Orem, Utah: The Arise Society is delighted to welcome Shara Preston, Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC), to the clinical team as Primary Therapist. Her compassion and warmth, in combination with her extensive experience in the mental health field, lend themselves particularly well to working with students struggling with trauma, depression, and anxiety.
“Shara comes to us with a tremendous amount of experience, both professionally and personally. Her exceptional skills, and commitment to our mission, are an asset to the company,” says The Arise Society’s Founder and Clinical Director, Vaughn Heath, PhD. “Her honesty and authenticity put people at ease immediately.”
Born in California, Shara spent her adolescent years in Washington preceding a period of several years that moved her across the West. She eventually settled in Oklahoma where she earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Central Oklahoma in Sociology, with extensive study in the area of Special Education. She then went on to earn her Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling from Southern Nazarene University.
Throughout her career, Shara has worked with a broad spectrum of clientele, in a wide range of therapeutic settings including programs for former prison inmates and homeless people, children, adolescents and families in the foster care system, and most recently, with teen girls and their families at New Haven Residential Treatment Center, as a Clinical Director.
Given her background as a trained trauma therapist, with a certification in mindfulness, Shara strongly believes in the transformational and healing power of self-compassion. “I was drawn to The Arise Society out of a desire to support students in their emotional, social, and academic developmental processes as they enter young adulthood, a stage of life characterized by revolutionary self-discovery and growth.”
The Arise Society utilizes a unique, relationship-based approach to provide the highest level of personalized care for students and their families. She says, “I am interested in supporting individuation. The Arise Society supports this way of thinking – and I love that.”
About the Arise Society
The Arise Society helps young adults transition into independent college life by engaging them in a vibrant community where they receive individualized therapeutic, academic, and social support. The college experience is a real-life setting that brings relevance to, and helps students move on from, social and emotional issues that they have struggled with in the past. The Arise Society empowers and coaches students on their journey toward independence. www.thearisesociety.com
Contact: Beth Harrison
The Arise Society
(385) 239-9520
beth@thearisesociety.com