RISE UP! You find a new piece of yourself in every experience. Each day with each choice, you are either reaffirming who you are or introducing a new part of who you 've become. Growth, joy, and love are things you must choose to welcome in your life. The spirit of your future depends on you ability to stay open, moldable, and honest
(Rob Hill)
DR. Valera, CEO, PhD, MA, LCMHC, CTF-CBT, CSOTP, CCMHC, NCC
Clinician: Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor- Associate
Mr. Speller Has been working in the school setting for the school year 2020-21 for the Forsyth School district. Valera Counseling Services welcome's Mr. Ricky Speller. He has joined us to be part of our team of clinicians who are dedicated to make a difference in children, adolescents, and families life to improve their quality of life. He is taking new clients at this time. Mr. Speller holds a Master in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and is a National Certified Counselor in the field of counseling. He is well skilled counselor and works to help clients to reach their full potential. He is very skill working with kids and adolescents. He also work as a probation officer for many 5 years for the State of North Carolina.
A word from Mr. Speller: Hi! I am Ricky Speller. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate. I have my undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC and Masters Degree in Professional Counseling from Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, Arizona. I am originally from the 252 area of North Carolina but spent a great deal of my adult life in Raleigh, NC before moving to Greensboro, NC in 2018. I offer individual, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral therapy, group therapy and family therapy with Valera Counseling Service.
Mr. Purcell is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, a Certified Forensic Evaluator, and Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider. Valera Counseling Services have the pleasure to have Mr. Purcell as part of our team. Mr. Purcell was Issued on March 3, 2019 by International Trauma Training Institute. Mr. Purcell is credentialed under Cardinal Innovations to provide sexual harm evaluations and treatment for children and adolescents that are sexual abuse victims, display sexual behavior concerns, and children/adolescents accused of sexual offenses of younger children.
He is a Child and Family Evaluator (Forensic Mental Health Evaluator) with NC Child Medical Evaluation Program (CMEP); UNC Chapel Hill Department of Pediatrics.
He became rostered as a Child/Family Evaluation provider on October 11, 2019. He provides evaluation services for children and adolescents who are being investigated by their county Department of Social Services as possible victims of abuse/neglect. These evaluations are intended to assist Child Protective Services (CPS) in their investigations of alleged abuse/neglect in cases that have not been, or are unlikely to be, determined through the standard CPS investigative process or through medical evaluation.
My name is Mr. Shonnon Purcell. I have a Bachelor of Science, Business Management with Concentrations: International Business and Finance, Guilford College 2006. Master of Science, Mental Health Counseling - Rehabilitation Program and a Rehabilitation Services Administration Scholarship recipient for the areas of Vocational Rehabilitation and Behavioral and Substance Abuse Counseling. I successfully completed my program and graduated on May 13, 2017. As soon as I graduated, I became a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC), in which he passed the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) Examination on March 11, 2017.
I enjoy working with children and adolescent to helping them to reach their full potential and reduce symptoms of behavioral and mental conditions so they could life their life more enjoyable and be improve their school performance.
Ms. Kimberly Brown is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate at Valera Counseling Services PLLC. Ms. Brown came to work for Valera Counseling Services PLLC to share her wisdom and skills with her clients. She is focused on ensuring clients get quality services and empowering them to achieve their goal. She has experience working with many children, adolescents, and adults of various mental and physical health challenges. Ms. Brown is very caring, nurturing, and direct. She worked with behavioral and emotional distress adolescent in intensive in-home services. She services Two school in the Forsyths School Distress with Valera Counseling Services, PLLC. Also, she has experience working with different mental health disorders such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression in children and adolescents who come from multicultural backgrounds. Her evidence practice focused on CBT, Solution Focused Therapy, Person Center Approach and other therapeutic approaches. She attended Winston-Salem State University where she received a B.A. degree in History in 2001 and in Social Welfare in 2006.
Later on, she attended NC A&T State University and joined the master’s program in social work, where she graduated in 2014. Accumulating over 1100 person to person contact hours during her internship, developing several important skills such as counseling, emotional intelligence, analytical thinking, compassion, and cultural competence. Hosanna House, Youth Opportunity, and Daymark Recovery were influential businesses that helped guide Ms. Brown to strengthen her skills while completing her internships. She had the opportunity to apply her learned skills at many outstanding facilities such as Monarch, Triump LLC, and Horizons Residential Care Center. By continuously working hard and enhancing her skills. Day to day, she endlessly works to ensure her clients receive the best care they could possibly see. She applies her many skills such as empathy and active listening so that her clients know they are being heard and are understood. She works with them to find the best solutions to their possible problems and never gives up on reaching her client’s goals.
