Free 15 Minute Phone Conversation
Charis offers an initial free 15 minute phone consultation with one of our counselors. Please fill out the information below and we’ll contact you to schedule a time that works best.
Free ConsultationA Little About Charis
We have gathered some of the most competent, effective, and caring professional counselors in Orlando & Central Florida to provide a diversity of services to work with you. Our office staff is also an incredible asset to Charis while receiving clients and setting up appointments.
Counselors
Founder
Jim Keller
Now Accepting New Clients! Jim was on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ for 28 years before he founded Charis Counseling Center in 1999. Jim and his wife Renee were speakers with FamilyLife’s “Weekend to Remember” for 19 years focusing on the topics of marriage, parenting, and remarriage. He is the author of The...
Clinical Director
Julia Jancek Sharp
Now Accepting New Clients! Julia is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over 20 years of experience helping individuals and couples achieve greater emotional health and wellbeing. She is a trauma-informed therapist who utilizes a variety of modalities including IFS, EFT, psychotherapy, narrative therapy, somatic practices, and story work to tailor her approach to each...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Cathy O’Neal
Call to see if Cathy is accepting New Clients. Cathy’s goal is to help her client’s move effectively through stressful situations and painful life and relational difficulties in order to experience more joy and a greater sense of self. She provides an emotionally safe place for both individuals and couples to learn how to process...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Sex Addiction Therapist
Timothy Burkholder
Now Accepting New Clients! Once, while standing in line for a bus, Tim was asked by an unknown and older African American gentleman, “They say still waters run deep. Is you deep?” That moment has stuck with him ever since, and served to guide him into a career in Counseling. Tim enjoys journeying to the...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Michelle Nason
Now Accepting New Clients! Michelle received her Graduate degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Central Florida. Michelle feels, at our core, we all have the need to be heard and seen. Through her own therapy, she learned how grace can transform pain and heal trauma. Working through her own past helped her...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Scott Welch
Now Accepting New Clients! Scott enjoyed a fast-paced career as a youth pastor for over 20 years before he founded FreshStart Church in Tampa Florida where he has been the lead pastor since 1999. Scott has spoken nationally and internationally and published several articles on adolescent issues. He currently teaches marriage and family counseling and...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Nathan Wilkinson
Not Currently Accepting New Clients – give our office a call to be added to his waitlist. Nathan graduated from UCF in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Digital Media. While pursuing a graphic design career, he became heavily involved with his college ministry, Central Florida Wesley. He was involved in leadership at CFL Wesley...
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Carolyn Posey
Now Accepting New Clients! Carolyn joined the Charis team in 2018, bringing over 20 years of counseling experience with her. Because she was trained in the medical field, she is able to implement the information she learned there into her work. Carolyn is a licensed marriage and family therapist who worked for many years as...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Ashley Mills
Now accepting New Clients! Ashley is passionate about working with individuals, couples, and families and believes everyone deserves a safe and empathetic place to walk through their journey. She approaches counseling through Emotion Focused Therapy so the couple or individual can explore their inner world, experience healing, gain a deeper understanding of who they are...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Anna Hall
August 2023- Anna is out on maternity leave – give our office a call to be added to her waitlist. As a counselor, Anna hopes to create a safe space for clients to share openly and deeply their past and current struggles. It is her passion to work collaboratively with clients to create meaningful change...
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
Melanie Mullins
Now Accepting New Patients! Melanie has over 15 years of experience in the mental health space. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Western Kentucky University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Indiana University Southeast. In her spare time she loves to be with her husband and two young boys.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Kathy McClenahan
Now Accepting New Clients! It’s never too late. That is something Kathy knows from experience. She never would have guessed that she would find herself going back to school, in her fifties, to become a counselor. Now she affirms, “I love being a counselor because I feel like all of my experiences have prepared me...
