Dr. Benson can provide therapy to individuals ages 16+, couples, and families residing in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

 

With individuals, Dr. Benson combines psychoeducation with cognitive-behavioral therapy and insight oriented therapy. For trauma, Dr. Benson can augment CBTR with tapping (which is also quite helpful for anxiety). She is trained in a family systems approach for family issues and enjoys working with adult children and parents. She is an ADHD certified clinical services provider and can also provide executive functioning coaching within the context of ADHD-focused therapy.​

With couples, Dr. Benson utilizes components of the Gottman Method, the developmental model for couples, and process therapy. She is a Gottman educator in Bringing Baby Home and 7 Principles for Making Marriage Work. Further, she has completed advanced training in using the Gottman method for healing from infidelity.

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Dr. Benson has has a subspecialty in helping couples influenced by ADHD, and is excellent with couples where resentment has grown due to differences between the ADHD and non-ADHD partners. She believes that strong, resilient and healthy relationships help everyone do better in all areas of their lives and has done award winning research on the effects of parental divorce on adult children’s relationships.

 

She is pro-marriage/pro-couple wherever possible, knowing that mutually satisfying partnered relationships create a positive ripple effect across generations. Dr. Benson is also trained to provide premarital counseling and uses both PREPARE and ENRICH, two assessments designed to give quantifiable results for premarital and married couples across dimensions such as communication and relationship roles. ​She is also trained in developmental couples therapy and can provide couples therapy intensives and mini intensives. 

​Dr. Benson is pro-marriage, but understands that not every relationship will survive. Another specialty of hers is Discernment Counseling, which is a form of decision making counseling for couples who may have a mixed agenda (i.e., one partner leaning in toward marriage and one partner leaning out toward divorce). She underwent extra training and certification in this approach. 

 

In the event that relationships are not capable of being healthy and functional for both partners, Dr. Benson is strong and steady in helping people with the process of uncoupling in a manner that honors best interests of all. She has experience in working with divorce transition therapy and coaching as well as post- divorce recovery. When partnerships have children involved, she takes a child advocate stance to help partners keep their children’s best interests in mind while also navigating the grief and stress associated with relationships ending.  She has even completed training in collaborative divorce and mediation to assist couples in creating working parenting plans. 

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Dr. Benson has successfully worked with:
 

• Relationship issues across the entire spectrum (dating, premarital therapy, infertility, infidelity, sexual issues)

• Divorce and coparenting, including gray divorce (divorce at midlife or after)

• Discernment counseling

• Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families

• Highly Sensitive People

• ADHD in individuals and the impact of ADHD on a couple 

• Trauma

• Career issues, especially family businesses and entrepreneurs, including succession planning within the system

• High achievers

• Parenting issues and challenges, including parenting coaching

• Family therapy including estrangement between parents and adult children

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Midlife and aging, including perimenopause/menopause  

• Stress and life adjustment challenges

• Health and wellness issues (in fact, she is a certified wellness coach through the College of Executive Coaching)

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Like all Best Life clinicians, Dr. Benson is an LGBTQ+ ally and is committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment for all clients.
 

Dr. Benson says, "I operate from a strong belief that people have within themselves all that they need to succeed and heal, they just might need some help tapping into those abilities. Resilience is an important core principle of operation, and we will focus on strengths and promoting insight and self-awareness. Also, I have always been drawn to working on relationships of all kinds. With couples, one of my most helpful roles is to act as a translator between two people who may be missing the mark in how their communication is working."

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Some books related to therapy that Dr. Benson loves include: Is It You, Me, or Adult ADD by Gina Pera, Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman, and The Divorce Remedy by Michele Weiner-Davis

 

Her favorites specifically in the area of parenting and family are “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” by Marc Weissbluth, and “Babyproofing Your Marriage: How to Laugh More and Argue Less As Your Family Grows” by Cockrell, O’Neill, Stone and Comancho-Koppel.

Outside of work, Dr. Benson is mom to a two older daughters. She is also a pet mom to three cats and a horse. She decompresses by watching all the horses at the barn, taking walks outside, reading and laughing with her lifelong friends. She loves to travel and explore new places and cultures. She also finds purpose and meaning in volunteering.