Karen Pace Poland

I’m Karen Pace Poland and I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor. I’ve been in private practice for 17 years and I identify as a lesbian.

Since adolescence, I have had a battle with the two parts of myself: one that wanted so sincerely to please God, and the other that felt an attraction to women. Being in the Southern Baptist Church I had a lot of tension inside with those parts, believing that it was impossible to be both Christian and gay. Early on I reached out for help with this and accepted that the woman-attracted part of me was sinful and broken and needed to be defeated. I put great effort into that out of my desire to please God and also keep the love of family and my community. I felt such a relief when I found a comfortable relationship with a male minister, and we married and raised 3 beautiful daughters for 28 years together. I considered myself at that time as ex-gay and managed the temptation with support from friends and community. As the years went on our marriage struggled under the pressures of ministry life. I also began to experience shifts in my beliefs which caused tension in our marriage. When our marriage ended I had become gay affirming and embraced that my gay friends and family members could be both Christian and gay. Since that time I’ve made peace with those two parts in me, which has been a beautiful journey.

Today, I am in a loving relationship with my partner, Kim. We are both really late-bloomer lesbians. We enjoy exploring the Texas Hill Country, taking daily walks, and working jigsaw puzzles. I also enjoy nature, photography, birding and a little bit of art making. It’s always a good day when I get to spend time with my adult daughters, Kayse, Jayme, and Ally.

I’m licensed in the state of Texas and have a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Houston Baptist University. I am EMDR trained and enjoy working in the area of trauma. I also have a decade of interest and have attended several workshops on the Enneagram.