Branch and Stone Counseling, PLLC
Stephanie Levin
SLevin@branchandstonecounseling.com
984-464-0753
About me
I am a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Chapel Hill, NC. My approach to therapy begins with developing a strong rapport. Through compassion, curiosity and support, I aim to create a space where you can show up just as you are. You can expect a non-judgemental, laid-back environment. Therapy is serious work, but I don’t see why we can’t laugh together along the way.
I work with adults 18 and older on trauma, relationship concerns, emotional fluency, grief, ADHD management, life transitions, and parenting. I am trained in S.A.F.E. EMDR and am a Certified *Constructed Awareness Counselor. I also use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Mindfulness plays a large role in my work; learning to observe and accept the present moment can be vital to regulating emotions and increasing resilience.
I am LGBTQIA+ friendly. Seeking therapy is a sign of strength. I view the client-therapist relationship as a collaborative one; together, we will access your inner strengths in order to heal, grow, and live the life you want to live.
*To learn about Constructed Awareness, see https://www.constructedawareness.com/
Why “Branch and Stone”?
In her poem, “The Journey,” Mary Oliver describes the pivotal moment when one stands at the threshold of change. It’s a gnarly scene: the shaking house, voices crying out, even the wind conspiring to keep you from your mission. It’s chaotic, scary, this point of deep realization that it’s time for things to be different. She describes it as a terrible storm has ripped through:
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But at the height of this chaos is when movement is made, when “little by little . . .the stars began to burn / through the sheets of clouds…” and a new destination is possible.
Whatever the storm is that has caused you to feel that now is the time to seek support and make change, welcome. We’ll deepen awareness of where you are right now and navigate toward the place you’d like to be. It’s my honor to take this journey with you.
Specialties
Trauma
Using Eye Movement and Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and Constructed Awareness, we’ll work to lessen the effects of trauma. While talk therapy can promote insights and understanding about why events happened and how it affects you today, trauma processing works with the nervous system to shift the intensity of mental and physical symptoms caused by traumatic memories.
ADHD Management
In addition to problem-solving and developing techniques to work with executive dysfunctions, we’ll also engage Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help shift your relationship with self-defeating thoughts and beliefs due to your difficulties. This is an affirming approach to navigating a life with ADHD.
Grief
Loss comes in numerous forms. We grieve broken relationships, we grieve when we lose a loved one to illness or accident, we grieve the fact that we didn’t get what we wanted or needed. No matter the source, the journey with grief is not linear.
Frequently asked questions
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I am in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield, (all PPOs, Blue Value, Blue Care), Aetna, Cigna. I will have you complete an insurance verification form before our first session so there are no surprises about copays, deductibles, etc.
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Self-pay rates are $180 for initial session; $150 for subsequent sessions.
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Yes! I’m happy to arrange a brief phone or zoom call to see if we’re a good fit. I’ll want to know what general issue(s) you’re wanting to work on, what your previous experience with therapy has been, and you’ll have a chance to ask me anything that would be helpful for you to decide if you want to work with me.
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I’m an inclusive, LGBTQ+ affirming practitioner. All are welcome.
Emotional Fluency
Many of us didn’t grow up in an environment where emotions were expressed or talked about in a healthy way. The result is that as adults, we may have a troubled relationship with our feelings.
Because we don’t know how to navigate emotions, we may tend to hold in our emotions like a beach ball underwater. We may push our feelings down because we’ve been told we’re too sensitive, because we never had healthy examples of emotional expression growing up, or because we're afraid that if we really feel our emotions, they'll take over and sweep us away.
Some people believe that acknowledging emotion means allowing weakness. Others are willing to name what they’re feeling—but then they’re left wondering, then what? What do I do with my emotions?
That’s where emotional fluency comes in.
In our work together, I will help you build a new, healthier relationship with your emotions—one rooted in awareness, not avoidance. Together, we’ll explore how emotions aren’t problems to solve, but messengers to listen to. You'll learn how to sit with your feelings, process them, and respond in a way that feels authentic and productive. This work will also help you navigate and connect with the emotions of others, too.
Maybe no one ever made space for you to not be okay. Maybe the idea of self-compassion feels uncomfortable—or even impossible. You're used to holding it all together, functioning at a high level. But here, you don’t have to.
It is okay to not be okay.
And you don’t have to figure it all out alone.
Branch and Stone Counseling, PLLC
SLevin@branchandstonecounseling.com
984-464-0753
104 S. Estes Dr, Suite 301 U
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Monday - Friday, 9am - 4pm
