Specialties
Internal Family Systems Therapy, Emotional Transformation Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Somatic Experiencing, Intensive Therapy
Consultations
Rebecca offers free consultations, please contact her to see if you all are a good fit.
Currently, all appointment times are full. Please contact Rebecca if you'd like to join her waitlist.
About Rebecca
Rebecca Pancoast is a Senior Clinician at IPNB Psychotherapy of Austin, and believes that being a therapist is the best job in the world and feels so incredibly grateful to be a part of a family of clinicians who bring that same excitement and curiosity to their work.
She describes herself as a thoughtful person who takes the big things very seriously — relationships justice, stewardship — and the small things not seriously at all. "If You Want to Sing Out" by Cat Stevens captures the sentiment well.
As a therapist, Rebecca tires to lead with her heart and support with her mind. Her heart tells her to connect to the person sitting across from her as completely, and wonderfully unique. It says that we all do the best we can with the resources available, and with enough time, space, and understanding, new possibilities will emerge. Neuroscience, Attachment Theory, and intersectionality support that heart-work and quietly guides her presence in session.
Rebecca is deeply committed to her own deep healing through therapy, self-exploration, and connection in community. Internal Family Systems is an important aspect of each of those elements for Rebecca. Internal Family Systems built the road she traveled on for her healing journey, and it continues to offer insight, joy, and support as she engages with consultations, therapy, practice groups, and trainings.
Rebecca was born in PA and moved to TX about ten years ago, when her spouse founded a solar energy company. She started work as a veterinary assistant, and continued that work until she was about halfway through her postgraduate internship. She and her spout are dedicated to animal welfare and are also both deeply conscientious of their impact on other humans and our planet, and strive to be of service wherever possible. Most recently, they are working to be more involved in the Black Lives Matter movement.
In her personal time, she loves cartoons, conversations with stray cats, and black coffee. She loves to walk her puppy, Egon, around Town Lake, get breakfast at Bouldin Creek Café, and also enjoys spending time browsing the plants at The Great Outdoors.
Rebecca specializes in experiential work and she works with trauma recovery, self discovery, and relational health in individuals. Her presence is so full of wonder and wisdom. She is deeply here and with, in ways that many clients report feeling so seen, they at least feel free to see themselves.
Q&A with Rebecca
Pancoast
How does talking to someone help?
Being heard is the bedrock for learning how to listen to your own inner voice. When we have to fight to be understood or quiet ourselves to stay safe, we become cut off from who we really are. Talking to someone can help you make sense of your adaptations, as well as create new possibilities for being in connection with yourself and others.
What question do you usually ask a client first, and why?
When a person comes to see me for therapy, I know that they are already working really hard. I can track the way their nervous systems orient to safety. I can hear the way their minds doggedly hunt for solutions. I can see the way they hold exhaustion in their bodies. Despite this, often I hear that many of parts of them received the message that they are not doing enough. So, after an initial consultation, where I learn what brings a client to see me and what they hope to be different about their lives through our work together, I allow my sessions to unfold week-to-week in a way that feels organic and co-created. This way, I hope to convey the message that—at least in therapy—it’s not all up you to figure it out. We can carry it all together. Being heard is the bedrock for learning how to listen to your own inner voice. When we have to fight to be understood or quiet ourselves to stay safe, we become cut off from who we are. Talking to someone can help you make sense of your adaptations and help create new possibilities for being in connection with yourself and others.
What is the best thing you have learned from one of your people?
The best thing I ever learned from a client I actually re-learn with every client. Every time I sit with a person I am reminded that no human behavior, thought, or feeling is arbitrary. What we call problems or symptoms emerge from our previous experiences, and the intensity of the current symptom always rises to meet the intensity of what was endured. For me, this truth strips away constructs of “good enough” and reveals the inherent worth of every single person I work with, and really, every person I know, including myself. That’s the best thing about being a therapist—the chance to sit in awe of our inherent value while making sense of the struggles that obscured what was true about each of us all along.