David Kalergis is the founder and owner of Lowcountry Family & Children. His goal in counseling is to work with families in Mt. Pleasant & the Charleston area to support relationships where both parent and child feel esteemed, recognized, loved and understood. His work and interventions involve supporting children and families to move past barriers by healthily communicating core feelings, wants, and needs. It is his belief that with encouragement, reassurance, and the right coping and communication skills, anyone can thrive!
David has over a decade’s worth of experience working with children and families in a multitude of different environments around the world. He takes pride in implementing mindfulness in providing a person-centered approach to treatment plans as it is his belief that a trusting rapport is the foundation of a healthy therapeutic relationship. He takes pride in providing a positive male influence in the lives of the children he counsels.
David has an animated assertiveness towards life and counseling. His natural and easy-going approach to his work, helps him make real and sincere connections with children, teens, and parents. His ability to meet children and teens at their level while making them feel heard, validated, and understood is valuable asset in the process of rapport development and achieving therapeutic goals.
He works hard to help the children and adults he sees feel heard and accepted yet contested to assist in the process of development and maturation. He does not see the therapeutic process as his place to criticize or condemn, but to craft a bond where you can see your barriers, address them, and move forward.
CREDENTIALS:
- LPC: National Clinical Mental Health Examination (NCMHCE)
- M.Ed. Counselor Education, The Citadel Graduate College
- Certified in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (State Registered by Project BEST, MUSC)
- Serving Board Member of Family Corps (Accredited Parent Anonymous of South Carolina)
- Darkness to Light Certified – Steward of Children
- Completion and Passing of South Carolina Praxis II – Elementary Education – Instruction, Practices, and Applications
- Completion and Passing of South Carolina Praxis II – Professional School Counseling
- Basic Conversational Spanish
- State Notary
- CPR/First-Response, First-Aid Certified
- Member: America School Counselor Association (ASCA), American Counseling Association (ACA), Palmetto State School Counselor Association (ASCA), Palmetto State School Counselor Association (PSSCA) and American Mental
- Health Counselors Association (AMHCA)
Phone: 843 494 8756
Email: david@lowcountryfc.com
Address: 222 W Coleman Blvd, Ste 205
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464.
Elizabeth Westbrook is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and has been working with adults, children, adolescents and their families in the Low Country for over five years.
Elizabeth earned a Masters of Arts in Clinical Counseling from the Citadel Graduate College in 2017. Since graduate school, Elizabeth has worked in a variety of clinical settings and has had the opportunity to work with various populations and diagnoses. As a school-based community health therapist, Elizabeth worked in tandem with elementary, middle, and high school students and their families. She also worked with adults in a community based mental health setting, as well as providing group, daily living, and social skills support at a psychosocial rehabilitation center for adults. Elizabeth is also currently certified to provide Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) to children and their families and has received training in various other treatment modalities.
Elizabeth’s experience allows her to provide counseling services and support to patients and families experiencing a wide variety of difficulties, including depression, anxiety, impulse-control and conduct disorders, adjustment and trauma disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, behavioral problems, social skills and peer relationships, relationship difficulties, and family systems.
Elizabeth works with her patients to provide a person-centered approach with cognitive-behavioral therapy to focus on the individual needs of her patients and families. She focuses on building trust, empathy, compassion and support for her patients to help them navigate their lives, provide healing, and achieve their overall goals.
Phone: 843 693 5112
Email: elizabeth@lowcountryfc.com
Address: 222 W Coleman Blvd, Ste 213
Mount Pleasant SC, 29464
Elizabeth
Westbrook
Michael “Drew”
Patterson
Drew works with individuals who are looking to gain insight and improve their quality of life. He seeks to understand each individual holistically, including their backgrounds and the strengths they already possess to provide an individualized approach. Drew believes that establishing a strong alliance with his clients is essential to getting the most out of therapy and creating lasting change. Through this alliance, he partners with his clients to explore and address thought and behavior patterns that serve as barriers to enjoying life fully.
Drew has been working the better half of a decade with adults, children, and adolescents. Drew has worked in an agency setting, a detention center, school settings, and has experience working in the private sector. His experience has helped guide him to provide educated and effective counseling services to children and adults. His main theoretical orientations are cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness.
