emily williams, lcsw

Emily Williams (formerly Horning) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the State of Missouri.  She completed her Master of Social Work degree from Saint Louis University (SLU) with a clinical concentration.  Emily has experience working with adults, families and adolescents surrounding substance use, trauma, LGBTQ+-identity exploration and specific issues, anxiety, depression, life transitions, and more.

Emily is Change, Inc.’s  Clinical Director (CD), meaning it’s her job to oversee all clinical functions and roles within our environment, including and especially hiring and recruitment, and to provide global and structural vision and direction for our treatment approach and protocol.  Emily is the primary point person through which all clinical decisions and relationships flow within our entire environment.  (It’s a big job!!!)

Emily’s accessible and warm approach to therapy creates a spacious environment for clients to be their most authentic selves, bolstered by an atmosphere of compassion and a high-value on growing self-awareness.  She employs collaboration and straightforwardness in dialogue to foster safety and understanding, with an emphasis on non-judgment as one of many tools to help clients develop healthier and more accurate narratives about their lives.  Emily’s strengths lie in her ability to support and nudge at the same time, teaching clients both to befriend and accept themselves and their emotions, as well as to hazard the risk of examining what might need to change in order to have happier and more satisfying lives.

From Emily:

“Part of being human is the inevitability of encountering difficulty.  Most of us accept this quite easily, but it is harder for us to accept *ourselves* while we face that difficulty!  So many of our experiences in our families and our culture train us to ignore or get rid of our emotions, so space or compassion for ourselves seem next to impossible.  Together and with mutual vulnerability and creativity, my heartfelt wish is to effectively nurture and challenge you, and to help you discover resources within and without to meet your experiences with strength, clarity, and hope.  “