If you’re struggling with frustrating behavior patterns that you can’t seem to change, or if you’re stuck in negative thought loops that leave you feeling bad about yourself, cognitive behavioral therapy could be exactly what you need to start finding relief.
At Steady Hope Counseling, we have a team of skilled therapists in the Atlanta area who are here to help. On this page, we’ll introduce you to our CBT specialists so you can find the right match for what you’re going through and feel confident taking the next step.
Jump to a therapist
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Fern Lima: Good fit for grief & life transitions
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Jenny Romano: Good fit for new moms & maternal mental health
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Brenley Wiley: Good fit for couples & perinatal mental health
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Angie Harley: Good fit for spirituality & relationships
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Jessica Pentsil: Good fit for ADHD & life transitions
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Amanda Peters: Good fit for multicultural identity & adolescents
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Lauren Jarrell: Good fit for teens & anxiety
Not sure which therapist is right for you? Contact us so we can match you directly.
Meet our Atlanta cognitive behavioral counselors
Fern Lima, MSW
Good fit for grief and life transitions
If you're going through something heavy—grief, a major life change, anxiety that's worn you down—and you want a therapist who feels less like a clinician and more like a genuinely warm, steady presence, Fern is likely your person. She describes herself as laid-back and approachable, and that energy is intentional: she wants the therapy room to feel like a soft place to land, not another thing to perform for.
What sets her apart is her social work foundation, which shapes a deeply person-centered approach that treats you as the expert on your own experience. She also has a particular focus on the 8–30 age range, making her one of the few therapists here who bridges the gap between working with kids and young adults.
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Credentials: Master of Social Work, Certification in Trauma-Focused CBT
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Focus areas: Adolescents & young adults, grief & loss, bipolar, personality disorders, anxiety, spirituality, life transitions, communication, relationship issues
Jenny Romano, MA, LPC, NCC
Good fit for new moms & maternal mental health
Jenny is one of the most clinically seasoned therapists on our team when it comes to women's mental health, with experience working at inpatient, residential, and partial hospitalization levels of care—including eating disorder and trauma treatment—before moving into private practice.
That background is rare, and it means she's equipped to hold some of the heaviest things women carry in a way that goes well beyond the typical outpatient experience. She specializes in maternal mental health, grief, and women's issues, and she's the therapist on our team most focused exclusively on adult women (18+) navigating those specific intersections of identity, loss, and transition.
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Credentials: Licensed Professional Counselor #013224, National Certified Counselor #1232714
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Focus areas: Maternal mental health, trauma, women’s issues, life transitions, grief & loss, spirituality
Brenley Wiley, MA, LMFT, PMH-C
Good fit for couples & perinatal mental health
Brenley is the only Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist on our team, which means her entire clinical training was built around understanding people within their relationships and family systems—not just as individuals.
She's also a Perinatal Mental Health Certified provider with specific training through Postpartum Support International, and she's one of the few therapists here who works with both couples and kids as young as 8, making her an ideal fit if your family is navigating the postpartum period together.
If you're a couple who feels like having a baby cracked something open between you, or a parent whose child is struggling, Brenley brings a relational lens to CBT that very few therapists can offer.
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Credentials: Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist #MFT002160 in GA & #LMF8243 in SC, Licensed Telehealth Provider in Florida #TPMF1671
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Focus areas: Perinatal mental health, kids & teens, young adults, couples, ADHD, anxiety & depression, spirituality, family issues, boundaries
Angie Hartley, MA, APC
Good fit for spirituality & relationships
Angie holds two master's degrees—one in trauma counseling and crisis intervention, one in marriage and family counseling—and has real-world clinical experience that most therapists haven't encountered.
She’s worked with refugees and asylum seekers in France and the U.S., supported survivors of intimate partner violence, and provided care for missionaries navigating re-entry and spiritual/religious abuse. That breadth makes her uniquely equipped for clients whose lives don't fit neatly into a standard therapeutic framework.
