Willows Counseling

12/18/2025

Make space for joy. 🌱
Engage in what lights you up—and if you’re not sure yet, that’s part of the fun. Discovering what makes you happy is an act of self-care.

What is your favorite thing to do?

12/12/2025

Being authentic means showing up as your true self—your values, your voice, your quirks—without trying to fit into someone else’s expectations. Authenticity is about honesty, vulnerability, and consistency between what you say and what you do. When you’re authentic, you build real connections, inspire trust, and create space for others to be themselves too.

What is your most authentic trait?

12/12/2025

Lanae Hartzler
LPCC
She/Her

As a counselor, I see life as a butterfly's journey. Just as a butterfly emerges from its cocoon, we too must overcome challenges to reach our full potential. My own struggles have taught me resilience and empathy, driving my passion for guiding others. In therapy, I offer a supportive space where clients can explore and grow. Join me on this journey of self-discovery and transformation. Together, we can unlock the beauty and potential that lies within each of us, just like a butterfly spreading its wings for the first time.


Lanae holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and earned her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She is currently working toward becoming both a Registered Play Therapist and certified in AutPlay Therapy. Lanae takes a person-centered, synergetic approach to therapy, thoughtfully integrating family involvement when beneficial. She believes every client is unique and tailors her therapeutic approach to honor each individual’s needs and strengths. Lanae specializes in working with neurodivergent children, adults, and their families, often incorporating sand tray, sensory-based interventions, play, and art into her sessions.

Professional Membership: Association for Play Therapy (APT)

12/12/2025

Renee' Smith-Hill
MFT-C
She/Her

Renee' is a trauma-informed therapist and former school psychologist with over 25 years of experience in educational and clinical settings. As a registered Marriage and Family Therapist Candidate in Colorado (MFTC #14833), she specializes in supporting children, adolescents, and families navigating emotional regulation, neurodivergent needs, and complex relational dynamics.

Her therapeutic approach is systemic, creative, and grounded in evidence-based practice. I incorporate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and trauma-focused modalities, along with expressive tools like Play Therapy, Art Therapy, and Sand play Therapy, to meet clients where they are and help them build emotional resilience, healthy coping strategies, and meaningful connection.

Renee' also brings lived experience as a parent advocate. Her son was once assessed as two standard deviations below the bell curve—yet graduated college at 19 and was accepted into Howard University’s School of Dentistry. Her daughter, flagged for retention in kindergarten due to early academic concerns, went on to earn a bachelor's in chemistry with minors in Math and Chemical Engineering, having taken Calculus at age 15. These journeys deeply inform her belief: every child has brilliance that deserves to be nurtured—not underestimated.

12/09/2025

Sharing neuro-affirming gift ideas to support warmth, regulation, and a sense of belonging this season.

What is your favorite sensory tool?

12/05/2025

Here at Willows Counseling we are a neurodivergent informed mental health support for Colorado families

Neurodivergence is the term for people whose brains function differently in one or more ways than is considered standard or typical.

Willows Counseling strives to provide compassionate, neurodivergent and trauma informed mental health care, education, and advocacy to Colorado’s underserved children and families.

12/01/2025

Val Bruno
LPC, RPT-S, CAS, ADHD-CCSP
She/Her

Val is passionate about supporting families and children in and through their journey of self discovery. She is equally passionate about supporting and educating our communities' educators and professionals in order to help them support kids with neurodivergence.

Val specializes in working with children and families who are experiencing challenges with neurodivergent behaviors. Neurodivergence is a big word that basically means the brain processes information and interacts with the world differently than it might for the majority of others. Families might recognize symptoms or behaviors of ADHD, Tourette's, dyslexia, bipolar disorder, OCD, synesthesia, sensory processing, or autism, to name a few.

For the past many years she has worked primarily with children who have experienced attachment trauma, loss, dependency, neglect, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. She is experienced with both neurodivergent and neurotypical children. Val has worked closely the Department of Human Services providing support and therapy to children in foster and kin-like placements. As a military veteran, Val has a knowing and drive to support children and families of both active duty and prior service folks in need of support and guidance on development, empathy, nurture and attachment in the family system.

Val serves as an expert witness for the 4th and 18th judicial districts in the areas of child development, attachment, family therapy, and childhood trauma. She has extensive training in parent child-contact issues, working with families with (unfortunately) high conflict divorce, and completing Parent-Child Interactional Assessments (PCIs).

Val is trained in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), trauma-focused CBT, synergetic play, experiential play, AutPlay® Therapy, directive play and non-directive play therapy modalities. She is a registered Play Therapist Supervisor, Certified Autism Specialist, Certified AutPlay® Therapist, ADHD Certified Clinical Services Provider, and a licensed professional counselor (supervisor).

Val loves teaching grownups how to love, cherish and connect with their children (and themselves) and help them become functional, thriving, joyful members of our community. She thoroughly enjoys integrating models of treatment and personalizing therapy for each family she works with.

Professional Memberships: Association for Play Therapy (APT), Colorado Association for Play Therapy (CAPT), American Psychological Association (APA)

12/01/2025

Ready to meet your potential clinician? Check out our “What We Do” album for photos, quick introductions, and a feel for who we are and how we work.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.812898834901762&type=3

--Helping Families In Uncharted Waters--

Willows Counseling provides mental health services for neurodivergent children and families. Our kids and families may be experiencing attachment issues, educational struggles and/or trauma. These are difficult issues and are broadly underserved and misunderstood.
We provide support services for parents and caregivers whose children have behavioral and emotional struggles at home or in school. We will engage and collaborate with professionals in the school and health care systems to guide and support families through the process of meaningful change.

11/28/2025

Rae Blaisdell
LMFT, RPT
They/Them

Attachment based therapy for children, youth, adults, & families.

"Growing up in a diverse family, I found myself drawing meaning and values from many places. I was taught to see beauty and strength in the midst of great difficulty and diversity. A tree growing from a stone is as beautiful to me as murals in impoverished neighborhoods and the strengths of those creating and loving in lives full of struggles. People seeking support or change should have a place they are welcome to bring their issues, needs, fears and dreams. Together we can explore the strengths hidden beneath your struggles and breathe life into the story you would prefer to live for."

Rae works with ages 2 to Ancient, as individuals, couples, and families. They specialize in attachment, intergenerational trauma, play therapy, trans and non-binary and LGBTQIA+ populations, parenting after trauma, childhood trauma, and perinatal mental health. ​Rae primarily uses narrative therapy, Jungian Play Therapy, Child-Centered Play Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy, depth psychotherapy, and multicultural approaches. ​

Rae has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy, a certificate in Depth Psychotherapy, and is a Registered Play Therapist. They have served as an expert witness in the 4th judicial district in the areas of attachment, family therapy, play therapy, and child development related to trauma.

Professional Memberships: American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), APT, CAPT

11/24/2025

Therapy is like tending a plant—sometimes you see growth right away, other times it takes longer. But with steady care, therapy can help you heal and grow into who you want to be.
What is your favorite form of self care?

11/21/2025

Happy Birthday to Val Bruno!

11/19/2025

Inclusion is a welcoming environment that values diverse perspectives and practices fairness so that all people can fully participate in decision-making. However, inclusion can mean many different things to many different people. To help us be genuinely inclusive, we invite you to describe what inclusion means to you in your own words.