What Makes Phoenix Rising So Different?

Meet Achante: 

Achante is dedicated to helping individuals heal, grow, and thrive. She specialize in working with co-occurring disorders, supporting clients who are navigating both substance use challenges and mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and mood disorders.

With a strong foundation in clinical counseling and addiction treatment.  She brings a compassionate, practical, and client-centered approach to every session. 

During the initial session, You can expect a warm, nonjudgmental, and collaborative environment where you are free to share openly at your own pace. Together, we’ll begin developing a plan tailored to your unique needs, focusing on building coping skills, addressing co-occurring symptoms, and creating strategies that support long-term recovery and emotional wellness.

Meet Claudia: 

Claudia is a bilingual (Spanish-speaking) Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with more than two decades of mental health experience. She is dedicated to guiding adults through life's challenges using an approach rooted in compassion, respect, and mutual understanding. Claudia creates a safe, supportive environment where clients feel empowered to achieve meaningful, lasting change. 

Her therapeutic framework integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), strengths-based perspectives, and motivational interviewing. Claudia specializes in treating adults facing depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, family issues, and major life transitions. She operates on the core belief that every individual possesses unique strengths and the ability to thrive despite adversity. 

Meet David:

David  is a social work practitioner, educator, activist, and advocate grounded in the core values of service orientation, social justice, dignity and worth of every person. He is a Veteran of the United States Air Force.  

The first session with David is about you, the client. While David is getting to know about you and your needs, David is more interested in you getting to know David. To build a working relationship, both need to work on elements of a solid relational foundation, such as, communication, respect, honesty, and trust, David believes this first meeting is essential for the client to be able to gauge aspects of these, and other, relational elements.

Meet Noelle:

Noelle has a particular passion for working with teens and young adults navigating some of the most complicated stages of life: identity, relationships, family dynamics, school and college transitions, independence, and figuring out who they are while managing everything happening around them.

Her areas of specialization include eating disorders, substance use and addiction, trauma, and co-occurring mental health concerns. As both a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor, Noelle brings experience working with clients whose challenges don’t fit neatly into one box. She understands that eating disorders, substance use, trauma, anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-esteem often overlap, and treatment needs to look at the whole person rather than one diagnosis.

As a Certified School Social Worker, Noelle also understands the unique pressures adolescents face within school, family, peer, and social environments. She enjoys helping teens build their own voice and identity while also working through the very real challenges that come with growing up. When appropriate, she values collaboration with parents and other supports while making sure the young person still feels that therapy is their space.

Noelle’s style is warm, genuine, collaborative, and direct when it needs to be. Therapy with her isn’t about sitting across from someone who simply nods and asks, “How does that make you feel?” She believes the relationship between therapist and client matters. Sessions include honest conversations, curiosity, humor when appropriate, and practical strategies that clients can use outside of the therapy room.

What to expect in your first session:

You don’t need to arrive knowing exactly what you want to work on or how to explain everything you’ve been experiencing. The first session is an opportunity for Noelle to get to know you beyond a diagnosis, what has been happening, what feels difficult right now, what matters to you, and what you hope could be different.

Together, you’ll begin identifying patterns, strengths, and areas where you may be feeling stuck. The goal isn’t to hand you a generic treatment plan. It’s to develop an understanding of what you need and create an approach to therapy that feels realistic, individualized, and genuinely useful to you.

Whether you’re a teenager trying to find your place, a young adult navigating the transition into independence, or someone who has spent a long time feeling defined by a diagnosis or struggle, Noelle’s goal is to create a space where you can show up as yourself and do meaningful work without judgment.

Meet Veronica:

Veronica is a dedicated therapist committed to helping individuals navigate life’s challenges with clarity, confidence, and compassion.  She believes that therapy should be as unique as the person sitting across from her. 

She uses an eclectic, individualized approach tailored to client specific needs.

Her practice often incorporates mindfulness and meditation to help clients stay grounded.

During the initial session, Veronica focuses on getting to know the person behind the history. She invites clients to share what led them to therapy, their passions, and even their dislikes, using these insights to build a strong foundation of rapport. She strives to ensure every individual feels completely comfortable and empowered in her care.