Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney McGee.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born and raised in the DFW area, and today I am a licensed psychologist based in Flower Mound, serving children, adolescents, and families throughout Dallas – Fort Worth. Growing up, I had various passions that at the time, seemed quite disparate. I loved learning, designing and creating; was a voracious reader; enjoyed engaging with and caring for younger children; and delighted in experiments and puzzles. Even now, I feel most alive when spending time in nature and exploring new places and ideas. In retrospect, these pursuits have woven themselves together to become the foundation for how I approach my work and the world.
My parents, both amazing lifelong learners themselves, were also quite different from one another. Loving them both instilled in me a respect and appreciation for diverse perspectives. I learned the importance of balancing logic, reason and pragmatism with imagination, intuition, and creative expression. Experiences in my family instilled in me the magic of words, art, and storytelling and how they have the potential to give life to our internal world, to heal hearts and minds and to build connections with the people in our lives.
After my parents divorced, my father remarried. The addition of my bonus mom and later, my younger sister to my family provided further opportunities to explore the wonders of childhood in a fresh way. My stepmother served as a special education teacher in a private preschool. The students in their care faced various physical, communication, learning, and social-emotional challenges. It was my honor and privilege to volunteer in their classrooms during summer breaks. These young people blessed me in countless ways, teaching me far more than they learned from me. My time with them forever shaped my future in ways that I did not fully appreciate until much later.
Full of dreams and ambition, I set off to study architecture in college, but fate led me to the field of psychology – not particularly willingly, I had other ideas – but a calling is not easily ignored. During my senior year of college, serving as preschool teacher reignited my passion for working with children and families. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 1990 and earned a doctoral degree from Baylor University in 1998. The distinct environments of these two academic programs further reinforced my passion for integrating and finding balance in diverse beliefs and perspectives. Celebrating what is “quirky” and unconventional in myself and others reflects my belief that we are all uniquely designed and wired to be exactly who we were created to be. My faith is central to who I am, and I consider my calling, to love and be a light to others, sacred.
For more than three decades, I have enjoyed caring for youth and families in a range of settings, including outpatient, partial hospitalization, inpatient, and residential. Services included psychological assessment and psychotherapy to help young people and families manage a range of complex medical and mental health issues. Education, advocacy, and support with navigating academic challenges and life transitions have also been important aspects of my work.
For 25 years, I had the pleasure of serving as a psychologist at a local children’s hospital, and I loved my time there. Working alongside so many talented and caring clinicians and staff while supporting countless precious youth and families was an incredible experience. I am grateful for the opportunities and honestly believed I would remain with the company until retirement.
But once again, something shifted. I felt a stirring – a sense God was pulling me in another direction – to design and create something new. Despite my love for learning, I am not always a quick study, so again, I resisted the nudge. My education was in psychology – my passions did not include business development. Over time, the call became louder and more insistent until ignoring it was no longer an option – despite my best efforts. In the spring of 2025, I took a leap of faith, bid adieu to my cherished position at the medical center, and began forging a new path in my life’s journey. In September 2025, I opened a practice in Flower Mound, offering psychotherapy services for children, adolescents, and parents/families. Supporting young adults navigating the challenges associated with the transition from high school to the next phase of their lives is also a meaningful part of my work.
This career shift has been an incredible adventure so far. Learning something new every day and meeting so many generous and compassionate people with incredibly diverse gifts and experiences fills my day with awe and wonder. Serving precious young people and beautiful families who face some of life’s most difficult challenges gives my life meaning and purpose. I am grateful for the opportunity to sit with them in their dark moments, as we sort through the puzzles in their lives and experiment with new ways of thinking, feeling, and being. It is my pleasure to offer support during the steep parts of the journey and an honor to celebrate the vista points reached through their effort and perseverance.
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?
Life experiences can sometimes beat us down and knock us off course, leaving us feeling lost, lonely, and broken. No one is immune to life’s challenges, and I am no exception. Throughout my career, I have faced several health challenges, including parenting a medically complex child and navigating treatment for my own cancer diagnosis.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition that left me feeling depleted and exhausted during what was already a mentally draining time. My colleagues and I, like many others, faced a complete transformation in how we served youth and families with the shift from in-person to virtual work. Developing strategies for engaging, stabilizing, and supporting young people was challenging but feasible, but doing so with a chronic illness was quite taxing. I faced experiences common to individuals with autoimmune conditions who “don’t look sick,” including invalidation and isolation.
I have always been a person who thrives on variety, movement, and balance. Following the pandemic, I experienced a shift in work tasks and expectations which narrowed the focus of my work, reduced opportunities for movement, and affected the balance between my professional and personal life. With the onset of back pain requiring injections and physical therapy, I finally accepted what my body was telling me. If I wanted to meet my professional and personal goals, I had to make a change – even if that change meant leaving a team I loved and an organization to whom I had devoted 25 years of service.
