Our Clinicians

Katie Gibbs-Polkinghorne, LCSW

Alisha McCanney, LCSW

Katie is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is easy to talk to, down-to-earth, and genuinely herself. She connects well with people who may not be sure about therapy, don’t want things sugarcoated, or just want someone they can actually feel comfortable talking to. Katie has experience working with first responders, military personnel, trauma, and people in high-stress careers.

Katie’s approach is practical and flexible. She uses CBT, Motivational Interviewing, mindfulness, and trauma-informed approaches, but doesn’t expect the same thing to work for everyone. With additional training in complex trauma, she supports clients with everything from stress and relationships to difficult experiences and the things that have slowly piled up over time.

And then there are her dogs! Katie is a huge dog person, so if your dog is an important part of your life, she gets it. She appreciates the connection people have with their animals and the comfort they can provide, especially after a long or difficult day.

Clinician

Alisha McCanney, LCSW, is the founder of Willow Counseling Services and a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer. Her background, along with strong family ties to law enforcement, played a role in expanding Willow’s work with first responders and public safety professionals.

Alisha is straightforward, relatable, and genuine, with plenty of humor and sarcasm mixed in when appropriate. She particularly enjoys using Internal Family Systems (IFS) to support people in understanding why certain things can get under their skin, trigger a strong reaction, or stick with them even when, logically, the reaction might not seem to make sense. Rather than just trying to get rid of the reaction, IFS can provide a better understanding of where it is coming from and why your brain learned to respond that way in the first place.

Alisha isn’t easily offended and doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff. You don’t have to clean up your language, filter your thoughts, or worry about saying the wrong thing. She believes therapy should go beyond simply listening and validating. Her goal is to support you in better understanding yourself, connecting the dots, and recognizing what may be keeping you stuck. She also incorporates EMDR, CBT, and other evidence-based approaches based on what each person needs.

Outside of therapy, Alisha enjoys boating, spending time with her family, football, especially the West Virginia Mountaineers, and hanging out with her Old English Sheepdog, Franklin

Founder & Clinician

Vanessa Foulk, LPMHC, STIP

Clinician

Vanessa is a Licensed Professional Counselor of Mental Health (LPCMH) and Certified Sex Therapy Informed Professional (CSTIP). She has always been someone people feel comfortable talking to, including about the things that aren’t always easy to say out loud. Her calm, approachable personality makes it easier to talk about topics that can feel uncomfortable, personal, or difficult to put into words.

As a Certified Sex Therapy Informed Professional (CSTIP), Vanessa has additional training in relationships, intimacy, and sexual wellness. She works with individuals and couples on concerns such as changes in intimacy, feeling disconnected from a partner, differences in desire, communication, and the ways stress, trauma, or difficult life experiences can affect relationships and sex.

Another area of focus for Vanessa is working with first responders and their partners. Careers that require constant readiness, intense focus, and the ability to stay composed in difficult situations can make it challenging to simply switch gears at the end of a shift. Over time, those experiences can affect stress levels, relationships, intimacy, family life, and how someone responds even when they’re no longer at work.

As a military wife, Vanessa has a personal connection to this world while also recognizing that every first responder’s experience is different. She is passionate about supporting clients in processing trauma, understanding how their experiences may be affecting them, and finding ways to move forward without expecting them to leave an important part of themselves at the door.

Vanessa also works with anxiety, depression, trauma, and relationship concerns and incorporates EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Imago Relationship Therapy into her work. She tailors her approach to the person or relationship rather than expecting everyone to respond to therapy the same way.

For first responders and their partners, therapy with Vanessa doesn’t have to be only about the career. It can be about your relationship, intimacy, family, mental health, experiences from the job, or simply something in your life that isn’t working the way you want it to.

Ava Cossu, LACMH

Clinician

Ava Cossu, Licensed Associate Counselor of Mental Health, has always felt comfortable working with people who are straightforward, independent, and used to handling a lot on their own. That is part of what draws her to working with first responders. Her experience in the court system and working with individuals on probation has given her familiarity with the world surrounding law enforcement, while her grandfather’s career with the FBI gives her a personal connection to the community as well.

Ava’s style is direct, down-to-earth, and comfortable with the hard stuff. She isn’t afraid of difficult conversations and values being able to talk openly about what is actually going on, whether it involves the career, relationships, family, or something completely unrelated to work.

Her approach includes Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Flash Technique, which can be particularly helpful when working with trauma and difficult experiences without requiring someone to go into every detail. Ava also offers Alpha-Stim, a non-medication option that can be incorporated into treatment to help with symptoms such as anxiety, stress, and difficulty sleeping.

Ava works with both first responders and their families and brings a practical, approachable style to helping people understand what is going on and find tools that actually work for them.

Clinician