About Wendy
Wendy Byrd, MA, LPC, LMFT
Trauma therapist. Creator of The ARISE Method™. Teacher of clinicians.
Where I am now
For over two decades, I’ve been doing the same work in different rooms: helping people heal what hurt them and come home to who they actually are. Whether that’s in a one-on-one therapy session at Connected Heart Therapy, in a training room with fellow clinicians, or through The ARISE Method with people across the country, the work goes in the same direction. Toward depth. Toward what lasts. Toward the life you were meant to live.
How I came to this work
I went to school knowing I wanted to be a therapist. I didn’t yet know what kind. I earned my Bachelor’s in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and my Master’s in Professional Counseling at Texas State University, and along the way I started learning what I now know in my bones: talk therapy alone isn’t enough for most of the trauma people are carrying.
So I went deeper. I trained in EMDR. I trained in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy. I studied memory reconsolidation, somatic work, the science of how the nervous system actually changes. I co-founded Connected Heart Therapy so I could practice the kind of integrative, depth-oriented trauma care I wished every clinician offered.
Twenty years later, my therapy clients heal. Not because I have a magic touch. Because the right kind of trauma work, done with care and depth, actually does what therapy is supposed to do.
Why I built ARISE
Over the years, I started noticing a pattern. People would come to me after years of therapy somewhere else, having done everything right. They read the books. Searched their souls. Showed up week after week. And somehow they still weren’t free.
Not because they weren’t trying. Because they hadn’t yet found the kind of deep, trauma-focused, embodied work that actually changes things.
I built The ARISE Method so more people could access that depth. ARISE weaves together memory reconsolidation, neuroplasticity, somatic reprocessing, and the soul-centered work that real healing requires. It brings my clinical methodology to people anywhere, in a format they can do at their own pace, with community alongside them.
What I believe about healing
I believe healing isn’t about managing what hurt you. It’s about clearing the path back to who you actually are.
I believe trauma lives in the body, in the memory, in the nervous system, and in the story we tell about ourselves. All of those need attention. None of them get there through talk alone.
I believe people are profoundly capable of change, including the kind of change that feels impossible from where they’re standing right now.
And I believe this work is sacred. Every session, every training, every chapter of ARISE: someone trusted me with the hardest parts of their story. That deserves my full presence, my best clinical thinking, and a heart that doesn’t flinch from the depth.
Credentials and training
MA, Professional Counseling, Texas State University
BA, Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Texas
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Texas
EMDR Certified Therapist
EMDR Consultant
EMDR Basic Trainer
EMDR Child Specialist Level 1
Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Certified Therapist
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Trainer
Certified IMAGO Relationship Therapist
Level 1 Gottman Couples Therapist
Certified Prepare/Enrich Premarital Therapist
Advanced trainings in EMDR, Voice Dialogue, and somatic-based modalities
Recognition
I’ve been featured nationally on:
Good Morning America (Prince Harry and EMDR therapy)
USA Today (EMDR and coping with triggers)
Behavioral Health Today with Dr. Graham Taylor (multiple appearances on EMDR and trauma)
KZSM Community Radio (co-host of Connected Heart, a community radio show)
Where to next
Three ways to work with me
Pick the one that fits where you are.
Therapy at Connected Heart Therapy
The ARISE Method
Clinical Trainings