Professional Counseling
We are all about Connection! As a group private practice, Counseling Connect provides mental health and wellness services for individuals, couples, and groups. We work with clients of all ages and backgrounds.
We provide in-person counseling in Christiansburg, VA. Telehealth is available for Virginia residents, including live video sessions and text-based therapy via secure messaging. Service contracts are available for individuals or employers to purchase therapy sessions in bulk.
Community Service & Social Justice
Our counselors are committed to advocating for positive social change and diversity inclusion. To further this goal, we are working on several community service projects, including events to promote LGBTQ pride and suicide prevention. We specialize in care for first responders through a program we launched in 2023 called Helping Our Helper. We also offer seminars to businesses that want to improve the well-being of their employees.
Supervision & Mentorship
Our practice is founded on a mentorship model. It's designed to nurture the professional development of pre-licensed clinicians. We hire graduate interns and Resident in Counseling to give them opportunities for growth before and after they become independently licensed. Clinical supervision is provided by Rae Burgess and Ginny Puckett, who are both Licensed Professional Counselors and Board Certified Supervisors.
Helping Our Helpers
Through the program Helping Our Helpers, we offer professional counseling and wellness services for first responders. Counseling Connect is proud to be the mental health provider for the Montgomery County Fire-EMS department.
We are contracted with NRV 911 Authority to provide behavioral health services to dispatchers. We're committed to giving them the support and respect they deserve. Dispatchers are our FIRST first responders.
Counseling Connect works with the Town of Christiansburg to provide mental health care for employees of the Police, Fire, and EMS departments. We are the emotional first aid for our first responders.
Our practice developed an integrated healthcare model, which goes beyond the limitations of traditional employee-assistance plans, to ensure that our clients have access to high quality, consistent, and trauma-informed treatment and prevention.
Our program is available to agencies across the New River Valley. For more information about service contracts for first responders, check out our blog!
Meet Your Therapist
Rae Burgess, LPC, CFRC, Board-Certified Clinical Supervisor
Ginny Puckett, LPC, CST, Board-Certified Clinical Supervisor
Ginny Puckett, LPC, CST, Board-Certified Clinical Supervisor
Rae is the owner of Counseling Connect, PLLC. She is licensed to practice mental health counseling in VA and NC. She is an Approved Clinical Supervisor with the Virginia Board of Counseling. She is a Certified First Responder Counselor and works with local government to provide behavioral health services to the Fire, EMS, and Police departments. She offers individual and group therapy, peer support training, and clinical supervision for pre-licensed professionals.
Rae has 16 years of experience in professional counseling, specializing in trauma and addiction. As an Adlerian therapist, her approach is strength-based, attachment-focused, and person-centered, emphasizing emotional validation, self-acceptance, healthy relationships, and positive thinking.
Email: rae@counseling-connect.com
Call: (540) 315-1445
Ginny Puckett, LPC, CST, Board-Certified Clinical Supervisor
Ginny Puckett, LPC, CST, Board-Certified Clinical Supervisor
Ginny Puckett, LPC, CST, Board-Certified Clinical Supervisor
Ginny is the Assistant Clinical Supervisor at Counseling Connect, PLLC. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Sex Therapist, and Approved Clinical Supervisor in Virginia. She supervises pre-licensed professionals and helps with our day-to-day management. She also offers wellness seminars for local businesses and providers.
Ginny has her own private practice, where she provides telehealth to Virginia residents. She specializes in trauma-informed sex therapy to help clients overcome sexual issues. Her approach is both direct and gentle; her values of authenticity, compassion, and humor shine in each session. She is passionate about working with trauma survivors and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Website: https://ginnypuckettlpc.com/
Email: ginny@counseling-connect.com
Call: (540) 242-1625
Elle Ryan, Resident in Counseling
Ginny Puckett, LPC, CST, Board-Certified Clinical Supervisor
Sivonna Stringham, Resident in Counseling
Elle is an old soul with a big heart! Eager to take on new challenges and expand her empathy, Elle is on your side and prepared to see you through your journey of growth and healing.
Elle is a Registered Behavior Technician and graduate of Emory & Henry College. She has experience providing mental health and addiction recovery services for children, adolescents, and adults. She specializes in helping clients, who identify as LGBTQ+, survivors of sexual violence, and people with anxiety, neurodivergence, and personality disorders. Her approach is grounded in Person-Centered and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. She uses mindfulness techniques and strength-based interventions, tailored to your needs, while teaching you effective coping and stress management skills to improve your overall well-being.
Email: elle@counseling-connect.com
Call: (540) 391-0511
Sivonna Stringham, Resident in Counseling
Ginny Puckett, LPC, CST, Board-Certified Clinical Supervisor
Sivonna Stringham, Resident in Counseling
Sivonna gives her all to her clients. She approaches her practice with a growth mindset and works with folks who have the willingness to put in the energy to help themselves, as much as she does. She enjoys a challenge and often takes on clients that have gone through traumatic experiences, which created negative thinking and ineffective coping mechanisms. She meets clients where they are and affirms their identities. She works from a Humanistic and Postmodernist orientation, which means that she provides a space where clients feel safe, seen, heard and understood. She also utilizes techniques to help people reframe faulty thinking and develop positive and realistic beliefs about the self, others, and the world. If you’re ready to make positive change, then Sivonna is ready to work with you!
Email: sivonna@counseling-connect.com
Call: (540) 315-7018
Reviews
We are always open to feedback from our community.
Leave us a review at https://g.page/r/CT4Hb_e0it1-EAI/review or scan the QR code.
Here's what a couple of our former clients said about their experience at Counseling Connect:
"Counseling has been most helpful. I can feel a significant improvement in my mood most days and I feel I have better tools to manage my anxiety and depression. My confidence has increased and I finally feel myself healing from long festering issues of abandonment and inferiority. I’m very glad I gave counseling a try! I would be open to trying it again."
"I have been in and out of counseling for about fourteen years. Rae is the first professional to listen to my goals, my experiences, and my pain to create a plan of mindfulness, deep conversations, as well as fun pet story sharing. I am so thankful to be in touch with such a caring person. 10/10 would recommend."
