Licensed Professional Counselor

Welcome to the website of Svetlana Belykh, founder of Oak Leaf Counseling!

Svetlana B. Belykh is a Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor, Psychotherapist, and a founder of Oak Leaf Counseling. She has her private practice in Denver and Denver Metro Area, Colorado.
Svetlana holds two Master's degrees: a Master of Arts in Counseling (Diploma with Honors) from Regis University, Denver, CO and a Master of Science in Applied Math and Computer Science (Diploma with Honors) from National University of Radio Electronics, Kharkov, Ukraine.
She has been focusing on providing counseling and psychotherapy to patients who have experienced trauma, typically through personal injury or various accidents. She has been successfully working with hundreds and hundreds of patients suffering from consequences of different Traumatic events, Personal Injuries, Car Accidents, Bus, Motorcycle, Bicycle, Ski, and other types of accidents. She offers counseling and psychotherapy to patients after Traumatic Brain Injury, Concussion and provides successful, highly professional, and very effective treatments for sophisticated cases of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), Acute Stress Disorder, Dissociative Disorder, Panic Disorder, variety of Anxiety and Depression Disorders, Driving/Riding Anxiety, Phobias, Sleep, Eating, and Cognitive Disorders as well as all other emotional and behavioral disturbances and psychological problems.

Besides her academic education and degrees, Svetlana has studied in several spiritual and metaphysical schools and attended numerous trainings, seminars, and workshops. Among them are the School of Advanced Energy-Informational Development and Integrated Energy Therapy. She has numerous certifications in area of spirituality, energy work, and energy healing.

Svetlana has also spent numerous years in profound self-education, reading, researching, and learning about various philosophical, psychological, metaphysical, and spiritual subjects. Rare was a day when she did not have a book in her hands. She took several spiritual trips and journeys to different countries including India, Mexico, and Costa Rica. It has been a profound spiritual experience and powerful self-educational curve leading her to immense personal growth and development..

In her practice Svetlana offers multiple relaxation and spiritual techniques, including meditations, contemplations, guided imageries, and visualizations to those patients who are open to such knowledge. These techniques are very powerful and effective tools for obtaining balance and harmony, getting a deep insight, understanding, and self-awareness as well as purification of body, mind, and spirit of an individual.

Svetlana has extended experience of working with multicultural population. Her personal life experience, background, professional knowledge as well as significant knowledge of many cultures, traditions, and history allowed her to relate better to her patients’ needs offering her services in multiple languages with an appropriate multicultural touch. She deeply respects cultural sensitivity and importance of cultural heredity with her patients.

Svetlana speaks and practices counseling/psychotherapy in English, Russian, and Ukrainian languages. All mentioned above helps Svetlana form a bond with her patients and offer a genuine, warm, and highly intuitive counseling and psychotherapy. She provides spiritual counseling, lectures, and facilitates seminars and workshops.

Where the name “Oak Leaf Counseling” came from?

The Oak Leaf is used as a symbolic representation of counseling and therapy offered by Svetlana. Oak tree represents endurance and power. Oak is historically known for its strength, longevity, permanence, and durability.

The Oak Leaf is used in the name of the company as a symbolic representation of a new growth, new sprout, new beginning similar to new changes and growth that one might achieve during therapy. The leaf symbolizes freshness and steadiness. Oak leaves have intense green color; they look strong, and durable. Some oak trees can keep their leaves throughout the entire winter.

Oak tree and oak leaves were historically used as spiritual symbols for strength and wisdom in many ancient traditions and schools as well as in Celtic and North mythology which corresponds to the spiritual dimensions of therapy offered by Svetlana.

Svetlana believes that each human life has a deep meaning and a particular purpose leading to growth and development of a human soul. In Oak Leaf Counseling, with help and guidance of a professional psychotherapist, in safe, nurturing, and soothing environment Svetlana’s patients can reach their inner recourses, explore their inner wisdom, and discover their own knowledge that will help them live their lives happier, brighter, and fuller.

When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust Him fully and let go. Only one of two things will happen: either He'll catch you when you fall, or He'll teach you how to fly!

At Oak Leaf Counseling you will be offered professional psychotherapy and counseling in a relationship of confidentiality, trust, and respect. Comprehensive, quality counseling will take place in a safe, empathetic, supportive, and friendly environment. Genuineness, positive regard, and empathy are some of the main aspects of my work. I offer therapy for children, adolescents, adults, and seniors. I work with individuals, groups, families, and couples.

