Katherine Wikrent, PLPC, NCC: Therapist for the Intense, Brilliant, and Burnt Out
Trauma-trained. Queer and neurodivergent-affirming. Deeply real.

Why This Work Matters to Me

I’ve been the people-pleaser. The “therapist friend” holding it together. The one melting down in a bathroom stall between work meetings, all while somehow still labeled “high-achieving.”

So when I say I get it, I’m not tossing around therapist-speak. I really do.

Some of my favorite clients show up saying:

• “I feel like I’m too much and also not enough.”

• “I’ve done a lot of therapy, but I still feel stuck.”

• “I know what I should do... I just can’t make myself do it.”

They’re insightful. High-capacity. Maybe "former gifted kids." They carry trauma, heartbreak, and self-doubt while keeping everything afloat for everyone else. I help them untangle the mess, break old patterns, and build something that actually feels like theirs.

My Style

Warm. Collaborative. No BS.

I’ll sit with you in the hard stuff without letting you drown in it. We’ll explore the patterns that got you here and the possibilities that come next. We’ll talk about trauma, shame, grief. But also about desire, creativity, weirdness, and what it means to build a life that’s not just “fine,” but radically, joyfully yours.

You might laugh. You might cry. Sometimes both in the same session.

My Journey to Becoming a Trauma-Trained, Affirming Therapist

Becoming a therapist wasn’t a straight line. It was a series of plot twists with a passport and a whole lot of existential dread.

I started in international development and public policy, working across Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa on public health and gender equity. I believed in big systems change. I earned a Master’s in Public Policy from George Washington University and dove headfirst into the DC grind: long hours, tight deadlines, and beautiful ideals buried under bureaucratic red tape.

Eventually, I burned out. Hard.

I got good at looking like I had it together while quietly falling apart: perfectionism, people-pleasing, never feeling good enough, second-guessing everything. I was trying to fix broken systems I cared deeply about, but what I really wanted was something more human. More real.

I didn’t want to sit in meetings debating diplomatic semantics. I wanted to sit across from someone and say the true thing, in words that feel real. I wanted to be part of moments where healing actually happens.

So I pivoted. Went back to school. Earned my counseling degree. Found the work I was actually made for: helping wonderfully complex humans come home to themselves. I bring my full self to this work, lived experience, messy growth, lessons learned the hard way, so you never have to water down your healing process or pretend you’ve got it all figured out.

The Nerdy (But Important) Details

I’m a PLPC (Provisional Licensed Professional Counselor) and NCC (National Certified Counselor), with a Master’s in Marriage, Couples & Family Counseling from Loyola University New Orleans. I practice at AEJ Counseling, under the supervision of owner Dr. Amanda Elise Johns Dossaji. I offer individual and partner therapy across Louisiana via telehealth and in person in New Orleans.

I’ve completed specialized training in trauma and ADHD, including:

• Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, Level 1 (CCTP-I)

• ADHD-Certified Clinical Services Provider (ADHD-CCSP)

While these certifications aren’t formally recognized under my PLPC license type, the tools I’ve learned are very real. They let me support trauma, neurodivergence, and all the messy beauty of being human with clarity, nuance, and strategies that work.

👉 Curious why trauma-informed care matters (especially if you’ve got ADHD or complex trauma)? Read more about that here.

Outside the Office

When I’m off the therapy clock, I’m usually walking the streets of New Orleans taking photos of pretty buildings like it’s my part-time job, rewatching 90 Day Fiancé with anthropological intensity, or spiraling into yet another 2am internet rabbit hole about Latin American history, attachment theory, or whether vampires would actually be hot in real life (answer: abso fucking lutely).

I’m a lifelong bookworm (think Matilda but grittier), a sucker for 90s nostalgia, and a proud Halloween maximalist. I live for board games, chill but also conversationally intense hangs with friends, nerdy deep dives on Wikipedia, and video games that let me make morally questionable choices in a fictional world.

I’m also queer AF, which means I believe in chosen family, power clashing, and that The L Word reboot deserves both praise and a formal apology. I find joy in memes, messiness, drag, and moments of quiet aliveness.

Basically, I’m here for curiosity, camp, and anything that lets us be a little weird together.