Ebony McCray-Holmes

I believe we are the sum of what we encounter in life and how we react to these encounters. These encounters began during a time where we relied on others to love and protect us. When we had no control over what happened to us. Leaving us with a perception of the world in front of us. If the perception is bad, the world is bad. If the perception is unsafe, the world is unsafe. If the perception is untrustworthy, the world is untrusting. Now the world becomes a journey of escaping pain and the burden of unsatisfying feelings. Let's connect so we can work on your first steps to healing either in an office session or video session. As a Licensed Marriage and Family therapist, I combine the world of mental health and family/relational conflicts to help guide clients to a space where healing can began. I've worked with children & families (DCF) over 11yrs helping them work through unresolved issues that have broken up their family systems creating a space to began the healing process. My journey to become a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist became a journey once I was able to acknowledge that my life experiences was the experience and my education was the tool to apply my life experience as a therapist. In my early career, I started my work experience in a prevention program for a home visiting program who dealt with expectant parents and parents of newborns experiencing stressful life situations. The program was set up to improve childhood outcomes and increases family self- sufficiency by empowering parents through education and community support. While doing this, I felt there was more that I can do, more that I can give. I didn’t feel qualified enough to empower and/or education, so I returned to school and obtained my Bachelor’s in Science degree in Community Health/Health Education. After graduation, I began my career working with the Department of Children and Families providing case management to families who struggled with family issues or even had multiple family dynamics that interfered with their ability to protect their children in the home. This experience did not come without a price as it was hurtful watching families being separated, struggling with generational patterns or behaviors that were interfering with them being whole causing disruption within their family unit. I witnessed family’s struggle with the impact of drug addiction; repeated patterns of physical abuse; domestic violence; sexual abuse; patterns of rejection and abandonment continuing in their lives as they repeated this with their own children; and the list goes on. I again started feeling that there was more that I can do. I didn’t like witnessing children crying for their mother or father, yearning for them but were unable to have access to them. I also didn’t like witnessing parents wanting to be the best parents they could be, but the ghost of addiction abuse or neglect interfered with their ability to be that best parent. So, again I felt there was more that I can provide, so I returned to school and pursued my Master’s in Science degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. After graduation, I began my journey to be the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist I am today. I continued to work within the Department of Children and Families network, striving to heal the family dynamics that I continued to witness. Trying to heal one individual, one family at a time. I continue this work today in my private practice, striving to move individuals, couples and families to a place to begin their healing. Not only do I reference my experience as a Case Manager and Therapist to provide interventions to help begin the healing process, I too have experienced the struggles of life. I combine all three, Life; Work and Education to allow me to join clients wherever they are in their life journey. So, I’m not all textbook, you can expect a reality base style therapist when working with me. If you are tired of running from the things in your memory or you want to deal with the personality that the experiences of life has created in you, we can join forces and I would love to help you move to a place of healing. We can find ways to move past the emotions, mood, trauma and begin a new meaning to become a better you.