Ms. Brittany Hall is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor at Valera Counseling Services. She graduated from Montreat College with her Bachelor's degree in Human Services and Psychology in 2013. From the same college, she received her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She collected interpersonal clinical internship hours from Katherine Therrell Counseling,
“Finding Sunshine through Counseling” and Willows at Red Oak Recovery. She enjoys working with children, adolescents, adults, and senior adults, so that they can address their emotional and behavioral concerns.
in 2019, where she had the opportunity to help develop therapeutic techniques and counseling styles. Her hours also included working on case concepts, treatment plans, and individual therapy. Ms. Hall's treatment approaches in counseling is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Play therapy, and conflict resolution approaches. This helped Ms. Hall develop her counseling, communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and attentive skills. She work with children and adults. Ms. Hall also connect very easy with children and their parents. She also service Griffith Elementary School 2023-2024 school year. She provide to parents parenting skills and help children of all ages to communicate better across settings. Although, Ms. Hall do not speak fluent Spanish, she Ms. Hall is very caring and effective when it comes to client's coordination of care and making sure the client receive quality of services at Valera Counseling Services, PLLC. We are very happy to have her in our team.
In 2016, she began her work experience working with the subtance misused, dual diagnosis population, eating disorders individuals at The Willows for Red Oak Recovery as well as doing her internship at the same center. In addition, she oversaw clients at Swain Recovery where she did group work in both facility for NA/AA meetings. She provided support and was a role model for these clients. Following, Ms. Hall was a counselor at Center for Emotional Health, starting in 2020, and Eckerd Connects, starting in 2023 and she served at a teacher-counselor when she was at Eckerd Connects. She strengthened her skills as a counselor by helping her clients find their voice, purpose, and belonging. In both occupations, Ms. Hall ensured her clients had a safe environment and felt that they were being heard. Now, Ms. Hall works at Valera Counseling Services PLLC counseling children, adolescents, and adults ranging from 4-years-old to 80-years-old. She works with many different mental health disorders such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression with individuals of multicultural backgrounds. Ms. Hall cares about her clients and ensures that they feel heard and understood while building strong relationships with them.
Ms. Leigha Helms-Myers is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate at Valera Counseling Services PLLC. She obtained a B.S. degree in Developmental Psychology from Salem College in 2021. Afterwards, she attended Liberty University receiving her M.A. degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in 2023. Starting in 2020, she obtained her Registered Behavior Technician certification which she continues to renew. Her certification helps her utilize applied behavior analysis treatment to help individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Ms. Myers also completed over 200+ interpersonal internship hours at Learning Discoveries and Mood Treatment Center. During her time with Learning Discoveries, she completed a study regarding dietary and nutrition choices in children with autism spectrum disorder. At the Mood Treatment Center, Ms. Myers strengthened her counseling skills while conducting play therapy for both children and adolescence. Her evidence-based treatment approaches and techniques are grounded on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, and Person-Centered Approaches. In addition, her internships and theoretical approaches helped Ms. Myers to develop and enhance her communication, attentive, analytical thinking, and emotional intelligence skills when working with children, adults, and adolescents.
Before coming to Valera Counseling Services PLLC, our counselor worked at House Call Counseling where she assisted in the diagnostic, interventions, and treatment of clients while analyzing behavioral treatment patterns in adolescents. Now working in our counseling services, Ms. Myers works with adults, children, and adolescents with many different mental health disorders such as anxiety, PTSD, and depression. Ms. Myers is very friendly, caring, and nurturing. She engages with clients from multicultural backgrounds, helping them reach their goals and ensuring that these individuals know they are in a safe space. At our office she does applies all her counseling skills and education knowledge to best services the underserved population. She has a great personality and connect with adolescent very easy helping them to overcome their challenges. In addition, Ms. Myers delivers Mental Health Services at Griffith Elementary School and Carter G. Woodson School. She maintain a great therapeutic relationship with students, parents, and school officials.