Meet Caitlin Senger, LPC, PMH-C & Austin Therapist
Get to know Caitlin, her approach to therapy, and the experiences that shaped her work with trauma, reproductive mental health and LGBTQIA+ clients across Texas.
Hi, I’m Caitlin!
I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas and the founder of Cosmic Daisy Counseling. I work with people navigating trauma, infertility, pregnancy and postpartum, pregnancy loss, birth trauma, identity and all of the messy places where those things overlap.
I started Cosmic Daisy because I wanted to create the kind of therapy space I would want for myself. A place where your therapist gets it without you having to find all the right words or explain what it’s like to go through something that other people just don’t understand.
I have personal and professional experience in all of the areas I specialize in and those experiences have shaped the way I practice. Going through some of these things myself has given me a perspective I wouldn’t have had otherwise and I bring this into the work I do with my clients. I would never assume I know what your experience is like but I also know that some things are easier to understand when you’ve been there yourself.
Why I Became a Therapist
I’ve always been the person people came to with the hard stuff. I’m naturally curious about people and their stories and I’ve always wanted to understand what’s underneath the things we do, feel and struggle with.
But honestly, my own experience in therapy is what made me realize this was what I wanted to do.
I know what it feels like to sit across from someone and not really know where to start. I also know how much it matters to have someone who doesn’t judge you, rush you or try to make everything better before you’re ready.
Before starting Cosmic Daisy, I got to work in a lot of different corners of mental health. I got to do some really cool research on how childhood trauma affects the brain, I have supported grieving children and families working at a non profit, I worked as a case manager in an inpatient facility and was a therapist for teens in crisis. Most recently, I worked in a group practice building community with other therapists.
All of those experiences taught me something different about people and about therapy. They also taught me that sometimes the most important thing you can offer someone is a person who can stay steady when things feel anything but steady.
The Story Behind Cosmic Daisy Counseling
The name Cosmic Daisy comes from the birth flowers of two babies who I lost too soon. One birth flower is a Cosmo and the other is a Daisy. The practice name is a small way of honoring their lives and carrying their memory with me.
I’ve lived through many of the things that I specialize in including infertility, pregnancy loss, pregnancy after loss and a birth that didn’t go the way I expected. I am also happily out and queer. These experiences are part of what led me to specialize in trauma, reproductive mental health and LGBTQIA+ issues.
I don’t share that because I think my experience makes me an expert in yours. It really doesn’t. Everyone’s story is different and I would never want to assume I know what something feels like for you just because I’ve experienced something similar.
But it does mean I understand some of the things that are hard to explain to people who haven’t been there.
I know both hope and terror can exist at the same time. You can be grateful and angry. You can be proud of who you are and still carry the hurt of not always feeling accepted for it. You can love your baby and still feel awful about how you became a parent. You can want something desperately and be completely exhausted by everything it takes to get there.
There’s room for all of that here.
My Approach to Therapy
My approach is trauma-informed, I am trained in EMDR and I’m a Perinatal Mental Health Certified (PMH-C) therapist through Postpartum Support International. I’ve completed advanced training in gender-affirming care.
My training matters, but I don’t think good therapy is just about finding the perfect technique or having the right letters after your name. I believe a big part of healing happens through having a real relationship with someone who can be there with you in the hard parts.
So we’ll get to know each other. I’ll listen, ask questions, share what I’m noticing and likely challenge you at some point. We might do deeper trauma work or work on something very practical. We might spend a while talking about something that seems unrelated and realize it actually makes total sense in your full story. We may even find that the thing you thought you needed to work on isn’t really the thing we really need to work on.
You don’t have to start therapy knowing exactly what you need or where we’re going. Sometimes we’ll know right away or it may take a little while to figure out what’s really going on. You don’t have to figure it all out on your own. We’ll find our way through it together.
Caitlin’s Credentials
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
in the state of Texas
MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from The University of Texas at San Antonio
BA in Psychology, minor in Sociology from The University of Texas at Austin (Hook em’!)
Perinatal Mental Health Certified (PMH-C)
from Postpartum Support International
Advanced EMDR Training
from EMDRIA
Gender ASSET 2.0 Trained
Gender Affirming Care & Evaluations
Caitlin Outside the Office
When I’m not working, I’m usually hanging out with my husband, working on a house project or reorganizing something that was already perfectly organized.
I like gardening and collecting a ridiculous amount of houseplants. Unfortunately, my toddler is also obsessed with them or more accurately, obsessed with destroying them. Sadly, the collection has been slowly dwindling but I’m not ready to give up on them yet.
I’m also a chronic organizer and a stress cleaner so there’s a good chance that if I’m having a rough day, something in my house is about to get deep cleaned or reorganized. I usually have a comedy podcast or some good tunes playing in the background while I do it.
Mostly, though, I like being at home with my husband and our kid, working on our house, taking care of my plants and enjoying the little things that make life feel like ours.
Why Cosmic Daisy?
Cosmic Daisy came from some of the hardest experiences of my life. For me, it’s a reminder that hard things and good things can exist at the same time.
You don’t have to turn your hardest experiences into a beautiful lesson. You don’t have to be grateful for what happened. You don’t have to “move on” just because everyone else seems ready for you to.
You can be a work in progress.
You can have complicated feelings.
You can be doing okay one day and completely fall apart the next.
And you can still heal.