Season 2 Episode 11: What You Need to Know About Intimate Partner Abuse/Violence featuring Erin Coram

Sh*t You Wish You Learned in Grad School with Jennifer Agee, LCPC

Erin Coram, LMFT shares her professional and lived experience in helping survivors of intimate partner abuse/violence. Erin discusses misinformation, what to look for in the therapy room and the long-term impacts to health.

Erin is a licensed marriage and family therapist and owner of a group practice in Indiana. Erin has been in practice for over 20 years beginning her career in Community Mental health, then becoming a clinical director of a residential facility community outreach for at-risk adolescents. Erin then launched her private practice Indiana Family Therapy Center, Inc. in 2008. In 2020, Erin teamed up with her business partner to open another group practice, Voyage Counseling, LLC. Erin also works with an adoption agency supervising the completion of home evaluations for adoption. In 2022, Erin launched Embrace for Impact, LLC where she provides coaching, consulting, community groups, retreats and speaking engagements.

Embrace for Impact was born out of a passion for entrepreneurial healers and therapists with their own trauma stories. After a personal journey of owning her story of abuse and violence in her previous intimate relationship, she recognized the need for a place where healers can step out of the shame of secrecy of abuse and into the light of the strength within that it took to survive. During this journey, she also discovered the high correlation between trauma and chronic illness and the additional complexity of treatment needs when trauma meets physical illness or injury. As a type 1 diabetic who suffered extensive physical injury from assault requiring multiple surgeries and hospitalizations, she is passionate about educating our mental health and medical professionals about the complexity of working with victims/survivors of intimate partner violence and trauma. These patients require patience, humanity, authenticity, safety and agency at the highest level to reduce the risk of re-traumatization/revictimization through medical interventions.

Erin empowers therapists to step into and own their stories and embrace their beautiful kaleidoscope of trauma and resilience to amplify their impact on the world. Being a therapist and a survivor of intimate partner violence does not make you a fraud or incompetent, it makes you human and capable of connecting in a very attuned way.

Erin is a member of and a fierce advocate of the LGBTQ community. Erin is also a mother of two, a wife and a chronic illness warrior. Erin believes that it is through the owning and sharing of our own pain and healing journeys and the connections we make with others that we can have a profound impact on the world.

OFFERS & HELPFUL LINKS:

• Erin’s website
• Counseling Community TikTok
• Jennifer Agee coaching page
• Counseling Community Facebook community
• Counseling Community Instagram