Healing Starts with Connection
Meet the Therapists at Illuminate
Finding the right therapist is about more than credentials or specialties—it’s also about connection. Get to know the people behind Illuminate and find someone whose experience, approach, and personality feel like a good fit for you.
Every Person Who Walks Through Our Doors Carries a Unique Story
Our therapists are deeply committed to meeting each person as they are. With specialties spanning trauma, play therapy, ADHD and neurodivergence, relationships, women’s and perinatal mental health, and faith-integrated care, we offer different pathways toward healing. Whether therapy happens through conversation, play, movement, creativity, sensory experiences, or deeper trauma work, our goal is to help you feel understood, supported, and connected.
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Specialized ❋ Creative ❋ Connected ❋
Find Your Therapist
Each Illuminate therapist brings something different to the therapy room—their own specialties, training, personality, lived experiences, and way of connecting with people. Explore our team below to learn not only what each therapist specializes in, but who they are and the kinds of clients they especially love working with.
You can also select Learn More to visit each therapist’s Psychology Today profile, where you can find additional information and contact them directly.
Founder & Clinical Director
Natalie Hanks, LPC, LAC, RPT
(she/her)
Trauma • ADHD • Attachment • Nervous-System Healing
Natalie works with children and adults who want to understand what is happening beneath the surface—not simply manage symptoms. She specializes in trauma, ADHD and neurodivergence, attachment, and nervous-system healing, integrating EMDR, somatic work, play therapy, sandtray, sensory experiences, and expressive approaches.
As a Registered Play Therapist, Natalie’s work with children is especially focused on trauma, attachment, foster and adoptive experiences, and disruptions in safety and connection. With adults, she especially enjoys working with people who are ready to understand themselves more deeply, make sense of longstanding patterns, and approach healing differently.
My Favorite Clients
I especially love working with people who are curious about themselves and ready to go deeper. Maybe you’ve done therapy before but still feel stuck, you’re finally beginning to understand your ADHD or nervous system, or you know your past is showing up in ways you don’t fully understand yet. With children and families, I’m especially drawn to trauma, attachment, foster/adoptive experiences, and helping parents understand what may be happening underneath a child’s behavior.
Rifle, Colorado • In Person
Private Pay
Specialty Programs & Therapy Intensives Available
Marriage & Family Counseling Intern
Karter (KJ) Leuallen
(she/her)
Trauma • Neurodivergence • Veterans • Relationships
KJ works with teens, adults, veterans, couples, and families who want a space where they can show up as themselves. She has a particular passion for trauma, neurodivergence, relationship concerns, and helping people better understand the experiences and patterns shaping their lives.
Her approach is relational, experiential, and grounded in the nervous system. Depending on the person and their goals, therapy may incorporate EMDR, somatic and nervous-system work, sandtray, expressive approaches, and Gottman-informed relationship work. Her Grand Junction office is intentionally sensory-friendly, creating room for different ways of processing, communicating, and engaging in therapy.
My Favorite Clients
KJ especially enjoys working with people who want to understand themselves and their relationships more deeply. She loves working with neurodivergent teens and adults, veterans navigating the impact of their experiences, couples wanting to reconnect or communicate differently, and families trying to better understand one another. Her favorite clients don't have to arrive knowing exactly what they need—they just need a willingness to be curious and do the work together.
Grand Junction, Colorado • In Person
Teens • Adults • Couples • Families
Insurance + Private Pay
Clinical Counseling Intern
Rylee Wisniewski
(she/her)
Women • Pregnancy/Postpartum • Trauma • Virtual Play 8+
Rylee provides virtual therapy for children 8+, teens, and adults throughout Colorado. She has a special passion for supporting women through pregnancy, postpartum, motherhood, trauma, and major life transitions, as well as creating meaningful virtual therapy experiences for children and teens.
Her approach is warm, creative, and relationship-centered, integrating EMDR, somatic and nervous-system work, expressive therapy, and virtual play therapy. For children, therapy can happen through Illuminate’s interactive Virtual Playroom, where play, sandtray, creativity, and connection are possible even through a screen. Rylee also offers Christian counseling for clients who would like their faith thoughtfully incorporated into therapy.
My Favorite Clients
Rylee especially loves working with women who spend so much of their lives caring for everyone else and need a place where they can finally be cared for, too. She enjoys supporting women through pregnancy, postpartum, motherhood, trauma, identity shifts, and seasons of change. She also loves working creatively with children and teens who may not connect with traditional talk therapy and need more room to play, create, move, and simply be themselves.
Virtual Throughout Colorado
Children 8+ • Teens • Adults
Insurance + Private Pay
Christian Counseling Available
Clinical Counseling Intern
Sarah Smith
(she/her)
Children • Play Therapy • Anxiety • Neurodivergence
Sarah provides warm, supportive therapy for children and teens navigating anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism and neurodivergence, emotional regulation, and the everyday challenges of growing up. She has a particular passion for working with children and is developing her specialization in play therapy.
Sarah’s approach is collaborative, strengths-based, and neurodivergent-affirming. She uses play, creativity, movement, coping skills, and developmentally appropriate therapeutic experiences to help children express what can be difficult to put into words, better understand themselves, and build skills they can carry into everyday life.
My Favorite Clients
Sarah especially loves working with children who need the freedom to be themselves in therapy—whether they’re energetic, anxious, sensitive, creative, neurodivergent, struggling with big emotions, or simply not interested in sitting on a couch and talking. She enjoys helping children discover their strengths while partnering with families to better understand what their child may be communicating through emotions and behavior.
Rifle, Colorado • In Person
Children • Teens
Insurance + Private Pay ($70/session)
Clinical Counseling Intern
Reilly Greene
(she/her)
Children • Play • Connection • Life Transitions
Reilly brings a unique perspective to her work with children and families after spending seven years living overseas and currently residing in South Korea. As a teacher with a deep passion for children, she understands the importance of meeting kids in their world—with curiosity, creativity, patience, and connection.
She is especially interested in using play and expressive approaches to help children build emotional awareness, confidence, coping skills, and connection. Her experiences living and working internationally have also given her a meaningful appreciation for culture, transitions, belonging, and the many different ways children and families experience the world.
My Favorite Clients
Reilly especially loves children who are curious, imaginative, playful, or still figuring out how to express what is happening inside. She is drawn to helping children through transitions, big emotions, changes in their world, and experiences that may leave them feeling unsure of where they fit. She values creating a relationship where children can feel known, encouraged, and free to communicate in the ways that come most naturally to them.
Joining Illuminate January 2027
Children
Play & Expressive Therapy
Life Transitions
Emotional Regulation
JOINING JANUARY 2027
Healing Looks Different for Everyone
Healing isn’t one-size-fits-all—and neither is therapy. That’s why Illuminate isn’t built around one therapist, one modality, or one way of doing the work. Each of our clinicians brings different strengths, personalities, specialties, and ways of connecting.
Therapy might involve conversation, play, creativity, movement, sensory experiences, relationship work, EMDR, nervous-system support, or simply having a space where you don’t have to explain why your brain works differently. What matters most is finding an approach—and a person—that feels right for you.
Growing the Next Generation of TherapistsIlluminate is also committed to investing in the therapists who will carry this work forward. We provide graduate internship opportunities, clinical supervision, consultation, mentorship, and professional training for developing and established clinicians.