As you might imagine, it was not all sunshine and rainbows after my departure. However, anyone who has forged a new path and built something new knows it is not easy, but the journey is unbelievably fulfilling. I am inspired daily by the people in my life, both new faces and faithful friends and family, who nurture, support, and encourage me through the valleys and who celebrate with me on the mountain tops.
God has blessed this journey with Him, and for this I am grateful. I know how overwhelming it can feel when we or our children struggle with anxiety, stress, trauma, or other emotional/physical challenges. It can be hard to know where to begin. We may feel uncertain, exhausted, lost. I want families to know they are not alone. My goal is to work alongside you to create a space for you, your child, and your family to heal and to thrive.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a licensed psychologist in Flower Mound, Texas providing psychotherapy for children, teens, young adults and families dealing with anxiety, ADHD, trauma, and emotional regulation challenges. My unique specialties include serving young children (ages 3-10) and treating anxiety disorders and related conditions. I also have extensive experience treating many other mental health conditions and concerns, including depression/mood disorder, grief/loss, social and behavioral challenges, etc.
Each of us carries a unique story formed from our biology, experiences, gifts, and values. Because knowing a youth’s or family’s story is critical to success in therapy, I approach care from a trauma-informed, strength-based, relational perspective. My treatment style is informed by attachment, dynamic, and interpersonal theories, though my methods are eclectic and person-centered. My training includes a variety of evidence-based treatment approaches, including play therapy, attachment-based therapies, Interpersonal Therapy, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT), Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Mindfulness, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), filial/family therapies, etc. While I anchor my work in these interventions, my experience has affirmed that there is no “one-size-fits-all” treatment approach. Therapy through my practice is designed to meet your personal needs and goals while honoring and highlighting the strengths you already carry within you.
I am passionate about helping young children, tweens, and teens express their feelings and concerns in their own way. My aim is to create a space where youth and parents can feel safe and connected. As our brains become more regulated emotionally, we become more able to access and respond to opportunities to learn and grow in a way that is natural and enjoyable. Each developmental stage has its own needs, communication methods, and learning styles. For young children, play is the most innate means for learning and communicating while tweens begin to shift towards an integration of structured games, expressive activities, and conversation. Adolescents and young adults may engage more in adult-like conversation, but they are experiencing significant and critical shifts in brain development that need to be understood, honored and nurtured for optimal health. Parents are the backbone of the family, and the foundation of society. Yet their dedication, effort, and sacrifice often goes unrecognized. Appreciating parents are doing the best they can with the resources they can access in the moment while juggling all of life’s demands is critical – parents need to feel seen and heard as well.
Feeling “stuck” at any age/stage is not abnormal. It’s a signal we need care, compassion, and encouragement to regulate our thoughts and feelings. Healing takes time, and it is okay to feel uncertain about the journey ahead. My aim is to help make that path feel less daunting and more joyful, one playful step at a time.
What’s unique about my practice? I suppose it is my passion for the power of each person’s story, and how we all have the potential to leave warmth, kindness and compassion in our exchanges with others. In my backyard is a bird feeder that takes pictures of daily visitors. One day, I noticed a tiny wren amongst our guests. Her song and movements fascinated me. During a study on rest and mindfulness, I was presented with a prompt to write the story God was creating in and through me. Allowing what was inside to flow out without evaluating or editing, the story of my little wren, Whimsy, was born. Her tale is on my website, and she continues to grow and evolve on our Whit & Whimsy journey. She is a reminder we can all be blown off course by life’s storms and that sometimes all it takes is a soft whisper of safety and the gentle hand of connection to help us find the path home back to ourselves. Whimsy and I want you to know you are not alone, that our office is a safe space for youth and families to rest and to work through the tricky things in your lives. We are ready to hold a spark of hope for you until you regain your light, your voice, and the ability to soar again.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
My greatest hope is that the field of psychology and mental health will become accepted as an integral part of health. We cannot separate the brain from the body – all our parts are interconnected and must work collaboratively for optimal health and well-being. When we allow ourselves able to view the body and brain in an integrated, holistic manner, it increases the potential for collaboration amongst healthcare providers to increase support for patients and families as well as within the treatment team.
Another shift that I hope will gain traction is an emphasis on mental wellness and prevention. Stigma about mental health issues or mild symptoms/concerns that do not warrant a qualifying diagnosis can interfere with accessing care. Shifting from a reactive to a proactive stance provides opportunities to reduce suffering and health care costs while building resilience and self-efficacy and maximizing overall health and longevity.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.drwmcgee.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drwmcgee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drwmcgee/
Image Credits
Catherine Nixon
Brian McGee
