Rita Haley

Licensed Psychotherapist and Wellness Coach

Rita Haley has lived her life by one philosophy: treat everyone with kindness and compassion. This empathy invoked within her a strong desire to make a difference in the world. As a youth, her love of science, the natural world and animals motivated her toward becoming a marine biologist doing important research for the benefit of conservation and environmental protection. This effected her enlisting in the United States Coast Guard Reserves while in college where she gained the maritime experience required to do research at sea.
 
After receiving two Bachelors of Science degrees, motherhood soon arrived and Rita entered the education field teaching children life sciences and tutoring adolescents in math. As she gained more experience working with youth, her career goal began to shift away from the study of animal life and more toward the study of human behavior and psychology.
 
In 2010, Rita earned her graduate degree in Cognitive-Behavior Counseling Psychology and became licensed as both a psychotherapist and a school social worker. In 2013, Rita began her own outpatient therapy business part-time while working full-time in the education field designing and managing therapeutic programs for youths with social-emotional disabilities, many of whom had experienced significant trauma in their young lives. She quickly discovered that the best interventions she could provide for these youths was unconditional positive regard and emotional safety.
 
During the Pandemic, Rita made the agonizing decision to leave the education field for the pursuit of her outpatient therapy business full-time.
 
In the decade and a half that she has been practicing psychotherapy, Rita has watched how the application of evidence-based therapeutic interventions in a non-judgmental, safe environment has changed lives. These highly successful methods have allowed her to create a strong business practice and grow a name for herself in her community; it has also motivated her to found the online program Ground & Center, where she offers affordable access to mental health information and programs. As the need for viable mental health services increases, Rita works tirelessly to put emphasis on her firm belief that everyone deserves to be supported by someone who is just as invested in your personal growth and wellness as you are.