VANESSA WRAY KNIGHT

Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (Kansas),

LPC (Missouri),

NCC, CCMHC (National Board)

Partner/Owner, Supervisor

Virtual Coaching for Individuals, Couples, Parents (U.S., international)

*additional credentials & specializations listed below

A Little Bit about Vanessa

Working with Vanessa is an experience of "warmth" - cozy, casual, a bit spicy at times, and mostly, Vanessa's effort is to give relentless empathy. Vanessa has lived in the urban Kansas City area since 2003 with her husband, four children ages 18 to 8, Aussiedoodle Rontu (our Psychiatric Service Dog), Great Dane Sven, a flock of chickens, three cats, a bearded dragon named Simon. She spends free time with her family: traveling together, world schooling, rehabbing an 1880s Victorian home, urban micro-farming, creating things (music and art mostly), and attending theater shows. Outside of clinical work, she is the founder and executive director of a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit that advocates for families learning anywhere, anytime, any way with anyone. Vanessa and her family have projects in Belize, Central America that intersect with Vanessa's clinical practice. She is a continual adult learner and a "creative." In the wild, you'll find her in an adult class, learning something new, building, planting, painting, stitching, writing, making and finding beauty in the world. Vanessa and her family have a curious and playful household, and in summer 2026, the Downtown office location will be located on the property with a separate entrance and access to the cultivated outdoor garden spaces!

Who sees Vanessa?

individual clients (teens and adults) with complex trauma, betrayal + abandonment traumas, religious trauma, sexual, emotional, physical, relational, C-PTSD, complex histories + presentations of symptoms that require long-term therapy
individual clients (teens and adults) with losses, including divorce + coparenting, abandonment, adoption, addiction, infidelity/betrayal trauma, abuse + neglect, relationship losses from birth to death, terminal illness, death + dying process, grief
married and unmarried couples of all kinds, particularly quietly distressed or conflicted, reactive couples, infidelity, addiction, sexual/intimacy problems, problems of emotional labor/invisible labor/mental load/domestic equity, negative patterns. Couples should be ready to discuss the areas of relationship that need intervention, rather than attending as a premarital requirement for officiants/weddings.
parents and their children and whole family systems (siblings, adult children, multigenerational systems) work with her to form secure attachments with each other after conflict and loss-related concerns. Children 10 and up may be seen individually, and children <10 are treated mostly through parent consultation and family sessions to promote the attachment bond between parent and child, using sand tray therapy and play techniques.
creatives (artists, poets, writers, musicians, actors, dancers, makers) who need a space to feel motivation, discuss existential truths and look for inspiration in the journey of knowing oneself, discuss the unique challenges of being driven by more than capital or profit. Creatives and makers seem to enjoy how sessions "set the top spinning"

Basic Credentials and Licensure:

Master of Arts in Counseling from MidAmerica Nazarene University (2010), as well as a Bachelor of Arts in English-Creative Writing with minors in art history and piano performance from Texas Christian University (2003)
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC #2188), Kansas
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Missouri
Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC)
National Clinical Mental Health Counselor (NCMHC #270119), National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC)
Board-Approved Clinical Supervisor (Kansas)

Additional certifications and post-Masters trainings/specializations are listed below.

Specializations + Additional Credentials:

Certified EFT Couples Therapist, International Centre for Excellence in Emotion-Focused Therapy (ICEEFT). Emotion-Focused Therapy is a highly-researched form of counseling for romantic/companion partners.
Certified EFT Family Therapist, International Centre for Excellence in Emotion-Focused Therapy (ICEEFT)
Certified EFT Individual Therapist, International Centre for Excellence in Emotion-Focused Therapy (ICEEFT)
Certified Fair Play Method Facilitator (Fair Play Institute) providing education and coaching for all 50 states and internationally as a Fair Play Coach. The Fair Play Method is based on the Netflix documentary and best-selling books on domestic equity and creativity by Eve Rodsky, Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) and Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World
Certificate in Interpersonal Neurobiology (Portland State University) -- Interpersonal neuroscience is the study of the physiological and relational/social nervous system patterns in humans.
Advanced Trained EMDR Provider (Eye Movement Reprocessing and Desensitization, EMDRIA) provider for both children and adults, and
Advanced Trained AEDP Clinician (Accelerated Experiential Dyadic Psychotherapy, AEDP Institute).
TBRI Educator/Trainer and a TBRI Clinician trained by Karyn Purvis at Texas Christian University's Karyn Purvis Institute for Child Development (2012), a program for behaviorally at-risk, domestic and internationally adopted, and foster-care children and teens. Vanessa has worked with families who have adopted in local KC and from over 25 different countries.
Certified End-of-Life Professional Doula (University of Vermont) and facilitates Dignity Therapy for terminally ill, dying clients and Grief/Bereavement Counseling for those who have lost someone, both before and after the end of life. These losses may have been expected or sudden. She completed her masters-level training at Solace House, a grief and loss supportive counseling center of Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care. One of Vanessa's most meaningful types of attachment work is with the dying and their families.
Sand Tray Therapy is a combination of art therapy and play therapy that is often used with adults as well. Vanessa strives for clients to feel informal and casual, like seeing a friend who has special training in neurological, emotional and psychological issues (more information about sand tray therapy)
Animal-assisted therapy with Rontu, Psychiatric Service Dog to enhance the other interventions in the Downtown location only. Vanessa and Rontu are available as volunteers for therapeutic visits to classrooms, hospitals, and group environments upon request. Rontu is a great listener and a pretty affectionate cuddler. He's a sucker for kids and teens.
Morning Altars Certified Teacher (Morning Altars) combines foraging in nature, installation art, and ritual. Vanessa received a scholarship to be certified. Morning Altars is a multicultural program around the globe and promotes healing, belonging, creativity and community. To see the beauty of this intervention available with Vanessa, check out this video.
Garden-Based Therapy at the Downtown location takes place on gated, private historic site of KC called The Heim, adjacent to Kessler Park, the only urban national park in the United States, and the Concourse Fountain, Park, and Playground. The Heim is an urban micro-farm and will soon offer food security classes and opportunities to learn natural interventions for mental health. Vanessa is a trained Master Gardener (University of Missouri KC), currently volunteering as a Master Gardener Intern and will be training to provide horticultural therapy (AHTA) in 2027 -- the love of learning continues!
From 2002 to 2008, Vanessa worked full-time with families in a spiritual setting and will use any spirituality in counseling only when it is important to clients. Religious trauma is a special interest, and Vanessa is equipped to help with recovery from spiritual abuse.

2026 Current Learning:

Kansas and Missouri Domestic/Family Mediator with KS, MO Bars (completion May 1, 2026)
Jungian Psychotherapy Certification
Gottman Levels I + II
Master Gardener Internship

Affiliations and Memberships:

Curriculum Vitae (dynamic document, updated February 2026) -- This is a living document, please excuse formatting incompletion/errors.

Contact:

To contact Vanessa, call 816-608-8444 or email vanessa.w.knight@gmail.com, or view her clinical availability online.

Cost:

Need information about cost/financial commitment: here

Worried about cost, but still want to work with Vanessa? Consider our discounted therapy program with Vanessa's intern counselor. You'll receive counseling from a. Master's level intern counselor with Vanessa's oversight and direct input.

Scheduling:

New and prospective clients, please go here for orientation. Client portal: here https://securecounselingclinic.clientsecure.me/

Get in Touch

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."

- Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude