Lead Therapist
Stacy Ricotta is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), licensed in both Texas and Colorado, and Lead Therapist at Bellaire Family Counseling, specializing in Emotion Focused Therapy for couples, trauma recovery from intimate partner violence and childhood abuse, and teen parent-child relationship issues, seeing clients virtually anywhere in Texas or Colorado.
Focus Areas & Specialties
- Couples counseling using Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), including couples weekend intensives
- Recognizing and recovering from intimate partner violence (IPV) and abusive relationship patterns
- Adult recovery from childhood abuse and neglect, including clients working through complex trauma
- Teen parent-child relationship issues and parent coaching
- Clients who feel “treatment resistant” or have tried therapy, self-help resources, or AI tools before without lasting results
- Works particularly well with professional, high-achieving clients who struggle to identify why they’re distressed or feel a persistent sense of unworthiness
Education & Training
- Master of Science, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, University of St. Thomas
- Bachelor of Arts, History, Colorado State University
- Licensed Professional Counselor, fully and independently licensed in Texas, License #79418 and Colorado, License #LPC.0018152
- Post-graduate training in trauma, ADHD, OCD, impulse control disorders, and identifying abusive relationship patterns
- 30 hours of training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD
- 16+ hours of training in Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples; 6 hours in Emotion Focused Therapy for Individuals
- 40 hours of training in clinical supervision
Experience & Background
Stacy has worked for over 8 years with Bellaire Family Counseling, where she now serves as Lead Therapist. Her clinical training includes practicums at Nick Finnegan Counseling Center, a community outpatient mental health practice in Houston’s River Oaks area, and West Oaks Hospital, an inpatient mental health facility, giving her experience across both outpatient and inpatient levels of care. Stacy is an active voice in the mental health community. She has presented “Recognizing and Talking to Clients about Intimate Partner Abuse” to fellow mental health professionals, and served as a panel member for the live community webinars “Tackling Test Anxiety: Helping Students Build Confidence & Calm” and “Supporting Today’s Anxious Generation,” both co-hosted by Bellaire Family Counseling and The Enrichery. She has also given a community talk on women’s mental health concerns in collaboration with a local spa. She is a regular contributor to Bellaire Family Counseling’s collaborative practice blog, where clinicians share perspectives on topics like how much parents should help with homework, ways to show gratitude in relationships, and what it means to be a collaborative practice.
Approach
Stacy works from Emotion Focused, trauma-focused, and narrative frameworks, with the belief that lasting change comes from understanding where distress originated rather than starting with coping skills alone — especially for clients who’ve already tried the standard toolkit without success. In couples work, she sets clear expectations for emotional safety from the first session, lets real conflict surface in the room so she can observe and reflect back relational patterns, and offers structured weekend intensives for couples who want concentrated progress in a short window. She describes herself as direct but consistently kind and curious, genuinely interested in the people in front of her, and comfortable following a client’s thinking even when it isn’t linear. She holds particular interest in the experience of women who tend to minimize their own pain, and works well with clients who don’t yet know how to name what’s wrong.
Areas Served
- Virtual therapy only
- Telehealth available anywhere in the states of Texas and Colorado
Practical Details
- Currently accepting new clients
- Language: English
- Session Days: Monday-Friday