THERAPY IN BIRMINGHAM, AL
About Empower Counseling
Built for Every Season. Here for Every Stage of Your Life.
Empower Counseling exists for one reason: so that no woman in Birmingham — and no woman in Alabama — ever has to face a hard season alone, or start over with a new practice every time her life changes. From the teenage years through every chapter of adulthood, there is a therapist here who understands exactly where you are.
How We Started
Kathryn Ely Did Everything Right and Still Felt Like It Wasn’t Enough. She Found the Way Out — and Built a Practice Around It.
Empower’s founder, Kathryn Ely, is a former practicing attorney and mother of three who spent years living inside the struggle she now helps women leave behind: accomplishing everything and still lying awake feeling like it wasn’t enough.
She found Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) while earning her master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. It didn’t silence the self-doubt — it changed her relationship to it, so she could stop being run by fear and start moving toward what mattered.
“The right therapy doesn’t just reduce suffering. It builds a life worth living.” That conviction shapes every hire and every session. It’s why every therapist here is a woman trained in evidence-based methods — and why Empower was built around the full arc of a woman’s life, not just one chapter.
MEET OUR SYMBOL
Courageous the Lioness
She has been part of Empower from the beginning. We just made her official — because she has always stood for exactly what we do here.
Most of us are waiting: to feel ready, confident enough, healed enough before we move toward the life we actually want. But confidence is not what comes first. Clarity is. And courage follows clarity — not the other way around.
This is what ACT teaches, and what Courageous embodies. You do not need to feel like enough before you begin. You need to know what matters to you, and then take one honest step toward it. The confidence builds on the path.
A lioness knows what she is — not because every season is kind, but because her sense of herself does not depend on it. She does not shrink. She does not wait for permission to take up space.
So many women arrive carrying a quiet, relentless voice that says you are not enough. Courageous is a daily reminder that the opposite of that voice is not perfection. It is an unshakeable knowledge of your own worth — the worth that was there all along.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We Lead With Our Values.
The Same Ones We Help Our Clients Find Their Way Back To.
At Empower, we practice what we teach. ACT — Acceptance Commitment Therapy — asks people to identify what matters most and move toward it, even when fear and self-doubt are present. Courageous reminds us daily to do the same. These are the values that guide how we practice, how we show up, and how we care for every woman who trusts us with her story.
Courage
Real change requires moving toward what matters — even when fear is loud. We ask it of our clients, and Courageous reminds us to hold ourselves to the same standard. Courage is not the absence of anxiety. It is the decision to act anyway.
Compassion
We meet every woman exactly where she is — without judgment, without rushing her forward before she is ready, and without making her feel like she has to earn the right to be here. The same warmth and self-compassion we help clients build, we extend to them from the first session.
Honesty
We do not offer empty reassurance. We will tell you the truth about what we see, celebrate what is genuinely working, and name what is not. ACT is built on seeing clearly — and so are we. You deserve a therapist who is honest with you, not one who simply makes you feel comfortable.
Presence
Good therapy happens when a therapist is fully here — not moving on before you are ready, not glancing ahead to the next question. We bring our full attention to every session because your story deserves to be heard completely, not just efficiently.
Values-led care
We do not decide what your life should look like. Our job is to help you get clear on what matters most to you — and then help you build a path toward it. The direction is always yours. We help you see it more clearly and move toward it with less fear in the way.
Growth without perfection
We do not expect perfection from our clients — and we do not expect it from ourselves. We pursue the highest clinical standards because you deserve care that actually works. But we hold that pursuit with openness, not rigidity. We keep learning because you deserve better every time.
HOW WE PRACTICE
Evidence-Based Therapy Only. Because You Deserve More Than Talking in Circles.
Not all therapy is the same. There is a meaningful The therapy you choose should be one that actually works. There’s a real difference between a method proven in research and one that just feels supportive in the moment — and at Empower, we only practice the first kind. Our foundation is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an evidence-based approach that does more than ease symptoms. It helps you build a life worth living.
Every therapist here has pursued specialized training well beyond her master’s, because you deserve someone who has gone deep into the specific territory you’re navigating — not a generalist.
Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Our clinical foundation • Learn More →
EMDR
Trauma processing • Learn More →
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Parts-based healing • Learn More →
Prepare & Enrich
Pre-marital & couples • Learn More →
Perinatal Mental Health
Specialized PMAD care • Learn More →
Eating Disorder Treatment
Residential through outpatient • Learn More →
What we are built for
One Practice. Every Season of a Woman's Life.
Most practices are built around whatever their therapists happen to specialize in. Empower was built around the full arc of a woman’s life — and the conviction that you should never have to start over with a new practice just because your chapter changed.
We see teenagers and the parents alongside them. College students who look like they have it together and feel like they’re unraveling. Women who have hit every goal and found it hollow. Mothers navigating infertility, pregnancy loss, and an identity shift no one prepares you for. Professionals who run the room all day and lie awake wondering if they belong.
Whatever season you’re in, there’s a therapist here who understands it — and someone for the next chapter, too. You never have to start over.
Courageous is waiting.
So are we.
Whatever you are carrying right now — there is a therapist at Empower who understands it. A free consultation is simply a conversation. You do not need the right words. You just have to show up.