Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Stark.
Hi Kate, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
After graduating from Texas A&M and UT Austin, I moved to Colorado for a fellowship and then stayed for several years before moving back to Texas. My career path has been full of twists and turns, ultimately giving me a variety of experiences working as a clinical and school psychologist as well as an adjunct professor. I never saw myself as being a business owner as well, but it has been very meaningful and exciting. I opened PEACE Psychology Center in April of 2021 and at that time, we were a small practice of only two providers. I am so grateful to now be surrounded by a group of clinicians who are just as passionate as I am for mental health, neurodiversity, and education, as well as working in a collaborative and supportive manner within the practice and in the community.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Opening a business has been stressful and full of obstacles. I have had to learn about areas that I had no prior training in, such as insurance credentialing, website building, marketing, and managing business overhead expenses. Each of these areas have had various challenges but now seem to be running smoothly. One challenge that has been extremely enjoyable is cultivating a positive work environment where other clinicians feel valued and empowered, as I believe this translates into client care.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a psychologist and specialize in mental health, learning differences, and neurodiversity, particularly in children and adolescents. I created PEACE Psychology Center, an outpatient practice that opened about a year and a half ago in Southlake. Since I mostly work with children and adolescents, I value brining humor, games, and creativity into therapy. As a practice, I am very proud that PEACE Psychology Center now has a group of hard-working and caring therapists and psychologists that are available to support the community in a variety of ways, including therapy, psychological evaluations, and educational consulting. I am proud that we don’t have a “one size fits all” approach to therapy. Our providers have training in various modalities such as CBT, ACT, solution-focused family therapy, play therapy, neurodiversity-affirming approaches, and more. I am also proud that our practice aims to be a safe and supportive place for everyone, including the LGBTQ community. Lastly, I wrote the children’s book, Enjoy the Ride! A Book to Help Understand and Cope with Feelings, which aims to help teach early emotional awareness and coping skills. I hope this book helps children and their parents connect in validating emotions, remembering basic coping skills, and learning the skill of thought challenging and reframing.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
We love to collaborate with the community, such as connecting with other professionals if we need to provide additional referrals for services that clients may benefit from while they are receiving care from us, or, to help support them after they leave our office. We collaborate with other psychologists and therapists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, speech and occupational therapists, dyslexia intervention specialists, and higher levels of care such as intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization programs for mental health treatment. We also want to establish positive relationships with schools and primary care clinics so that we are supporting the community and individual clients within multiple systems.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.peacepsychologycenter.com
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/peacepsychologycenter/
- Other: https://a.co/d/0q2EDbY
