Erica Wilbanks, MS, LPC-S

I believe there is a difference between surviving your life and actually feeling like you are living it. Many of the patterns we struggle with as adults once helped us make it through something difficult. Anxiety, hyper-independence, people-pleasing, shutting down, or always anticipating what might go wrong can make sense when we understand what shaped them. My passion lies in the deeper work of therapy: getting curious about where these patterns came from, honoring how they protected you, and helping you discover what is possible when you no longer have to live from a place of survival.

I specialize in trauma and the ways painful experiences can continue to shape how we feel, relate, and respond long after they are over. I believe trauma lives beyond the story of what happened. It can show up in our bodies, our relationships, the beliefs we hold about ourselves, and the ways our nervous systems learned to keep us safe. In therapy, I pay attention to all of it. I want our work together to be a place where you can understand yourself with greater curiosity and compassion while beginning to experience something different.

My approach is relational, attachment-focused, and nervous-system informed, integrating EMDR, somatic therapy, and Internal Family Systems (IFS). These approaches allow us to move beyond insight alone and work with the mind, body, relationships, and protective parts of you that may still be carrying what you have lived through. I believe meaningful healing happens when we can understand not only why we respond the way we do, but begin to experience something different.

More than any technique, I believe the relationship we create in therapy matters. I bring curiosity, compassion, authenticity, and humor into the room, while also being willing to sit with you in the places that are difficult to face alone. I don't believe my job is to tell you who you should become. I want to help you understand yourself more deeply, reconnect with the parts of yourself you may have lost along the way, and create space for a life that is about more than simply making it through. You already learned how to survive. Let's discover what it means to truly live.

Outside of the therapy room, I am a wife and mom of three, and much of my life revolves around family, community, and creating spaces where people feel connected. I love hosting people in our home, getting entirely too invested in a good theme or celebration, cheering from the sidelines at my kids' activities, traveling, and finding reasons to bring the people I love together. I value authenticity, humor, meaningful relationships, and making room for joy alongside the harder parts of being human. Those parts of who I am don't disappear when I step into the therapy room. They are part of the humanity I bring with me.