Sheridan Averson Illuminates Therapeutic Truths & Plant-Powered Healing At Green Prairie Counseling

Sheridan Averson, owner of Green Prairie Counseling, joins the show to unpack what unconditional positive regard really looks like in practice and why a therapist’s job often begins by simply accepting everything a client brings into the room. Sheridan discusses the fine line between encouragement, acceptance, and manipulation, and how intention determines whether guidance becomes helpful or harmful. She shares how her plant-rich office environment—20 to 30 live plants, plus the option for anxious clients to prune or interact with them—acts as a grounding tool and an accessible doorway into horticulture-based therapy benefits. Sheridan also explains her training in CPT, cognitive processing therapy for trauma, and how ABC frameworks help clients identify antecedents, stuck points, and emotional consequences.We dive into her background at The Village, her transition into private practice inside Downtown Health & Wellness in Moorhead, and her surprise win as InForum’s Best of the Best in Counseling only months after launching Green Prairie Counseling. Sheridan walks through the realities of documentation, insurance credentialing, billing support from her contractor Ron in Florida, and the surprising amount of autonomy therapists have behind a closed door. She contrasts counseling, psychology, and social work, reflecting on licensing, supervision requirements, and the challenges of finding internship placements during COVID.Beyond counseling, Sheridan talks gaming: Skyrim, Oblivion, Baldur’s Gate, Diablo, Dark Souls, and the role video games play in her downtime with her husband. We explore evolutionary psychology, relationship dynamics, social connection, and the universal human need to feel seen. She closes by sharing her personal story, the teachers who shaped her, the meaning behind her wedding song “Bloom” by The Paper Kites, and what life looks like as a new parent balancing a growing practice with a 20-month-old at home.