About Me
My name is Katia Dhaliwal, a counselor-in-training as a graduate student at Northwestern University’s The Family Institute. Counseling as a profession entails empowering, supporting, and understanding individuals through a battery of events in life that bring them to therapy, accompanied by a strong ethical foundation. When I graduate in 2027, I hope to obtain state licensure in North Carolina and to begin assisting clients through the use of diagnosis, assessments, and therapeutic plans tailored to an individual’s needs with compassion and sensitivity to the client’s concerns.
I was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, and moved to the Charlotte area in the summer of 2025. I completed my undergraduate degree at McGill University in Montreal, QC, with a major in Psychology and a minor in Hispanic Studies. I experienced a culturally diverse upbringing, being of mixed Punjabi and Ukrainian backgrounds. I am fluent in Spanish and proficient in French. Aside from hobbies such as cross-stitching, listening to music, and reading, I thoroughly enjoy experiencing new cultures and foods, as well as making new friends. I enter the counseling profession with affinity towards psychodynamic counseling, existential therapy, and person-centered therapy.
Through learning experiences with my site supervisor, Kaci Pennington at the Pine Center, and my education at Northwestern University, I hope to become specialized in the treatment of trauma, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, dissociative disorders, LGBTQIA+ concerns, group therapy, and couples counseling. I would love to work with Spanish-speakers, people of international backgrounds, healthcare workers, and seniors. I have a strong desire to help those struggling with issues they find it hard to discuss with their peers, all the while uprooting the systems of shame and stigma that exist within our community. With Northwestern’s CACREP-accredited program, my American Counseling Association membership, and my practicum experience at The Pine Center in Charlotte, NC, I feel equipped and empowered to gain licensure and assist future clients.