Drew has a very “walking with you” approach to counseling. He is not going to drag you to a finish line, but rather wants to be by your side guiding, educating, and providing evidence based practices to help you learn how to accomplish your goals and get what you want out of counseling.
He is passionate about providing counseling to children, adolescents, and adults, but understands that beginning counseling is often “easier said than done.” Drew is determined to make the process – from the intake session to the last session – an enjoyable, fulfilling, and productive experience.
Phone: 843 408 7553
Email: drew@lowcountryfc.com
Address: 222 W Coleman Blvd, Ste 212
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
Katie Killham has 15 years of experience working with children, teens, adults, and their families in many settings – as a Program Director at The Boys and Girls Club, a middle school teacher, and in counseling positions at a group home, a community mental health center, and in several schools.
Katie firmly believes that anyone can live a healthier, happier life. She doesn’t assign blame, instead helping clients and their families identify problems and focus on strengths and solutions. She strives to help her clients find peace, joy, and fulfillment by joining with them to battle their symptoms together and find ways they can be kinder to themselves.
Katie is an eclectic counselor, addressing both the deep-rooted causes of clients’ struggles and practical solutions. She often shifts back and forth between skill building and self-exploration in an effort to increase motivation, decrease blame, heal past hurts, and find strengths. She utilizes Family Systems Theory, Adlerian Theory, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Katie takes a person-centered approach to therapy, helping clients identify changes they want to make and then challenging them to learn and follow through with skills and strategies needed to make these changes.
As an Adlerian therapist, Katie believes that our personalities and lifestyles are shaped powerfully by our early experiences. When clients are open to it, she helps them explore these experiences and find ways to heal. She believes that behavior, thoughts, and feelings that are considered undesirable do have a purpose and that often a simple shift can move them from liability to strength.
Katie feels honored to join each of her clients on their journey and thoroughly enjoys working with children, teens, and adults. She genuinely loves people,
loves getting to know her clients and discovering their unique perspectives.
Katie is a Licensed Professional Counselor. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Wake Forest University and Master of Arts in Clinical Counseling from Webster University. She has received training in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, telehealth counseling, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, suicide prevention, Trust Based Relational Intervention, motivational interviewing, counseling LGBTQI youth and adults, person centered counseling, parenting skills, and many other topics, theories, therapies, and skills. However, she does not believe any of this means that she is the expert on you; you are.
Phone: (843) 371 6527
Email: katie@lowcountryfc.com
Address: 222 W Coleman Blvd, Ste 219
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
Katie
Killham
Nicholas Forte
“Nicholas Forte is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate and is excited to be part of Lowcountry Family and Children. Nicholas has earned an undergraduate degree in music education, master’s degrees in both school administration and school counseling, as well as an educational specialist degree in educational leadership. With fourteen years of experience in education as a teacher, counselor, and administrator, Nicholas merges both his professional and personal experience as a husband and father, to deliver a personable, engaging, and welcoming setting for all clients. Rapport, positivity, and relationship building establish the cornerstone of his practice.
Nicholas believes anyone can benefit from therapeutic services at any point in life and enjoys working collaboratively to develop uniquely customized plans and goals to help anyone seeking assistance. He uses a comprehensive model including behavioral, social, cognitive, diet, exercise, hobbies/interests, and spiritual elements of the individual to create and sustain positive changes. Navigating through various life stages is a challenging task therefore Nicholas recognizes the need to provide empathetic support, compassion, and understanding.
In addition to individual counseling, Nicholas guides couples in uncovering underlying issues and developing healthier ways of relating to one another. His goal is to support couples in building trust and shared insight, ultimately strengthening their bond, increasing their resilience and deepening their connection. Both the individual and couples sessions focus on emotional recognition and overall well-being.
Through a variety of modalities such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Attachment Theory, and Existential methods, Nicholas works to enrich the life journey of clients ranging from children through adults, as well as couples. With Nicholas, one can expect a transformation toward forming healthy and positive mindsets along with productive behaviors to effectively live out in one’s various life roles.”
Phone: 843 259 9803
Email: nicholas@lowcountryfc.com
Address: 222 W Coleman Blvd, Ste 212
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464