Hi, I’m Dr. Haley Busch. It’s nice to meet you.
I grew up in Austin, TX, and received my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. After college graduation, I spent two years researching and treating anxiety and substance use concerns for several NIH-funded clinical trials. I went on to pursue a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Houston, where I focused on sharpening my therapeutic skills across a variety of clinical settings (i.e., community mental health clinics, a neuropsychological assessment clinic, a university counseling center, and a specialty sleep and anxiety clinic).
I completed my doctoral internship at the University of Houston’s Counseling and Psychological Services. Throughout my doctoral training, I was drawn to and sought additional supervision in interpersonal therapy approaches and working with clients who hold diverse identities.
After finishing my doctoral studies, I completed my fellowship at a group practice in Houston, TX, where I continued to hone my clinical skills in depth-oriented interpersonal therapy and developed a niche in working with anxiety and relationship concerns. I prioritize continued engagement with training and consultation, recognizing that there is always more to learn. My work as a psychologist is so much more than a job. I’m lucky enough to wake up every morning and love what I do.
The other important hats that I wear outside of work include wife, mother, older sister, daughter, friend, and pug enthusiast.
My Approach
My belief that human beings are first and foremost relational beings informs my highly interpersonal approach to therapy. We make sense of who we are in the context of the relationships that matter most to us. Research repeatedly demonstrates that the strongest predictor of therapeutic success is the relationship between the therapist and client. With this in mind, I commit myself to creating a therapy relationship characterized by warmth, safety, curiosity, and transparency. I find that through active participation in the therapy relationship by sharing my in-the-moment thoughts, feelings, and impressions, clients feel the therapy relationship is more real and thus more useful to them.
The more spontaneously we engage with one another, the more likely your concerns are to manifest inside the therapy hour. As your anxiety or typical ways of relating surface in the safe context of our therapy relationship, I am committed to responding from a place of warmth and curiosity. I am committed to accepting all of the nuanced parts and pieces of your identity. My ultimate goal is to leverage our relationship to help you learn that you no longer have to relate to yourself and others in your old ways (such as trying to be perfect, abandoning your needs, pretending, being on guard around others, masking vulnerability, exercising control, or deflecting with humor). Lasting interpersonal change often starts in the therapy relationship.
My therapy approach is integrative and draws on interpersonal, attachment-based, existential-humanistic, culturally-informed, and cognitive-behavioral approaches.