Olivia Fadul, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor

10/04/2026

🌿 Reintroducing Olivia
It has been a while since I introduced myself, and this feels like a meaningful time to do so. My work has evolved over the years, but the heart of why I became a counselor has remained the same: I want people to have a place where they can be heard, participate fully, and feel seen.

I have been counseling adolescents and adults since 2011, across community mental health, behavioral health, and telehealth settings. Along the way, my own understanding of what it means to provide responsive care has deepened. My experiences as a counselor, professional development facilitator, and disability advocate have taught me that good counseling is not simply about what happens in the therapy room. It is also about who has access to the room, whose ways of communicating and processing are honored, and whether people feel they can show up as themselves once they are there.

That is why I often describe counseling as “holding the umbrella.” I am not here to direct someone else’s journey or decide where they should go. I walk alongside people as they heal, navigate uncertainty, make meaning, and forge new paths.

My approach centers identity, accessibility, acceptance, compassion, and cultural responsiveness. I don’t believe people should have to fit themselves into therapy. Therapy should also be responsive to the person.

That might mean flexible pacing, attention to sensory needs, different ways of communicating or processing information, written materials, live captions, or simply asking: “What would help you participate?”

My work is especially grounded in disability-affirming and neurodiversity-affirming care. People are more than diagnoses or symptoms. We bring our cultures, identities, relationships, strengths, environments, communication needs, and lived experiences with us.

I support adolescents and adults navigating anxiety, depression, OCD, grief, trauma, burnout, life transitions, health challenges, and experiences of feeling different, othered, or misunderstood. My work draws from ACT, DBT, CBT, Motivational Interviewing, Positive Psychology, strengths-based approaches, and trauma-informed care.

🌿 NEW MEXICO | Valued Healing
Today, I practice with Valued Healing, a group practice in Rio Rancho, providing both in-person counseling and telehealth throughout New Mexico.
Insurance: Aetna • UnitedHealthcare • Blue Cross Blue Shield
Presbyterian pending

🌿 NEVADA | Olive Tree Counseling and Wellness
I also continue to maintain Olive Tree Counseling and Wellness, the private practice I founded, providing telehealth counseling throughout Nevada. Olive Tree remains an important part of my commitment to increasing access to mental health care.
Insurance: BHS/Behavioral Health Systems • Blue Cross Blue Shield • Carelon Behavioral Health • Cigna/Evernorth • Curative • UnitedHealthcare/UBH

After more than 15 years in this work, I keep returning to something simple:
People deserve counseling where they can participate fully, retain agency, and feel seen.

I am not here to determine someone else’s path. I am here to hold the umbrella and walk alongside them as they discover what works for them, find their stride, and move toward what matters.

Care that makes room for who you are. 🌿

09/03/2026

Relationship OCD can make ordinary uncertainty feel like an emergency.

It may look like rereading texts, analyzing feelings, comparing relationships, Googling for answers, or repeatedly asking, “Are we okay?” or “Did I do something wrong?”

The cycle can bring brief relief, but the doubt often returns.
Healing is not about proving that a relationship is perfect. It can mean learning to make room for uncertainty without letting OCD make every thought an emergency.

A needed reminder: this does not mean ignoring real concerns. Safety, coercion, abuse, dishonesty, repeated disrespect, and boundary violations deserve attention and support.

As an OCD-informed, neuroaffirming therapist, I provide collaborative and compassionate support for people who feel caught in these loops.

If you are looking for OCD-informed care, you are welcome to inquire about counseling with me at OliviaCounseling.com.
Save this for later or share it with someone who may need a gentler understanding of OCD.

— Olivia Fadul, MS, LPCC, CPC, NCC

Olivia Counseling | Belonging by design. Access-centered care. Meaningful change.

08/22/2026

I created this Educational Guide: Moving Forward with OCD to use collaboratively with clients during counseling sessions. Disclosure: this is a sample of my work.

The guide infuses the Stages of Change, OCD experiences, & body/nervous-system awareness to build knowledge, support self-awareness, & create conversation.

One question we can come back to in session is:
Where are you in this change?

In my work, I draw from the Social Model of Disability & use collaborative language rather than relying solely on prescriptive or medical-model language.

The Social Model invites us to look beyond what may be happening within a person & consider the whole person, their well-being, the environments they are navigating, & environmental stressors that may be contributing to the tensions showing up in their life right now.

People do not experience OCD in a vacuum.
The environments we move through matter. Relationships, expectations, sensory demands, communication, access, identity, belonging, available supports, and other life circumstances can influence someone's well-being & how they experience and navigate OCD.

