Christian Counseling in Austin, TX
Neema Counseling's Austin office sits at 2717 Rio Grande Street, three blocks west of the University of Texas campus. We're a group of Christian therapists who take both your faith and the clinical work seriously, and we see clients in person in West Campus as well as online throughout Texas.
Neema is the Swahili word for grace. That's the thing we most want people to feel when they sit down in one of our rooms, whether they walked over from a dorm, drove in from Round Rock, or finally made the call after putting it off for two years.
Therapy that takes your faith seriously, three blocks from campus
Plenty of people in Austin have had one of two experiences. Either they've seen a therapist who treated their faith as a symptom to work around, or they've been told that anxiety and depression are spiritual problems that more prayer and more Scripture should have solved by now.
At Neema Counseling, we believe that faith and science are meant to work together, not contradict each other. Your therapist will use evidence-based methods (which ones depends on who you see, since our team works from different training) and will bring your faith into the room to whatever degree you want it there. Some clients want to work through what Scripture says about what they're carrying. Some never mention church at all and simply want a counselor who won't flinch when they do. Both are normal here.
Who we see most often in Austin
Our Austin caseload looks different from our Houston one, and it's shaped by the city.
UT students and graduate students. We're a short walk from campus, which matters when you're fitting a session between a 9:30 and a 2:00. Students come to us with anxiety, identity questions, loneliness that surprised them, and the particular exhaustion of performing well while feeling hollow. Many are also reworking a faith they inherited from home into something that's actually theirs.
People burned out from tech and startup work. Austin runs on a work culture that rewards being always available. We see a lot of people in their late twenties and thirties who are successful on paper, sleeping badly, and quietly wondering whether they've built a life they don't want. Layoffs and reorgs bring a particular kind of grief that people rarely name as grief.
Young married couples, often far from family. Austin is full of transplants. When you move here for a job and get married without a single grandparent in the same time zone, the ordinary friction of the first few years has nowhere to go. We work on communication, conflict, money, intimacy, and the expectations each of you brought in from your family of origin.
People carrying church hurt. Austin's church scene is large and fast-moving, and some people have been wounded inside it. You can bring that here. Processing a painful experience with a church, a leader, or a community is legitimate therapeutic work, and it doesn't require you to give up your faith or defend it.
Parents and kids. We see children, teens, and families in Austin, including foster and adoptive families.
We know Austin's church landscape reasonably well. Our clients come from congregations all over the city, including The Well over on Neal Street, Red Rocks Austin up on North I-35, and Refuge Community Church down in southeast Austin. Whether your church is one we know, or you've stepped back from church altogether, it doesn't change how we'd work with you.
Which Neema therapists see clients in person in Austin?
Janica Pilcher, LPC works with children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. She sees people through stress and anxiety, depression, people-pleasing, grief, trauma, and faith questions, drawing on cognitive behavioral therapy, solution-focused work, person-centered approaches, and biblical principles. Her background as a school counselor makes her a natural fit for students navigating academic pressure, career and college decisions, and identity.
Elvia Delgado, LPC-Associate (supervised by Lauren Jones, LPC-S) sees teens, college students, adults, couples, and families. She works with anxiety, depression, negative thought patterns, low self-esteem, relational difficulty, and trauma, using Bowen family systems theory alongside cognitive behavioral therapy. Elvia is fluent in Spanish and English and sees clients in either language, at the Austin office or online. She earned her bachelor's degree at UT Austin, which means she knows the campus her student clients are describing.
Our full team is also available online anywhere in Texas, so if the right therapist for you happens to work from our Houston office, distance isn't the obstacle it used to be. You can meet all of them on our team page.
Finding the Austin office and parking near West Campus
The office is at 2717 Rio Grande Street, Austin, TX 78705, in West Campus. If you're coming from campus, it's a walk of a few minutes. If you're driving in from Hyde Park, North Loop, Clarksville, Mueller, or from Round Rock, Cedar Park, or Pflugerville up north, you'll want to build in a little time for West Campus parking, which is honestly its own small adventure during the semester.
Full directions and a map are on our directions page.
Not everyone needs to come in. Online sessions are available across Texas, and plenty of our Austin clients do a mix, meeting in person when it helps and virtually when the week is full.
What counseling costs in Austin, and the insurance we take
We're in network with Cigna, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Oscar, Ambetter, Lyra, Magellan, UMR, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicaid, and Medicare. If you're out of network, we'll provide a superbill you can submit for reimbursement.
Paying out of pocket, sessions with a Licensed Professional Counselor are $175 for the intake and $150 ongoing. With an LPC Associate, it's $150 for the intake and $135 ongoing. We take cash, credit, FSA, and HSA.
We also keep a limited number of reduced-rate sessions available, based on household size and income. If cost is the thing standing between you and getting started, please just ask. It's a normal question and nobody on our team will make it awkward.
Full details are on our rates and insurance page.
Starting with a free 15-minute consultation
The consultation is with a therapist, not a scheduler. Fifteen minutes, free, and you spend it talking with the person you'd actually be working with. It's a chance to ask how they work, say a little about what brought you, and decide whether they feel like someone you could trust with it, before you commit to anything.
You don't have to arrive knowing exactly what you need. Most people don't.
Austin FAQ
Are you really within walking distance of UT? Yes. We're at 2717 Rio Grande Street in West Campus, a few minutes on foot from the west side of campus. Students regularly walk over between classes.
Can I keep seeing my Austin therapist when I go home for the summer? As long as you're physically in Texas, yes. Texas licensure allows us to see you anywhere in the state, so students often continue online from Houston, Dallas, the Valley, or wherever home is, and then come back in person in the fall.
Can I have my sessions in Spanish? Yes, and in person if you'd like. Elvia Delgado is fluent in Spanish and sees clients in Spanish both at the Austin office and online. Fabian Armenta, who is also bilingual, sees Spanish-speaking clients online anywhere in Texas.
Do you see children and teenagers in Austin? Yes. Janica Pilcher and Elvia Delgado both work with younger clients, and we see foster and adoptive families as well.
I'm not sure I'd call myself a Christian right now. Is this still a fit? It can be. We're a Christian practice and we don't hide that, but faith enters a session because you want it there, not because we brought it. Clients from every background and no particular background see us, and quite a few come in specifically because they're unsettled about faith and want somewhere honest to think about it.
Do I have to choose between in person and online? No. Many Austin clients do both depending on the week.
We also have a Houston office. If you're closer to that side of the state, or you're moving and want to stay with Neema, see Christian counseling in Houston, TX, in Spring Branch.
Written by Lauren Jones, LPC-S, founder of Neema Counseling.
This page is for general education and is not a substitute for individual assessment or treatment. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or call 911 for an emergency.