Simone Droge
ABOUT ME:
Are you exhausted by messaging that implies you are a product to be fixed, rather than the deep-feeling human that you are?
Are you seeking help because you know that you need a space where you can be seen and heard and understood in all your complexity? I believe that psychotherapy can be this place of understanding.
My name is Simone, and I am passionate about compassionate therapy. As a former teacher of college composition, I am invested in the power of narrative. In therapy with me, I promise to hold your unique story with the care, respect, and contextualization you deserve. You are not a problem to be solved. You will not be treated as such with me.
Whether you are navigating issues of anxiety, depression, neurodivergent burnout, identity, attachment, relationship struggles, complex trauma, grief, or anything else you are carrying, we will work together to help you see and tend to the parts of yourself that need care. I would be honored to walk alongside you in that process.
Together, we can work to understand the patterns that repeat in your experience. That is how we get to the root of your symptoms and make lasting change, rather than just applying a band-aid. Psychodynamic work takes patience, and dedication on both of our parts. Core wounds are mostly formed in relationship, so they cannot be usefully addressed in isolation - they can only be addressed through a new relational experience. It is our job to create a safe relational space where we can explore the parts of yourself that you may feel a need to mask elsewhere.
I am additionally committed to providing culturally-affirming therapy, which means acknowledging systems that cause harm. I understand individual responses to institutional violence as coping mechanisms formed for survival, not something to be pathologized or shamed.
If this sounds like the kind of support you are looking for, I would love the opportunity to work with you.
BACKGROUND
I grew up in a small town in South Dakota before moving to Lincoln, Nebraska for college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where I studied English and History, with minors in Digital Humanities and Women’s and Gender Studies. Writing has always been a part of who I am, and that led me to a Master’s in English, Rhetoric and Composition, in 2022.
Along the way, I noticed something: the moments I loved most weren’t grading papers, they were the one-on-one conversations I would have with students about their own writing - each meeting inherently personal, vulnerable, and meaningful. That noticing changed my path. I’m now in my third year as a graduate student in Counseling Psychology at the University of St. Thomas, working toward my LPC and LPCC licenses.
I have over three years of experience working in behavioral healthcare - both in an in-patient psychiatric hospital setting and residential eating disorder treatment - which greatly informs my clinical approach and overall desire to relate compassionately to every person I meet.
Outside of the office, I love to sing, read fiction and poetry, birdwatch, play tennis, watch basketball, and spend time with my partner and our three cats.