She's also the therapist on our team who has completed the full EFT Externship, making her a particularly strong choice if couples work or emotionally focused approaches are a priority for you.
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Credentials: Associate Professional Counselor #APC010286
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Focus areas: Couples, families, trauma, anxiety & depression, spirituality
Jessica Pentsil, MA, LAPC
Good fit for ADHD & life transitions
Jessica is the therapist on our team most focused on adult ADHD. She approaches it not just as a productivity or focus issue, but as something that touches identity, shame, relationships, and the exhausting sense of always being behind.
Jessica combines CBT and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, which makes her a strong fit if you want the skill-building structure of CBT in a concentrated timeframe.
Her background in case management and nonprofit and ministry settings also gives her a distinct ability to work with people in helping professions—teachers, pastors, caregivers—who are used to holding everyone else up and aren't sure how to ask for support themselves.
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Credentials: Licensed Professional Counselor #016838
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Focus areas: ADHD in adults, life transitions, anxiety, stress management, ministry leaders, spirituality
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Amanda Peters, MA
Good fit for multicultural identity & adolescents
Amanda is the therapist on our team with the most focused expertise in multicultural counseling. Specifically, she’s experienced in working with Third Culture Kids and Third Culture Adults, people who grew up moving between cultures and often carry a quiet, hard-to-name struggle around identity and belonging that mainstream therapy doesn't always know how to hold.
She spent years working with adolescents and families in nonprofit settings before coming to private practice, and that relational, community-rooted background shapes a therapy style that is collaborative, culturally sensitive, and deeply attachment-informed.
If you've ever felt like you don't fully belong anywhere or like your story is too layered for a therapist to really get, Amanda is the therapist for you.
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Credentials: Master of Professional Counseling, trained in Trauma-Focused CBT
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Focus areas: Adolescents & teens, college students, young adults, multicultural identity, Third Culture Kids, life transitions, spirituality, anxiety & depression, trauma
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Lauren Jarrell, MA, LAPC
Good fit for teens & anxiety
Lauren's clinical background includes time in a psychiatric residential treatment facility working specifically with trauma and suicidality. This means she has hands-on experience with some of the most complex presentations in adolescent mental health, and she brings that level of preparedness into her work with teens and young adults in outpatient settings.
She's the therapist on our team most specifically equipped for clients who are dealing with self-injurious behavior or suicidal thoughts alongside anxiety and trauma, and her attachment-based lens means she's always working to understand the relational roots of what's showing up—not just the symptoms on the surface.
If you're a parent worried about your teenager, or a young adult who feels like anxiety has taken over, Lauren is someone who will take it seriously and know what to do.
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Credentials: Licensed Associate Professional Counselor #APC009879
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Focus areas: Adolescents, young adults, anxiety & depression, trauma, family issues, suicidal thoughts and self-injurious behavior, social skills development
What sets our practice apart from other Atlanta CBT therapy providers
There are a lot of therapists in Atlanta—so why choose Steady Hope? A few things make us genuinely different from the rest.
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Diverse, highly trained team. Our clinicians hold training across CBT, EMDR, somatic therapy, IFS, EFT, DBT, TF-CBT, and more, meaning that your care will be customized to your unique needs.
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Flexible ways of meeting. Whether you prefer to come in person to our Decatur office or meet virtually, we've got you covered.
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Evening and weekend availability. Life is busy. We offer flexible scheduling so therapy actually fits into your real life.
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Holistic, whole-person care. We don't just treat symptoms; we consider the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of your well-being.
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Perinatal Mental Health Certified providers. Multiple clinicians on our team hold PMH-C certification, a specialized credential that sets us apart for maternal mental health support.
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Women and mama-owned. Steady Hope was built by a woman, for people who want a practice that gets it—the mental load, the identity shifts, the juggle.
If you've been looking for a CBT therapist in Atlanta who will actually show up for you with skill, warmth, and availability, Steady Hope was built for exactly that.