappling with a decision that involves reproductive healthcare access or gender-affirming care and you have been uncertain where to turn to for help - please know that my office is open to discuss this decision and how it has affected your mental and physical health. I hope to be a safe haven amidst legislation that is attacking healthcare rights and access. 

• Social justice and anti-oppressive practices

• Reproductive Healthcare rights

• Gender-Affirming Care

Education and Licensure

• LPC-Associate Supervised by Lacie Hamilton, LPC-Supervisor

• Boston University - School of Medicine

• Master’s in Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine

• CACREP Accredited Program

• The University of Texas at Austin

• Bachelor of Science and Arts in Biology

• Psychology Minor

Fees: My fee is $130 per 50-minute session, $150 per 80-minute session

Availability: I am currently accepting new telehealth clients. I have limited weekend and evening availability. 

Insurance: Although I am not in-network with insurance companies, I can provide monthly receipts called “superbills” for insurance reimbursement. I provide individual therapy services to all Texas residents 16 years and up through a HIPAA compliant telehealth platform. 

Sliding scale: I have limited sliding-scale availability for people who qualify. To increase equity in access to mental healthcare BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled people will be prioritized for sliding scale services.