Diana Johnson, LPC, Board-Approved Supervisor, has been practicing therapy since 2010. She earned a post-graduate certificate in play therapy in 2012. She also completed the Missouri Bar’s requirements to assist opposing parties in reaching negotiated agreements before trial. Diana earned a Master of Science in School Counseling from the University of Missouri in 2007 and worked in the school counseling field for several years with both elementary and secondary students, including participation in Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and 504 accommodations.
Diana’s philosophy is strongly rooted in Rogerian, person-centered techniques, which aim to create a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship between client and therapist. She believes this foundation paves the way toward deeper insight and increased internal clarity, strengthening an individual’s true sense of self. This modality centers on an individualized, nonjudgmental approach that creates a safe and trusting foundation from which healthy change can occur.
Diana’s previous experience includes inpatient treatment for juvenile offenders and court-ordered treatment for adolescents struggling with substance abuse. This work often involved collaboration with family members, caregivers, and school district officials. She also operated a private practice for 11 years.
Diana utilizes a variety of therapeutic approaches, incorporating Family Systems Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Strengths-Based Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, psychoanalytic exploration, and play therapy, with specialized attention to trauma-informed techniques. Diana believes that every individual has intrinsically unique life experiences. These intricacies, combined with innate temperament, heredity, and caregiver and sibling relationships, are all important pieces of the “puzzle,” with each being a contributing factor deserving of its own exploration and analysis.
Diana’s professional passion for becoming a therapist grew from her own personal struggles, from childhood through the present. She recognized early on that the feeling of being truly “got” in the therapeutic process was too powerful and unique to pass up as her lifelong career.
This is the gift she wishes to “pay forward” to others who may be struggling or feeling alone. Even for those with a history of ineffective or unsuccessful therapeutic experiences, Diana strongly encourages them to keep searching. She emphasizes that there ARE great therapist matches out there for you—and you WILL KNOW once you’ve found one.