From broken to whole

Counselor guides clients

The first mental health clinic in Pea Ridge is open for business.

Keri Timmons said suffering personal trauma and the resulting healing prompted her to become a counselor. Her office is open for appointments as needed and said she will work with people when they need to meet, including Saturday mornings.

Keri L. Timmons, MS, LPC, NCC Counseling Services

221 Lee Town Rd., Pea Ridge

Phone: 479-925-0164

Sessions by appointment

"I have flexible hours," Timmons said. "I specialize in trauma from PTSD to sexual abuse, domestic abuse, additions."

Timmons said post-traumatic stress disorder is not just from military experience but also happens to children who've suffered from emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

"Many adults just now realize they're suffering from the trauma they suffered as children," she explained.

Timmons has a dual master's degree in community counseling and marriage and family therapy from John Brown University. She is a licensed professional counselor and has 12 years experience.

"I really feel like it's a calling. I believe in God, but it's also the recovery," I want to help people recover and be whole ... to bring hope and healing to individuals who saw no hope or healing. I want to take them from a state of brokenness to a state of wholeness."

Timmons said one of her graduate papers was on what it means to be broken and the she personally knows what it means.

"I personally experienced severe trauma, as a child in a family of domestic violence," she said, adding that she was also in the military and, although she did not see active service, she understands being in the military.

"People come in and see no way out. I try to bring insight and they start seeing a way out, start seeing it within themselves and start realizing they have resources they've never tapped into.

"People just don't realize how much positivity they have in their life," she said, explaining that she helps them tap into the resources they have in their life. "I re-frame their situation from this bad list of things in their life into a positive way. I remind them to look at the challenges and how strong they are because they've already gone through and survived. They don't give themselves enough credit."

Timmons is nationally certified in trauma and said she did a lot of extra work to get that credential.

"I love kids," the mother of two said. She has worked mainly with families and children in the last five years and with "kids play therapy." She worked in the Children's Safety Center, the advocacy center for Washington County, for the past five years.

"I'm here for the community," she said. "This is the first mental health facility for Pea Ridge. It's amazing that our small community has help out there. People just need to seek it. I'm willing to help and work with any family that needs counseling."

Timmons said she accepts most insurance and that she schedules appoints to help clients maintain privacy and confidentiality.

"I do a lot of bipolar and Dissociative Identity Disorder," she said.

One of her most rewarding cases was a child who was raped for many years during her pre-teen years by a male relative. After three years of therapy, she healed and has married and is a mother. "She was such a little trooper; she never wanted to give up," Timmons said. "She was an amazing kid. It was gratifying to be able to help her.

"She is now a productive member of society because therapy helped her. She was willing to work to help herself. A client has to be willing to do the work. It's worth it."

Business on 06/15/2016