When working with clients, I am intentional about the language I use.
For example, one word, I eliminate is the word “should.” This word can carry authority suggesting there is a correct place someone needs to be, a correct way to feel, a certain time limit in which to heal, or a particular response they are expected to have.

In counseling, this language can unintentionally shift power toward the counselor & away from the client's own knowledge & lived experience.
When working with clients, I want the language I use to support agency rather than prescribe a direction.
Instead of telling someone where they should be, what they should feel, or what they should do next, we can become curious together:
What are you noticing?
What fits or doesn't?
Where are you in this change?
What is happening within & around you right now?
What might we explore together?

The counselor brings clinical knowledge, while the client brings expertise about their own lived experience. Collaboration creates space for both.
This process doesn't mean to minimize OCD or the distress someone feels. It means creating room for the whole person & their well-being, rather than reducing someone to a diagnosis or collection of symptoms.
Change isn't linear. There isn't a prescribed timeline for healing. Someone may move forward, pause, revisit something they have explored before, or find themselves in different stages of change with OCD.

For me, psychoeducation isn't simply giving someone information. It is a collaborative process of building knowledge, developing language for our experiences, noticing the body, understanding the environments around us, and developing greater self-awareness.
Sometimes the first question isn't:
“How do I change this?”
It may simply be:
“Where am I in this change & what is happening around me right now?”

06/27/2026

What is the heart of counseling?
Insight from Olivia
Professional Counselor in New Mexico & Nevada

As I approach my fifteenth year in the counseling profession, I've found myself returning to that question.
Anniversaries have a way of inviting reflection.
They remind us not only of where we've been, but also of why we began.
As counselors, we often invite our clients to pause & reflect on questions such as:
Who am I?
Where do I belong?
Who am I becoming?
What matters most now?

Perhaps, from time to time, we need to ask those same questions of ourselves.
Sometimes, we need to revisit our own why.
On August 5, 2011, I graduated with my master's degree in counseling.
Just two weeks later, I walked into my first counseling position at an inpatient substance use disorder treatment facility.
Like many new counselors, I believed counseling was about theories, techniques, diagnoses, & developing the clinical skills needed to help people.
Those things mattered.
They still do.
Theory, research, & ethics remain the foundation of our profession.
But over the past fifteen years, the people I have had the privilege of learning from have taught me something no textbook ever could.
They taught me that counseling is more than theories, textbooks, & techniques.
They taught me that the heart of counseling is found in people, relationships, healing, & discovering what truly matters most.
They also taught me that every person's story is shaped by culture, family, relationships, community, spirituality, identity, ability, & lived experience—including my own.
As a 2nd-generation Filipino American counselor, I've come to recognize how my own cultural worldview has quietly shaped the counselor I have become.

Looking back, I can see that values such as Kapwa (shared humanity/other self), Malasakit (compassionate care), & Pakikiramdam (deep relational attentiveness) have strengthened my belief that healing begins in relationship.

These reflections have led me to continue asking questions:
What is the foundation of counseling?
How do we stay grounded in what matters most?
How do we create space for people to reconnect with their own voice, values, and direction?
Those questions are beginning to take shape in what I'm calling A Compass for Counseling.
It isn't a finished model or framework
It is an ongoing reflection.
A reminder that counselors, like our clients, continue to grow, learn, & rediscover our why.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be sharing more of that journey as I celebrate fifteen years in the counseling profession.

Because I believe one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves—& the people we serve—is the willingness to keep returning to the heart of this work.
Sometimes, the heart of counseling is found in the quiet moments.
When someone whispers,
"I'm scared."
& another person responds,
"I'm here with you."
"Thank you for trusting me with your story."
To me, that is where counseling begins.

06/18/2026

With age you learn it’s not about time, it’s about the people who truly see, hear, and love you. 💛👯‍♀️

06/17/2026

06/17/2026

🧭 Belonging Compass™ | North
What remains true about me?
When life changes, it is easy to focus on what has been lost.
The role.
The relationship.
The plan.
The version of ourselves we thought we would become.
But growth is not only about letting go.
It is also about remembering.
Remembering our values.
Remembering our strengths.
Remembering the parts of ourselves that remain steady even when circumstances change.
Perhaps that is why roots matter.
Even when the landscape changes, not everything has been lost.
Some parts of us continue to grow beneath the surface.
Some parts of us continue to guide us forward.
And sometimes healing begins by remembering what was never lost.

🧭 Pause & Reflect
⬆️ What strengths have helped me navigate challenges before?
⬆️ What values continue to guide me?
⬆️ Who or what helps me feel grounded?
⬆️ What have my experiences taught me about myself?
⬆️ What remains true about me today?

