Reimagining counseling and leadership through humanity, equity, and justice.
The Counterstory Institute is coming soon!
A learning space for counselors, counselor educators, supervisors, and organizational leaders committed to culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and justice-oriented practice.
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Join the interest list for updates on future podcasts, educational classes, continuing education, consultation opportunities, and collaborative partnerships.
A different way to listen, learn, and lead
Education can do more than transfer knowledge.
It can help us listen differently, question inherited narratives, and build practices that honor lived experience.
The Counterstory Institute exists to support a future of counseling and leadership that centers humanity, advances equity, and cultivates healing across clinical practice, supervision, counselor education, and organizational life.
Created for practitioners, educators, and leaders
The Counterstory Institute is being built for people and organizations committed to reflective, ethical, and justice-oriented practice.
- Mental health counselors seeking deeper clinical reflection and healing-centered tools
- Counselor educators and supervisors preparing the next generation of practitioners
- Company, nonprofit, and organizational leaders working to build cultures of belonging, accountability, and care
- Collaborators who believe education should make room for complexity, context, and lived experience
What’s coming
The Counterstory Institute will offer learning experiences and partnerships grounded in evidence, ethical practice, and critical reflection.
- Podcast conversations on counseling, leadership, identity, equity, and healing
- Educational classes for clinicians, educators, supervisors, and leaders
- Continuing education opportunities for mental health professionals
- Consultation for clinical, educational, and organizational settings
- Collaborative partnerships that support justice-oriented learning and practice
Our approach
Transformative education begins by listening differently.
The Counterstory Institute creates space to critically examine the stories, systems, and assumptions that shape how we counsel, teach, supervise, lead, and belong.
This work is grounded in evidence and ethical practice while making room for nuance, cultural context, lived experience, and collective responsibility.
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Register your email to receive updates on new offerings, early learning opportunities, continuing education, podcast releases, and ways to collaborate.
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Meet Our Founders
Douglas Valdez, PhD, MBA, LMHC, LPC, NCC
"I am a counselor educator, clinician, and community leader committed to advancing culturally responsive care and supporting diverse communities. I co-founded The Counterstory Institute to center marginalized voices and create educational resources that challenge dominant narratives and foster meaningful growth."
- Dr. Valdez
Lisa Belknap, PhD, LPC-S, LMHC
“I’m interested in the space where our values, our work, and our lived experiences intersect. I’m drawn to the questions that don’t always have easy answers; how the stories we inherit shape the way we understand ourselves and others, how systems influence the work we do, and what becomes possible when we’re willing to question the narratives we’ve been given. The Counterstory Institute grew from our belief that education can be a space that makes room for complexity, challenge assumptions, and consider what other stories might be waiting to be heard.”
- Dr. Belknap