During therapy you will be offered to explore and understand the roots of your physical, emotional, or mental suffering as well as attempt to find the ways of coping with your life situations in more healthy way. I work with anxiety, depression, stress, fears, phobias, grief, loss, anger, conflicts, relationship problems, stress at work and financial stress, self-esteem, and many others. I have extensive experience and practical skills working with trauma, consequences of car accidents or other traumatic events involving PTSD, driving anxiety or other anxieties, panic reactions, traumatic brain injuries, cognitive impairment, memory problems, and many other disturbances. I help people get back on track faster, find life balance, meaning of life, harmony, and peace with self, life, and world.

My therapy is inspirational, motivational, empowering, and positive. I believe in innate goodness of people and see people as naturally intuitive, self-efficient, and having all the necessary resources for healing within them. I guide my clients on a customized path that initiates personal and spiritual growth and development, self-exploration, and self-discovery.

I individualize and custom make specialized treatments modalities and special strategies that are initiated, reviewed, and tailored to meet your individual needs in a non-stressful environment. There is no one method of counseling that works for all people. Your specific life issues and how they impact you will be different from all other people. Rather than trying to force you to fit within a certain mold, I prefer to take into consideration your strength and areas of vulnerability in order to support you as you change direction to a path that offers you comfort.

My therapy is dedicated to improving your ability to live your life with appreciation, self-acceptance, mindfully, at the fullest, and have more satisfaction, happiness, and joy. During the therapy you might be offered a variety of breathing and relaxation techniques, guided imageries, visualizations, contemplations, and self-empowering exercises.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word psychotherapy comes from the Ancient Greek words psychē (pronounced [‘saiki]), meaning breath, spirit, or soul and therapeia, to nurse or cure. Its use was first noted around 1890. The psyche refers to the forces in an individual that influence thought, behavior, and personality, as well as to the concept of the self, encompassing the modern ideas of soul, self, and mind. The Greeks believed that the soul or psyche was responsible for behavior.

Psychotherapy is the treatment designed to encourage communication of conflicts and getting insight into problems, with the goal to relieve symptoms, assist in resolving emotional or behavioral issues, support changes in behavior leading to improvement in social and vocational functioning as well as facilitate personal growth and well-being of an individual.

My primary approach and theoretical orientation to the process of counseling is Integrative, and I tend to use Integrative Psychotherapy. Integrative Psychotherapy affirms the inherent value of each individual and responds appropriately and effectively to the person at the affective, behavioral, cognitive, and physiological level of functioning, as well as addresses the spiritual dimensions of life.

My philosophy of healing is Holistic. The word holistic comes from a Greek word meaning all, entire, total. Holistic approach is concerned with whole or with complete system rather than with its component parts alone. In holistic approach body, mind, and spirit are seen in unity. Therefore, I perceive physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of human life in unity as closely interconnected and equally important to treatment.

While practicing Integrative Psychotherapy, I use a wide array of theoretical approaches and therapeutic modalities and interventions which are suitable and most beneficial for the patient at a particular time of counseling for a particular problem and are in the agreement with patient’s personal philosophy of life, worldviews, and system of beliefs.

These approaches include, but are not limited to: Person-Centered (focused on the client’s story & therapy relationship), Humanistic/Existential (focused on responsibility, freedom, choices, anxiety, isolation, self-acceptance, meaning of life), Gestalt (focused on self-awareness), Cognitive and Cognitive Behavioral (focuses on dysfunctional emotions, behaviors, and cognitions), Rational-Emotive Behavioral (helping client reframe negative thought patterns that lead to faulty behaviors), Solution-Focused (brief, problem solving), Supportive (intended to relieve symptoms or help the patient live with them rather than attempt changes in character structure), Narrative (giving meaning to experiences and helping determine feelings and attitudes based on client’s stories), Reminiscence (acknowledging and respecting life and individual’s experiences), and Psycho-Educational (education about psychological concepts).

In my practice I carefully choose and combine various treatment modalities and make them cohesively work to the benefit of a patient. I attempt to address various aspects of human personality in a holistic, integrative way. Using integrative approach, I am always interested in not only what works, but why it works.

No matter what approaches I use, I always strive to recognizing, attending to, and utilizing my clients' strengths throughout the therapeutic process. I strongly believe that authenticity, genuineness, and trust in therapeutic relationship are key values for healing.

Svetlana B. Belykh
M.A., M.S., LPC, NCC