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Services and Areas of Specialty in Counseling & Psychology

Luis G. Cruz-Ortega, PhD
Counseling Psychologist

Psychological Counseling Services

  • Individual counseling and psychotherapy for adults
  • In-person visits available in Columbus, Ohio
  • Telepsychology
    • As a telehealth psychologist, he provides online psychological services via secure video call to residents of Ohio, Florida, and PSYPACT states.
  • Clinical supervision and consultation for psychologists and counselors
  • Training and consultation for organizations
  • Services available in English & Spanish​

Dr. Cruz-Ortega's Areas of Specialty

  • Personal growth and wellness
  • Depression
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Interpersonal difficulties (e.g., relationships with family, friends, colleagues)
  • Stress management
  • Grief and loss
  • University mental health (faculty, staff, college students)
  • Health-related issues (e.g., adapting to a new medical diagnosis, implementing lifestyle changes, chronic pain)
  • Career planning and development
  • Life transitions (e.g., starting college, arrival of a new baby, divorce, retirement, moving, starting / leaving a job, caring for elderly parents)
  • Crises of meaning (e.g., value conflicts, spiritual struggles, loss of direction or meaning, existential crisis)
  • Cultural psychology and human diversity (e.g., ethnic / racial identity development, acculturation stress, stress associated with oppression / prejudice, LGBTQ+ related issues)
​Vanessa Vargas, MS, MA, LPCC
Professional Clinical Counselor

Professional Counseling Services

Ms. Vargas' Areas of Specialty

  • Acculturation stress
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Career planning and development
  • Depression
  • Ethnic / racial identity development
  • Grief and loss
  • LGBTQ+ related issues
  • Life transitions
  • Relationships & family conflicts
  • Self-Esteem
  • Spirituality
  • Trauma and PTSD
  • Stress management
  • University mental health (faculty, staff, students)
  • Women's issues

Please note that we do not provide the following services:

  • Addictions treatment: We will provide a referral to another specialist when substance use disorders are contributing to significant impairment.
  • Forensic services, including but not limited to, child custody dispute assessments, worker's compensation assessment, forensic assessment (e.g., legal disputes, contentious divorce), sex offender treatment, court ordered treatment, immigration evaluation and support letters
  • Support letters for Emotional Support Animals (ESA)
  • Counseling services for schizophrenia, psychosis or unmedicated mania
  • ​​Psychological testing for ADHD, Autism, or learning disabilities. We provide referrals for testing and offer psychotherapy to treat ADHD and coordinate medication treatment with a prescriber.
  • Higher level of care: We do not offer intensive outpatient psychotherapy. Visits are scheduled once per week or less frequently.



We each have in our hearts a wellspring 
from which waters of life want to flow
​so that we may come alive in every cell of our being
with new life, with presence, joy, courage, beauty, genuineness
and, in our fruition, being of service to others; to life itself.
- C. Michael Smith, PhD


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