There are two new faces working at Blue Elk Family Clinic on Willow Street in Nashville.
Misty Sanchez began April 1 as a licensed mental health counselor, providing services in cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma focus, mood disorders, anxiety, depression and related conditions.
Her assistant is a therapy dog, Mr. Bojangles.
What brought Sanchez into the career was her desire to help people, she said. She finished a bachelor’s degree in social work and a master’s certificate in autism and mental health counseling.
Now, she’s ready to serve the Brown County community alongside her husband, Dr. Lawrence Sanchez at Blue Elk Family Clinic medical office.
After working at a rehab center for adults with mental health issues, Misty Sanchez decided she wanted to be a counselor. Since then, she’s had experience in a boys group home that took referrals from the Department of Corrections, as well as a women’s mental health home, both in Minnesota. She moved to Indiana in 2019.
Sanchez offers mental health services to clients as young as 12. She’s also a Christian counselor who can offer faith-based procedures as part of clients’ treatment. She has a familiarity to working in trauma, focusing on domestic violence, child abuse, sexual abuse and sex crimes, rape and dating violence.
In addition to working with Mr. Bojangles, she offers sand tray therapy as an option in treatment, and allows a patient to tell their story by using and holding miniature objects if they have a hard time finding their words.
“It’s really guiding them through their trauma and then telling their story as a survivor, instead of defining themselves as broken,” Sanchez said. “My big focus is to make anyone feel like they’re a survivor, strong in themselves.”
With the pandemic forcing people into isolation, Sanchez said everything has changed, especially in the area of mental health. “People are … for the first time in their life, experiencing anxiety and depression,” she said.
Sanchez said she is always reading up on areas in the field, exploring new areas of focus and treatments. “I’ve been looking into EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) for trauma, helping to retrain your brain so it isn’t always on alert,” she said.
She’s also interested in addressing needs within the LGBTQ+ community.
Her own personal experience with mental health issues like depression or anxiety have shaped how she treats patients as a counselor. “I’m not just learning things out of a book,” she said. “I know things as well.”
With school being out for summer, Sanchez wanted to express her willingness and availability to work with adolescents, either in person or on the phone. Her hope is that her own age is an advantage, encouraging young people to open up more than to someone who’s been in the field for many years.
Her goal is to “encourage clients to focus on themselves and live a fulfilled life.”
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Where: 50 E. Willow St., Suite C, Nashville
Make an appointment: Visit provider.kareo.com/dr-larry-sanchez or call 812-200-8265.
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