Dr. Cat Poehling, LCSW-BACS, SEP a white queer person with long dark hair, wearing a black jacket and white shirt, smiling while sitting on a couch with an orange patterned fabric draped over it.

Dr. Cat Poehling, LCSW-BACS, LCSW-S, SEP (she/they)

What to expect working with Dr. Cat

You don’t have to keep carrying it alone, healing starts here.

Cat provides relational trauma therapy for women and LGBTQ+ clients who are ready for meaningful, embodied change. Through her integrative approach rooted in Somatic Experiencing® and Internal Family Systems (IFS), you’ll gently explore the impacts of trauma and stress to reconnect with your body and build inner trust and resilience.

Clients working with Dr. Cat can expect:

  • A deeply attuned, relational space where you feel safe and seen

  • Tools to regulate your nervous system and process anxiety, depression, burnout, and overwhelm

  • Support to identify and shift long-held survival patterns

  • Guidance to reconnect with your intuition, authenticity, boundaries, and sense of self

  • A personalized healing process that honors your pace and your story

If talk therapy hasn’t gone far enough, or if you're craving a more embodied path to wholeness, this may be the support you’ve been waiting for.

About Dr. Cat

Dr. Cat Poehling is a joyful and justice-driven trauma therapist, reproductive justice scholar, and educator. She has over 20 years of experience working alongside diverse communities in healing and transformation. She holds advanced Social Work and Disaster Resilience & Leadership degrees from Tulane University and brings an expert clinical lens to her work. She is a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), Level 2 trained Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist, and Level 1 trained Dynamic Attachment Repatterning Experience (DARe) practitioner. Dr. Poehling’s work is rooted in compassion and curiosity, specializing in trauma psychotherapy for women and LGBTQ+ folks. She’s also a sought-after clinical supervisor, program evaluator, and researcher exploring how Somatic Experiencing can support lasting change. Whether in the therapy room, classroom, or community, Dr. Poehling brings heart, rigor, and a sense of adventure to everything she does.

Selected Certifications & Trainings

Somatic Experiencing® Professional, Dr. Glyndie Nickerson, PhD, SEP, Dave Berger, MFT, PT, LCMHC, MA, SEP

SE Assistant Beginning-Intermediate, Dr. Glyndie Nickerson, PhD, SEP

Internal Family Systems, Level 1 and 2, Kay Gardner, MS, LCPC, IFS Certified, Carmen Jimenez-Pride, LCSW, LISW-CP, RCYT, RPTS, IFS Certified David Kitchings, LPC, IFS Certified

IFS Consultation with Dr. Frank Anderson

Dynamic Attachment Repatterning experience (DARe), Level 1, Alicen Halquist, MA, LPC, SEP, DARe

Advanced Eco-somatic EMDR, Kathryn Dieztway, LCSW-BACS

Advanced IFS-EMDR, Kendal Hart, LPC

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, Basic Training, Bill White and

See a full list of trainings on Dr. Cat’s CV

Education

Doctor of Social Work, Tulane University

Master of Social Work, Tulane University

Master of Science in Disaster Resilience Leadership, Tulane University

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, University of North Carolina Greensboro

Licensure

Louisiana LCSW-BACS #13672

Mississippi LCSW #C10452

A wooden pier extending into a calm ocean at sunrise with a clear blue sky.
Dr. Cat Poehling, LCSW-BACS, SEP, a person with dark hair and purple highlights gesturing while sitting in front of a laptop in a bright living room. A yellow patterned throw and teal cushion are on the sofa.
A bridge with a piece missing over calm water at sunset with cloudy sky.