Amber Miller Licensed Professional Counselor, Wisconsin

What I treat · Self-harm

Self-harm therapy, paced and without judgment.

Self-harm is a coping strategy that started because nothing else was working. The work is not about willpower. It is about figuring out what the self-harm is doing, and what other tools could do that job at lower cost.

The clients I see who self-harm are usually not in immediate medical danger. They are managing something the rest of their life has no place for. The pattern usually started for understandable reasons. The work is real, slow, and respectful of why it began.

This page is for therapy work. It is not a crisis line. If you are in immediate danger or you cannot keep yourself safe right now, please call 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or go to your nearest emergency department. Therapy work continues alongside, once you are safe.

How we work on it

Dialectical behavioral skills come in heavily for the in-the-moment work, especially distress-tolerance and emotion-regulation tools. Person-centered work holds the slower arc of figuring out what the pattern protects and what the alternative would look like.

The work is between you and me. We talk through what you want anyone close to you to know or not know about it, and whether and when you want them looped in.

Self-harm is rarely the problem in the deepest sense. It is a solution that started costing more than it solved. The work is finding solutions whose costs are smaller.

What this is not

I am not a residential program and I do not provide between-session crisis support. If self-harm has reached the point of imminent risk, the right level of care is a higher level of care than weekly outpatient therapy. We can talk through what that looks like at the first session, and I will be honest if I am not the right fit for where you are right now.

What to do next

If self-harm is part of what brought you here, the next step is to schedule the consultation or intake session. We talk about whether the work fits and what level of care makes sense.

Schedule a free 15 minutes consult

Common questions

Things people ask before reaching out.

Will you tell my partner or family?

What you bring in stays between us within the standard legal exceptions, which I walk through clearly at the first session.

Do I have to stop self-harming to do this work?

No. The work is what helps you stop, not a prerequisite for starting.

What insurance do you take?

BadgerCare, Medicaid, Medicare, plus the major Wisconsin commercial plans. The current list is on the insurance and fees page.

Where I can see you

By telehealth, anywhere in Wisconsin.

Common cities and college towns where I work with clients on this. If yours is not listed, telehealth covers you all the same.

A·M LPC 12237

Reaching out is the hardest part. After that, I take it from there.