🌱 This Week's Reflection
Identify one strength, value, relationship, or lesson you are carrying with you.
Write it down.
Carry it with you this week.
💜 You are not lost. You are becoming.
🌳 Rooted in Belonging.
🧭 Guided by Purpose.
— Olivia Fadul, MS, LPCC, CPC, NCC

Part of the Belonging Compass™ series developed through the Olive Tree Counseling Approach™.

06/15/2026

In 2020, my 9th year as a counselor, I launched Olive Tree Counseling during a global pandemic, a season when the world felt uncertain & disconnected.
As a counselor, I found myself working with individuals navigating grief & loss, neurodivergence, disability identity, chronic and health conditions, life transitions, relationships, & questions of belonging

Across these experiences, I noticed:
People were not simply trying to solve problems.
They were trying to understand who they were, what mattered to them, & who they were becoming.
Beneath many of these conversations was a deeper question:
Where do I belong now & were do I go now?
As someone who has lived with hearing loss since childhood, I understand what it means to navigate a world that is not always built with access in mind.
Disability taught me that healing is not always about returning to life as it was before. Often, it is about adaptation, self-discovery, & finding meaning in the midst of change.

As I continued to grow as a counselor, I found myself drawn to Existential-Humanistic counseling, an approach that emphasizes meaning, purpose, freedom, responsibility, & the courage to live authentically.
The olive tree became a symbol for that journey.
Over time, I realized that healing often looks like an olive tree.
We deepen our roots
We adapt
We grow through changing seasons
We continue becoming

As I reflected on my work as a counselor & disabled individual, I saw a common thread: people were searching for meaning, belonging, & direction.
I realized that healing requires both roots & direction

Over time, Olive Tree Counseling evolved into something larger.
Today, Olive Tree Counseling remains the foundation of my philosophy, while Olivia Counseling serves as the umbrella for my counseling, advocacy, scholarship, & consultation work

Across each role, I continue returning to the same question:
How do we help people navigate life's transitions without losing themselves?
🧭 A compass became a natural companion to the olive tree
While roots ground us, a compass helps us navigate uncertainty & reconnect with what matters most

Together, they became the foundation for the Olive Tree Counseling Approach™ & a reflection tool I call the Belonging Compass™

At the center of the compass is one word:

✨ PURPOSE ✨
The Belonging Compass™ is not about finding the right answer
It is about creating space to reflect & move forward with intention

Philosophy
As a counselor, I see myself as a fellow traveler, walking alongside people as they deepen their roots, discover direction, & move toward a life aligned with their values
And at the heart of my work is one belief:
💜 You belong here
You are not lost. You are becoming
Healing is not returning to who you were
Healing is growing into who you are becoming

In future posts, I'll share reflections & exercises from the Belonging Compass™.
See comments for instructions on how to use the exercise

05/25/2026

✨ More than a drawing — this piece reflects the values and insight that continue to guide my work: empathy, growth, connection, healing, and creating space where people feel seen, heard, and supported. 🤍🌿☕

✨ A creative reflection of the heart behind my work as a counselor and educator — grounded in compassion, authenticity, connection, and hope. 🤍

☕🌿 Sometimes artwork captures what words cannot. This piece reflects the importance of empathy, healing, humor, growth, and showing up fully human in the work we do.

✨ Counseling is more than a profession to me — it is about creating spaces where people feel safe enough to heal, grow, and rediscover their strengths. This artwork beautifully reflects that journey. 🤍

🤍 A little creativity, a lot of heart. This illustration captures pieces of the energy, care, and humanity I hope to bring into counseling, advocacy, and education every day.

✨ This sketchbook-inspired piece reflects both the professional and human side of counseling — curiosity, compassion, reflection, humor, growth, and connection. 🌿

🌿 Healing, boundaries, laughter, growth, advocacy, coffee, and connection — all parts of the journey. This artwork captures the spirit behind the work I care deeply about. 🤍☕

✨ I love how this artwork reflects the balance between professionalism and humanity. Counseling is not about perfection — it is about presence, empathy, and connection.

🤍 A visual reminder that counselors are human too — learning, growing, reflecting, supporting others, and continuing to evolve along the way.

04/26/2026

Start Here: When Life Feels Unclear
Counseling with Olivia

Tip: Start your week with this daily reflection prompt.

Sometimes things don’t make sense right away.
You don’t have to rush clarity.
Writing can be one place to begin.
Not to fix it. Not to force positivity.
Just to understand what’s there.
If you’re not sure where to start, you might try one of these prompts.
You don’t need to be perfect. This is just for you.
Just start somewhere.

✨ Which day would you start with—Sun, Wed, or Fri?
You can come back to this whenever you need.
Save this for later.