Cheri Brown, LCSW, LCDC

Trauma, EMDR & Gottman-Informed Couples Therapist in San Antonio, TX

You may look like you’re holding everything together on the outside, while inside you feel overwhelmed, disconnected, anxious, hurt, or simply exhausted from trying to make things better.

Maybe painful experiences from your past continue to affect your relationships today. Perhaps betrayal, grief, family conflict, addiction, or trauma has left you feeling stuck. Or you and your partner still love one another but have fallen into painful cycles of arguing, withdrawing, misunderstanding each other, or feeling emotionally disconnected.

You don’t have to keep navigating those patterns alone.

I work with adults and couples who want to understand what is happening beneath the surface, heal from painful experiences, and begin creating healthier relationships with themselves and the people they love.

Healing the Past Without Living in It

One of the things I have learned throughout my career is that our past, present, and future are deeply connected. Experiences within our families and relationships can shape how we see ourselves, how safe we feel with others, and how we respond when we feel hurt, rejected, criticized, or afraid.

Sometimes those responses once helped us survive difficult circumstances. Years later, however, the same patterns can leave us feeling disconnected, reactive, shut down, or trapped.

Therapy can help you understand those patterns without judgment and begin developing new ways of responding.

My work is especially focused on trauma, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, inner-child wounds, emotional regulation, and healing from painful or dysfunctional family experiences.

Trauma Therapy & EMDR

Trauma does not always disappear simply because the experience is over. You may know intellectually that you are safe or that something happened years ago, yet your mind and body can continue responding as though the danger or pain is still present.

When talking alone is not enough, I incorporate approaches such as EMDR therapy to help clients process distressing memories and experiences that continue to feel emotionally “stuck.”

My trauma-informed approach may also incorporate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Bowen Family Systems concepts, expressive arts, music, mindfulness, tapping, and sound-based interventions depending on your needs and comfort level.

Couples & Relationship Counseling

Relationships can become painful when couples repeatedly find themselves caught in the same cycle: one person pursues while the other withdraws, conversations quickly become arguments, resentment builds, or important issues never seem fully resolved.

Couples counseling can provide a place to slow those interactions down and understand what each partner is experiencing beneath the conflict.

My goal is not to determine who is right or wrong. Instead, I help couples identify unhealthy relationship patterns, communicate more effectively, understand one another more deeply, repair emotional injuries, and create greater safety and connection.

My couples work incorporates Gottman Method principles and relationship-focused interventions designed to help couples build stronger communication, friendship, trust, and emotional intimacy.

A Career Dedicated to Understanding People

My interest in emotional healing began long before becoming a therapist. While working with The Menninger Foundation in 1985, I had the opportunity to meet psychologist and author Harriet Lerner. Her groundbreaking work, including The Dance of Anger, along with the mentorship of numerous clinical social workers, helped shape both my personal development and my professional path.

Since that time, I have remained an avid reader and lifelong learner in the areas of trauma, grief, relationships, addiction, family systems, and emotional healing.

I believe deeply in the importance of being seen, heard, understood, and accepted. Therapy should provide a space where you can explore difficult experiences without shame while also developing practical tools that help you move forward.

My work is grounded in the Social Work Code of Ethics and informed by spiritual principles of compassion, restoration, forgiveness, responsibility, and hope. When desired by the client, spirituality or faith can also be incorporated into the counseling process.

You Don't Have to Have Everything Figured Out

You may come to therapy knowing exactly what you want to change, or you may simply know that something in your life or relationship isn't working anymore.

Either place is okay.

We can begin there.

Together, we can work toward understanding the experiences that shaped you, changing patterns that are no longer serving you, strengthening your relationships, and helping you move toward a life that feels healthier, more connected, and more purposeful.

Healing does not mean pretending the storms never happened. It means discovering that they no longer have to determine where your life goes next.

I would be honored to walk alongside you as you begin that process.

TRAINING & EDUCATION

Master of Social Work Administration & Community Mental Health, 

The University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, 1996 

Master of Social Work Clinical Practicum & Seminar, Washburn University, 2011

Sound Healer Certification, Life Changing Energy with Vickie Gould, 2025

EMDR Training parts 1 & 2, EMDR Consulting with Roy Kiessling, 2011

Gottman Couples Therapy Training Level 1

Gottman Treating Trauma and Affairs

Membership:

National Association of Social Workers

Schedule a 30-Minute Intake Consultation

If you’re ready to begin counseling for trauma, anxiety, or relationship concerns, I invite you to schedule a 30-minute intake consultation. I will personally follow up within 48 hours or less.