Get ready to connect with the newest provider at Forward Counseling! 🎉 Angela Knowles, LMSW, is here to guide you on your journey to healing, bringing a compassionate, trauma-informed, and highly versatile approach to mental wellness.

Angela's path to becoming a therapist was a deep commitment to community and change; what started with an interest in nursing eventually shifted to social work, where she realized the power of psychotherapy to help a vast majority of people from different walks of life. This dedication was meant to be—her high school yearbook named "counselor" as her aspiration!

She is a Certified Family Trauma Professional and Board Certified Bariatric Counselor, combines expertise in mental and physical health, recognizing stress and trauma's impact on various aspects of life. Her trauma-informed approach helps clients understand how past experiences and generational cycles of distress continue to affect their anxiety, depression, and coping skills. Angela uses a holistic framework, blending evidence-based practices like CBT and DBT, to meet clients where they are. Her therapy aims to release clients from past troubles and create a brighter future.

Join our Q&A session with the newest provider at Forward Counseling and discover how Angela Knowles can help you on your healing journey. 🧠

1.What inspired you to become a mental health therapist, particularly an LMSW?

Over the years I have changed how I wanted to help my community and help the world. I initially wanted to be a nurse but I switched gears to focus a little more on my son. At the time he was a little younger when I was pursuing my degree so I changed my major to social work. In social work, I am able to move around and touch different lives; help a vast majority of people from different walks of life. When I got my degree in 2013, I realized being licensed would prepare me for working independently one day. Ironically in the back of my high school yearbook there was a section for your dreams and aspirations, beside my name it actually says counselor, so I guess it was meant to be.

2. As a Certified Family Trauma Professional (CFTP), can you explain what 'family trauma' means and how your approach helps break generational cycles of distress, especially in a community like Memphis?

Family trauma holds stressors and pain that has been passed down. It does not always have to be a physical trauma. It could be the environment you lived in, how your parents raised you which is passed on throughout generations. I would explore family dynamics, how culture impacted how they were reared as a child and recall childhood experiences to help the clients break patterns that were not healthy growing up.

3. You shared in your bio, “My anxiety and depression feel tied to past experiences." How does your trauma-informed background change the way you treat common issues like chronic stress, anxiety, or addiction compared to traditional talk therapy?

Using the trauma informed background allows me the ability to help clients recognize where the distressing moments happened in their lives. I would have them go back to their childhood and reflect on stressors that have negatively impacted their lives and possibly still present into adulthood. Help the client recognize what they’re feeling and their body, how they react to situations, how they react to stress using evidence based practice to assist them in learning how to address the trauma with emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills.

4. What is the connection between mental health and physical health, and how does your certification as a Board Certified Bariatric Counselor allow you to offer a more 'integrated care' approach to your clients?

Mental health and physical health are affected in tandem. When you are unable to manage your anxiety, depression, or whatever mental illness that you have, it affects the physical with unexplained pains, the stress and trauma are stored in the body causing physical and mental unrest. Asit relates to bariatric counseling, we have a tendency to use food as a comfort to manage our emotions. Bariatric counseling is instrumental and helpful to individuals who are battling obesity. Counseling prior to having bariatric surgery will help explore and address the unhealthy relationship with food; helping them to reframe their thinking and behaviors that will allow them to change how they respond to stressors. Clients will be able to look at how they think about food, learn to make healthier decisions and use healthy coping skills instead of depending upon food as a comfort.

5. Your background mentions using a 'holistic framework' blending CBT and DBT. For someone new to therapy, what does that holistic blend actually feel like, and how do you customize it for the individual?

For me using a holistic framework is basically meeting the client where they are in their life. All approaches are not equal to each person so using mindfulness techniques, helping the client to stay centered and focus on the present as they address issues from the past. We revisit the past to find out where the shift or stressful moment happened in their lives. I want to allow the person the freedom to navigate through and resolve their issues by incorporating different approaches versus having one structured approach.

6. A strong therapeutic relationship is key. How do you approach the first session to ensure a client—whether a child, adolescent, or adult—feels safe, heard, and ready to open up?

My goal is to just talk with a client, build rapport during the session, focusing on the concerns they are presenting with. I want them to feel relaxed and supported, they can open up at their own time and pace. I want to allow the initial meeting to be organic. I want to allow them the opportunity to learn a little about me and to talk freely without feeling like they are being rushed.

7. You also said that you've been in therapy before and felt stuck. How does your decade of professional experience influence your strategy when a client hits a plateau or feels resistant to change?

I had to look at myself and realize what am I missing ? I received the skills and tools. What else did I need in order to see any progress? I had to learn how to spend time with myself and revisit my past and look at what was happening in the present. I like to revisit the past with clients. I like to explore their feelings, when they notice the shift or change in their lives and we work from that space.

8. As a native Memphian who studied here, how does your deep understanding of the local community inform how you support clients facing unique regional stressors or cultural challenges?

I like to talk to clients about what area/neighborhood they are from, what their environment is like and beginning from that space. I grew up in an area that has a lot of crime so just being able to speak with them about the challenges they face and how their environment impacts their daily decisions, making skills, ability to thrive and life plans. The goal is to let them know that you can have a better life and see a bright future. They can be released from the cocoon that makes them feel trapped in the world and soar like a butterfly.

9. Your practice serves children, adolescents, adults, and geriatric populations. Are there one or two specific challenges that you find yourself most passionate about addressing across all age groups?

I have found that working with children and the geriatric population were challenging in the beginning of my time in the field. I feel like a "mama bear at times." I have found that working with them requires a lot of attention and they are at great risk for abuse. With our children, we really need the families to be on board with their mental health, making sure that the home life is as healthy as possible. It is important to provide support to all members (client and family) to help the child flourish and help the parents to understand what their needs are. Linking resthem to resources needed so that they can be well rounded in meeting each other’s needs. As far as our geriatric population, I see the same as the children. We have to make sure that they are not victims of elder abuse and understand as they get older whether it is addressing challenges with life transitions, navigating through diagnosis of dementia. My goal is to help with the task of how to mentally and emotionally prepare the individual and the loved ones for these major life changes, helping them come to the realization that they may not be able to live independently and to to help them to keep their quality of life intact as long as possible.

10. What advice would you give to a potential client who feels their issue is too big, too small, or too complex to start therapy right now?

I would say there may be someone in this world or in their community who has bigger problems than they do, however, that situation may be too demanding. I would support them and let them know that it is ok to feel the way you’re feeling. I would encourage them to start by identifying if there are multiple issues, which one is the most pressing and handle each one by one. They can begin the healing process and we would work on each together.

11. You are pursuing your final steps toward your LCSW designation. What excites you most about this next phase of your career, and how does your ongoing professional development directly benefit the clients you see today?

Achieving the LCSW designation would be very rewarding. It is going to assist me in being fully licensed, it will also start my professional journey. It will allow me to explore different avenues in the field. Having the LCSW would give me the autonomy needed to build my own practice.