Barbara Kirkman, LPC

Barbara Kirkman is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor who earned a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Tennessee. She returned to graduate school after confronting her own substance use challenges and beginning recovery, and that lived experience informs her approach to counseling. As a survivor of physical and emotional domestic abuse, she combines professional training with personal insight when supporting people affected by trauma and relationship harm.

Her career began working in a recovery center and continued as an aftercare supervisor, where she supported clients through the crucial early months of sobriety. She later served as an outpatient therapist at a community mental health agency, gaining experience treating depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and trauma. Those roles shaped her particular strengths in addiction recovery, domestic abuse work, and trauma-informed care.

Kirkman draws on cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness techniques, and trauma recovery methods in her work. She identifies as a liberal thinker who respects diverse lifestyle choices and believes clients are the experts in their own lives. She offers her clinical skills and personal perspective to help each person discover their own path to healing and recovery.

Her areas of focus include stress, anxiety, addictions, family issues, bipolar disorder, depression, relationship and intimacy concerns, grief, eating and sleeping difficulties, parenting, anger, self-esteem, career questions, and coping with life changes including aging and separation. She maintains mostly daytime hours with a limited number of evening and weekend appointments to increase flexibility. Kirkman encourages self-awareness and personal growth and aims to help people build lives with greater meaning, joy, and satisfaction.