I’m Alexis Osborne, a Licensed Professional Counselor at The Banyan Tree Center in Athens, Georgia. I work with teens and adults navigating anxiety, OCD, trauma, and life transitions. I see clients in person in Athens and via telehealth.

Before graduate school I worked extensively with college students and got really passionate about that stage of life. There is so much development happening in those years and so much uncertainty about who you are and where you’re going. Being in Athens puts me right in the middle of that every day. I also spent time during my training working with marginalized communities, which deepened my commitment to making space for stories that don’t always get heard.

I’m a natural listener with a genuine curiosity about people. I’m direct, I use humor, and I try to bring as much warmth as possible into the room. Because even when the work is hard, I want you to leave feeling like you can do hard things, and that you’re not doing them alone.

My core belief is that you are the expert on your own life. You get to decide what we work on and where we go. I’m here to help you access what you already have inside you.

“Struggling doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you’re human, and you don’t have to do this alone.”

Background and Credentials

• Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), State of Georgia
• National Certified Counselor (NCC), National Board for Certified Counselors
• MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Georgia State University
• Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) training, 25-30 hours plus supervision
• Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) training, approximately 18 months
• 6 years of clinical experience
• Background working with college students and marginalized communities

How I Work

• In person · The Banyan Tree Center, Athens GA
• Telehealth available
• Ages 16+

Approaches: CBT · Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) · Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) · Trauma-informed · Person-centered · Collaborative

What I Specialize In

Anxiety in Athens, GA

Who I work with: When clients come in struggling with anxiety, one of the most common things I hear is that they’re second-guessing everything and finding it really hard to trust themselves. They feel stuck or paralyzed, going back and forth on decisions, uncomfortable and unsure, like they’re going in loops without ever landing anywhere. More than anything they want to feel grounded and confident in themselves again.

What we do together: A lot of our work is about learning to trust yourself. We figure out what it looks and feels like to believe that you are smart, capable, and able to make good decisions. We talk through scenarios, understand your own logic, and work toward a place where your decisions come from a grounded sense of reality rather than an anxious feeling. Over time clients start to feel more settled and more like themselves.

OCD in Athens, GA

Who I work with: OCD is sometimes called the doubting disorder, and that captures it well. It’s marked by persistent, distressing thoughts that go against your values and what you actually want to be doing. These thoughts can also show up as compulsions, whether behavioral or mental, that feel impossible to resist. It can feel exhausting, confusing, and like your brain is working against you.

What we do together: I use Exposure and Response Prevention, or ERP, which is the gold standard treatment for OCD. I describe it like allergy shots for your brain. We slowly and carefully teach your brain that it’s less accurate than it thinks it is, and that you can handle more than it’s telling you. Over time you get to be in control of your actions and your life, rather than being guided by obsessive thoughts or uncomfortable feelings.

Life Transitions and College Adjustments in Athens, GA

Who I work with: I work especially with people moving from high school to college or from college into the next chapter. These transitions come with a lot of feeling over your head or not knowing which direction to go. There can be real existential questions, what is my purpose, am I doing this right, what comes next.

What we do together: I believe you already know what matters most to you. My job is to help you access it. We work side by side, talking through your options, problem-solving together, and developing the skills to support yourself through new stages. I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m here to help you figure out what feels right to you so you can move forward with more confidence.

Trauma

Who I work with: Trauma can show up in a lot of ways. For people with an extensive trauma history it can feel deeply disorienting, like you don’t know which way is up. You might experience flashbacks or find yourself reacting to situations as if the past is happening again right now. Your brain or body pulls you back even when you don’t want to go there. It can feel helpless, overwhelming, and hard to explain to people who haven’t been through it.

What we do together: Using Narrative Exposure Therapy, we work carefully and at your pace to help your brain make sense of what happened. A big part of this is helping your brain and body understand that the hard things you went through are in the past, not still happening right now. We honor your story together because it matters and it is part of who you are. And over time we work toward helping you feel safer, cope with hard moments, and move forward in a way that feels more like the life you actually want.

A Few Things I Want You to Know

Before your first session: This is your time and you get to decide what matters most to do with it. There is no right or wrong way to do therapy. My goal is always to be as collaborative as possible, tailoring everything to what we figure out your needs are. Come in feeling however you feel. You will be listened to, not judged, and met where you are.

Something I wish more people knew: Something bad doesn’t have to happen for you to deserve a space to think through how you want to move in your life. Therapy doesn’t have to be reactive. It can be proactive. And if you’re in a hard stretch right now, that doesn’t mean you failed or did anything wrong. It just means you’re a person in the world who could use a little more support.

Who I do my best work with: Clients who are curious and open to being surprised, whether that’s surprised by a situation that went better than expected or surprised by what they’re capable of. I also love working with people who are pretty set in their ways, because watching someone grow without even realizing it is one of the best parts of this job.