Get to know the Healing Healer working with you
Experienced, Trained, Professional
Tara Riggs is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MT #3969) in the State of Florida, receiving her Master of Science in Counselor Education from Palm Beach Atlantic University and holds certification as an Emotionally-Focused Therapist and Supervisor in Individual, Couples, and Family Therapy. Her trauma training is in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), in which Tara has achieved Level 3 status and is currently under supervision in her pursuit of certification. AEDP integrates elements of mindfulness, attachment, somatic experiencing, inner child or “parts” work and dyadic emotion regulation.
Inclusively Christian
Most Christians know that they are called to an abundant life of freedom, but few know how to take hold of this. Too often churches teach a gospel of behavior modification, and believers are left to try to accomplish the 3-point sermon mandate on their own power through white knuckling self-control. Tara believes that counseling is a form of discipleship, where patterns of behaviors are mined and the innermost wounds and lies fueling those patterns can be brought before the Lord. There, He can bring His healing power, grace, and love unto transformation and sanctification. Tara believes that the love, kindness, and mercy of God is available to everyone without exception.
Real & Relatable
Tara begins with relationship first and pulls from her experience as a spouse, parent, child, friend, etc. in order to orient herself to her client’s felt experience, using the tools of empathy and resonance to deepen the work. As a healing healer, Tara has walked through darkness in her own life including childhood trauma, bereavement, struggles in marriage, parenting children with special needs, spiritual abuse, & emotional dysregulation. And having engaged her own work both past and present, Tara knows the transformation, wholeness and peace that can come through counseling and considers the space sacred. From these shared experiences flows deep and authentic compassion which creates a felt sense of safety and understanding for clients that forms the foundation of all therapeutic work. When this connection is cultivated and felt, aloneness is undone, allowing traumas to be faced anew and wounds healed, thereby forming a secure attachment which engenders the internal resources necessary to flourish and thrive in life.