Amber R. Garcia, MS, CRC, LCMHC

she/her

​Bilingual in English and Spanish, Amber is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. Her specific interests include work-life balance, depression, anxiety, coping after traumatic experiences, Hispanic/Latino populations, new parents, parenting challenging behaviors, mood regulation for children and adults, and couples counseling. Amber pulls from her background with diverse clientele to develop individualized treatment plans with a holistic approach for overall wellness. She embraces all of her clients, and respects what each individual brings to the session by building upon client strengths to collaboratively set goals. Amber prides herself on her ability to establish an authentic relationship with clients and fostering an environment of trust and respect. While working with Amber you can expect to engage in a variety of techniques to tackle the struggles you face while always feeling accepted, valued, and supported.

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Qualifications
​Amber Garcia is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor approved by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification. She has also been granted provisional licensure from the North Carolina Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Amber studied at Winston-Salem State University and earned a bachelor's of science degree in Psychology and a Master's of Science degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. She is a Gottman Level 1 Certified Couples Counselor.

Counseling Background
​​During her Master's program, Amber completed both a practicum and internship at Vocational Rehabilitation Services in Greensboro, NC where she aided adolescents and young adults with an array of mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and developmental disabilities in planning for their futures, finding and maintaining employment, and managing symptoms to meet both short and long-term goals. Additionally, she worked as a counselor providing psychotherapy services to college students at the Wellness Center at Winston-Salem State University. There she was able to assist young adults facing a plethora of concerns including interpersonal conflicts, assertiveness training, relationship issues, work-life balance, and mental health crisis scenarios. Additional professional experiences include working as an early intervention therapist and as a family specialist using various strategies to provide therapy to children of all ages and educating and training parents. In every professional setting Amber has been able to use her bilingual abilities to reach a broader clientele in both English and Spanish.

Specialization
​Amber's specific areas of interest include anxiety, depression, childhood trauma, working with children with special needs and their parents, self esteem, interpersonal issues and social skills development, relationship problems, and work with Hispanic and Latino populations. Amber enjoys helping couples of all orientations and is a Gottman Level 1 Certified Couples Counselor.

Personal Life
​Amber lives in Winston Salem, NC and is married with one child, who always keeps her on her toes with his rambunctious spirit (where on earth could he have gotten that from?). Living in a bicultural and bilingual home is a reflection of Amber's appreciation of diversity and love of exploring new cultures and places. Traveling is by far her favorite past-time. When she's not on an adventure in a new place, Amber loves to dance and formerly taught classes in her favorite genre, hip hop dance -- Latin dancing is a very close second. She is very outgoing and regularly strikes up a conversation with complete strangers while out. Therefore, her career of choice is rather fitting. Amber is a self-proclaimed "foodie" and has a healthy obsession with the Food Network, although she prefers to try the newest restaurant in town over cooking any day. Despite thoroughly enjoying all of the above, Amber's deepest passion lies in advocating for those less fortunate and making frequent efforts to speak out against injustice, support charities close to her heart, raise funds for the nonprofit organization she volunteers with, and instill in her son the importance of being humble, grateful, kind and always giving to others.

A few of Amber's favorite quotes...

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

"Accept no one's definition of your life. Define yourself!"

"Life is like a camera. Just focus on what is important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don't work out, give it another shot!"