Meet Aimee!
[NCC #1371888, LCMHC NC #15533, LCAS NC #26141,
South Carolina Telehealth Provider #2412]
Aimee N. Callicutt-Keesler,
MS, NCC, LCMHC, LCAS
Your lore is safe with me.
I’m Aimee (they/she), a queer and disabled therapist who specializes in working with queer and trans folks, as well as folks navigating complex trauma, religious trauma, identity work, substance abuse/misuse, & more!
This space is for the questioners, deep feelers, critical thinkers, artists, muses, queerfolk, neurodivergent minds, and the beautifully complex. In session, I meet you exactly where you are, without judgment, as we gently explore the patterns shaping your life.
Session Vibes
Sessions with me are pretty laid back and often include a brief check-in about what has been happening that week, a chat about what might be helpful for us to explore (unless there’s something we’ve already been working on), and then we rock and roll!
I always welcome you to please make yourself comfortable – take your shoes off, grab a blanket or pillow and a fidget toy, and hang out with Coral the weighted anxiety turtle. I have a lovely Victorian fainting couch if you want the full psychotherapy experience of lying back while we unpack. My therapy office is a safe space to land, in-person or virtual, where you can feel secure in being who you are.
Who I See
For individual therapy, I work with folks who are exploring their identity, experiencing life transitions, navigating complex trauma, exploring harmful religious experiences, and folks curious about the way their lived experiences impact how they show up in their day-to-day lives.
I specialize in providing affirming and supportive care to queer, trans, and gender-expansive clients, clients navigating recovery, harm reduction, and sobriety, as well as working with clients navigating religious trauma or spiritual abuse.
We might work well together if…
You’re looking for someone laid-back, warm, direct, and uses the occasional (or sometimes frequent!) swear word.
You don’t mind being challenged and want a genuine relationship with your therapist (i.e., I promise to be real with you!) You want a therapist who values your own lived experiences. My therapy space is chill, and you’ll often see me in casual clothing showing off my tattoos and orange hair. On a regular day in the office, me and my clients are fidgeting, making art, or hanging out with my weighted anxiety sea turtle, Coral.
How I Work
You are the expert on your own life. I honor your lived experience and trust your inner wisdom, and I approach our work together as a true collaboration. My style is holistic and integrative, drawing from person-centered, emotion-focused, strengths-based, attachment-based, and trauma-informed approaches. All of this is grounded in a social justice, feminist, intersectional, and systems-oriented lens.
In short: I see you as a whole human being (not a case study!) with lived experience that informs who you are and how you move through the world, including the systems (political, geographic, etc.) that you live in.
A little about me personally…
When I’m not in sessions, you’ll catch me spending time with my partner, my family, and my unhinged weenie dog and cat. I love exploring a new thrift or book store and jamming to 80s music, heavy metal, & G-funk playlists on Spotify while I ride around town with the windows down. I love plants, but have a brown thumb (that I am actively working on!) I believe in the healing power of a cup of herbal tea and a bath, and I am always on the search for the comfiest therapist cardigan.
I believe therapists should have their own therapist so they can continue to grow alongside their clients (I adore my therapist! – Your grand-therapist) My own experiences of navigating queerness, neurodivergence, disability, and religious trauma often allow me to create a courageous and safe space for clients, and I believe the opportunity to work with you as your therapist is a monumental privilege and honor.
Likes:
Tea & Coffee
80s, Heavy Metal & G-Funk
Footie Pajamas
Deep Conversations
Realistic Positivity
Fountain Pens
Indian Food
Maximalist Fashion
Cemeteries
Dislikes:
Roller Coasters
Elevator Music
Gossip & Arguments
Small Talk
Toxic Positivity
Grocery Stores
Jigsaw Puzzles
Contrarian Elitism
Superiority Complexes
Academic Background
Aimee Callicutt-Keesler (they/she) completed their Bachelor of Arts in English with a Concentration in Pedagogy & The Mind from East Carolina University in 2015. They subsequently completed their Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health & Substance Abuse Counseling from East Carolina University in 2019 while working in university administration. Aimee has about 7 years of experience in a variety of counseling settings including: SAIOP, hospice/bereavement, clinical outpatient, inpatient psychiatric, Medication-Assisted Treatment, residential treatment, and federal probation outpatient programs. Aimee is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor [LCMHC #15533], Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist [LCAS #26141], and National Certified Counselor [NCC #1371888], South Carolina Telehealth Licensure [#2412].
Aimee is a therapist for the seekers, skeptics, and those quietly (or loudly) questioning everything they’ve been taught about who they’re supposed to be. Aimee serves adult and college-aged individuals 18 and up navigating queerness, neurodivergence, substance abuse, shadow work, religious and intergenerational trauma, identity reconstruction, and existential unrest. Aimee works from a person-centered, queer-affirming, anti-pathology, liberatory wellness lens, where systems of colonization are not dismissed or ignored as major factors in your holistic health. Aimee brings lived experience as a queer, neurodivergent, and disabled person to their work—not as an aside, but as a foundation. Aimee dedicates herself to healing the deep grief of disconnection—from self, from community, from culture, and from truth.
Aimee is an eclectic therapist who draws from evidenced-based practices and tools in Person-Centered philosophy, Existential & Narrative therapies, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Somatic Therapy, Reality Therapy, Jungian Tarot interpretation, Harm Reduction Integration, and Cognitive Behavioral techniques. Aimee helps clients move through the liminal spaces in life and find acceptance in the grey areas. She works at the intersection of paradox—where logic meets emotional mystery, where the personal becomes mystical, and where healing doesn’t come from resolution, but from learning to hold contradiction with compassion.
Aimee is a big fan of thought experiments and collects them like seashells– sharp, strange, and full of stories. Consider the Ship of Theseus: if every plank of a ship is replaced, piece by piece, is it still the same vessel? In therapy, we ask similar questions…What remains constant as we grow, adapt, unravel, and reconstruct? What parts of the self are essence, and what parts are narrative, inherited, or imposed? Aimee hopes to work with you to explore the mirrors and metaphors that shape your identity, meaning-making, and mindset. The self you arrive with is not always the self you leave with, and that is its own kind of freedom.
Accolades:
January 2024 - NBCC Featured Clinician in “Considerations When Counseling Older Adults With Substance Use Disorder”
Vice President 2019 - Student Addictions and Rehabilitation Association (SARA)
Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society International
Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society
Professional Association of Rehabilitation Counselors (PARC) Board and Committee Member
My Values & Identity
❤︎
My Values & Identity ❤︎
I believe clients can feel both safer and more courageous when they have a clear sense of their therapist’s identities and values, so I’d love to share mine with you.
I am a white, queer, disabled, genderfluid individual. While no space can be entirely safe (unfortunately in this day and age), I believe therapy should be a place where you can feel brave. That means being intentional about the power dynamic between therapist and client and actively working to soften it so your voice, your experience, and your innate wisdom remain at the center.
I believe that practicing anti-racism and anti-colonialism in therapy calls for learning new ways of cultural competence, and unlearning harmful or unhelpful patterns and stigmas that affect us and our communities. Healing is firmly rooted in community, and I believe that constrictive feedback is one of the most meaningful gifts we can offer one another. I engage in regular supervision and consultation to support my work with queer, trans, and gender-expansive clients, to examine my own privilege, and to continually deepen my competence.