Parent Coach
Vicky Hepler
Now Accepting New Clients! Vicky has spent her career as an educator, coach and trainer. She was a classroom teacher for 37 years and she has also been a Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor since 2004, using her experience to help teachers transform their classroom climate and parents create peaceful, loving homes. Vicky is the creator...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Emily Will
Now Accepting New Clients! As a counselor, Emily believes that healing happens in the context of relationships. Emily’s desire is to walk with her clients in a collaborative relationship in order to pursue growth using a biblical framework and clinical approach. She is particularly focused on an attachment-based, emotion-focused approach while also pulling from various...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor, CSAT Candidate
Scotty Alderman
Now Accepting New Clients! “Have you ever considered becoming a therapist?” a mentor asked Scotty at a dinner shortly after he and his wife returned from their honeymoon. “I think you would be good at it.” Everything seemed to click in that moment and he had difficulty concentrating for the rest of the meal, eager...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Anthony Barrett
Now Accepting New Clients! Life can be fraught with pain, heartache, and despair, causing many of us to feel hopeless and confused and ultimately question the reality of goodness. Counseling can be a place where hope and goodness are rediscovered and cultivated together. It is in the context of relationships that we are formed, harmed,...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Augusto Zabaleta
Now Accepting New Clients! Augusto is a multicultural counselor from Brazil who simply loves to sit across from people! For a long time, Augusto walked in this world with a deep sense that life had more to offer than what he was experiencing. Through his own counseling journey, he learned that it was the very...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Trevor Reinholt
Now Accepting New Clients! Trevor received his Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Colorado Christian University. With over a decade in ministry, Trevor has extensive experience working one-on-one with youth, college-age, and adults in a pastoral counseling setting. Through his own journey of healing through counseling, Trevor discovered his passion for coming alongside others in...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Parker Johnson
Now Accepting New Clients! Parker received his MA in counseling from Reformed Theological Seminary. He has experience working with adolescents, families, adults, and couples from a wide array of backgrounds, ranging from High School students in the Bronx to juvenile sex offenders at a group home in Massachusetts to distressed families throughout Orlando. He does...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Brittney Reinholt
Now Accepting New Clients! Brittney Reinholt, M.A. is a registered mental health counselor intern. She enjoys working with young adults and individuals who feel “stuck” in life. She is passionate about helping people navigate difficult life challenges and helping them find wholeness out of the broken parts of their story. Through her own counseling journey,...
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Chelsea Johnson
April 2023: Chelsea is currently out on maternity leave but if you’d like to be added to the list of those who see her when she returns, please give our office a call! Sometimes it is really hard for us to remember who we are, the goodness we hold, the light in our hearts. And...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Samantha Fisher
Now Accepting New Clients! In the midst of a difficult season of life, Samantha repetitiously asked herself where in the world she could find help. What is counseling? She was eager to find a path toward healing, but was unsure of where she could go. It wasn’t until a dear friend of hers encouraged her to try...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Sarah James
Now Accepting New Clients! We may know that past experiences don’t define us but often our feelings don’t seem to get that message. We may know what we should do about our struggles, but we feel stuck. Sarah guides clients in understanding how their life story has affected the way they view themselves and others. She...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Jennifer Pang
Now Accepting New Clients! Jennifer strives to establish a genuine connection with clients and to work collaboratively within the therapeutic relationship. She believes that healing and growth happens through creating new, emotional experiences in relationships and when clients courageously explore and confront their life story and present realities in a safe and non-judgmental space. Jennifer...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Catie Cizek
Now Accepting New Clients! Catie arrived in the counseling profession by way of her own story and a lifelong genuine interest in people and learning. After receiving her B.S. in Psychology and M.S. in Management at the University of Florida, Catie stayed at UF to join campus ministry staff with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for...
Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern
Carol Kim
Now Accepting New Clients! Carol desires for her clients to be seen with unconditional regard which begins the process of transforming pain into a healing process when one is known, heard and understood by another. She believes that pain that is not transformed is transmitted in our lives. Through her own personal and professional life...
Student Intern
Jenna Thomas
Jenna lives to discover the beautiful complexity of every individual she spends time with. A lifelong student of people, she was thrilled to learn in her adolescence that an entire field of study dedicated to exploring the human mind existed. After earning her undergraduate degree in psychology, Jenna worked with students and young adults, guiding...