Co-Founder

Rachel Harner (she/her) is a Licensed Professional Counselor, an EMDR trained clinician by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA), a registered Supervisor with the Virginia Board of Counseling, a Certified Mental Health Integrative Medicine Provider, and Meditation Practitioner. Rachel completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia and her Master’s degree in Counseling at Regent University. Rachel is listed in the Reclamation Collective directory for therapists working with religious and spiritual trauma and has additional training in somatic therapy. Rachel works to practice therapy from a decolonized and harm reduction perspective.

Rachel works with clients who have experienced trauma in religious institutions (cults, high demand religious groups, LDS, Evangelical/Protestant Christianity, and Eastern religious traditions) as well as sexual abuse and assault, relationship stressors, and abusive family systems. Her experience treating clients with Complex PTSD and structural dissociation has lead her to engage in treatment from the viewpoint that coping mechanisms, once used for survival, may no longer be serving the client in the present.

Rachel spent almost a decade in solo private practice before founding Connected Wellness Group. She utilizes Psychodynamic theories, ego state concepts, EMDR, Internal Family Systems, mindfulness, and somatic therapy in her counseling practice. Rachel views the role of the therapist as assisting clients in processing and grieving their experiences while empowering agency through trusting self. Healing means reestablishing congruence, wholeness, and connection.

Rachel co-founded Connected Wellness Group with the goal of establishing a space where clients are treated using evidenced-based, trauma-informed approaches and employed therapists work in a space that prioritized their career growth and their rest.