About Elizabeth Askren | Core Counseling

Hello!

My name is Elizabeth Jane Askren, but a lot of people just call me "Beth". I am a licensed mental health counselor in Indiana.

I work with people seeking help because they are suffering, feeling lost and overwhelmed by emotional distress and pain. Clients see me to address and heal from their worst experiences: emotional, sexual, and physical trauma, loss, dysfunctional families of origin. I guide clients on a journey to seek insight into what is currently hurting. I provide support as they look within and am by their side to face the pain, memories, and shame that they've carried forward but never chose. I see clients come out the other side with greater self-worth, grounded by confidence in themselves, discovering new opportunities while creating a fulfilling life in which they can thrive. Good therapy begins with genuine compassion and acceptance. These are the core values of my practice, and the values I live my life by.

As your therapist, my goal is to create and maintain a safe space to contain the deepest and most painful emotions that you carry inside. Healing takes place when we are able to face our difficult, shameful, devastating thoughts and feelings, and allow them to surface. When we can be present, that pain can be confronted with compassion, processed and understood, and can begin to be released. This is where we'll find the way forward.

I love being a therapist. I really really do genuinely love what I do each day. The work I do with clients is inspired by the deep work I've done myself. Each session, I arrive with experience and understanding of how it can feel to sit in the client's chair. I'd be honored to work with you along your journey if asked. If you are seeking a change, don't hesitate to reach out to me. If you chose to share your story with me, I look forward to listening what you'll share.

A bit more about me:

My approach to practicing psychotherapy can be described as an Integrative Approach. I pull from several psychological theories, which combine to form my unique approach. These theories & approaches include: depth/relational/insight, Gestalt, existential psychotherapy, attachment theory, trauma-informed, family of origin, and when appropriate, I pull in tools from CBT, ACT, & DBT models.
I obtained a bachelor of the arts (BA) in psychology from University of Hawaii, and a masters of the arts (MA) in Counseling Psychology, also from the University of Hawaii.
My final year in graduate school, I trained to become a counselor as I spent a year working as an counselor intern with combat veterans at the VA.
Some of the settings I've counseled from over the past 7 years include: a college counseling center, an outpatient community mental health clinic, addiction outpatient services (where I lead IOP group therapy, aftercare, and a group for women with substance abuse issues that had a history of experiencing trauma), with a group practice and as a community based counselor. working with families in their homes for intensive services, private residential treatment center providing focused care to clients with issues related to chemical dependence, mental health issues, or both, and in private practice.
I am grateful for the best part about being a counselor: I find myself consistently inspired, and I grow a little bit as human, each and every day because of the vulnerability, courage, love, and ultimate humanity that I get a chance to see in every person that shows up and sits on my couch.
While I currently live in Indianapolis, I have in the past lived in the following cities: Tulsa, OK, Chicago, IL, Montreal, QC (Canada), Hilo & Pahoa, HI, and Fortville, IN.
My most frequently said phrase, both as a counselor and in my personal life: "Vulnerability is a Superpower".

Contact Today

A PEEK AT MY OFFICE...

Often, when people I meet first discover that I am a counselor by profession, they'll ask:

Wow! That must be an interesting job, but how do you do that every day?

I typically respond with some version of this:

You know, at this point, I know myself pretty well, and I know that I'm not great at a lot of things in life. I mean it, really, there's a lot in life that I am just not very good at. But I know, I genuinely really just know without a doubt, that I am really good at being a counselor. So when I'm doing that every day, doing it thoughtfully and when my life is in balance, it just....it just feels like I'm doing life right. 🙂