About Aurora Counseling Associates
Aurora Counseling Associates has been part of the Natick and MetroWest community since 1998. In that time the practice has grown into a team of experienced clinicians, but the core idea has not changed: therapy works best when it is built around the person in the room, not around a template.
What a group practice is for
Plenty of good therapists work alone, and for a lot of people that is exactly right. What a group practice offers is different, and it is worth being specific about what the difference buys you.
The first thing is matching. When you call a solo practitioner, the only question is whether that one person is available and a fit. When you call us, the question is which of our clinicians is the right one, and that is a much better question. Someone whose training is in play therapy with seven-year-olds is not the right person for a couple in their sixties working through a betrayal, and both of those people practice here.
The second is consultation. Our clinicians work under the same roof and talk to each other. When something in your work is stuck, your therapist has colleagues to think it through with, several of whom have training they do not. That happens without your name attached and without anything you have said leaving the practice, and it makes the work better.
The third is continuity. A solo practice has a single point of failure. If your therapist goes on leave, moves, or reaches capacity, a group practice can hold the thread rather than handing you back to a directory search.
No one right way to do therapy
There is no single correct approach, because there is no single kind of person who walks through the door.
Some of our clinicians work primarily from a cognitive behavioral frame, which is structured, focused on the link between thought and behavior, and often the fastest route through a specific problem like panic. Some work psychodynamically, paying attention to patterns that formed long before the presenting problem and tend to repeat. Some are trained in EMDR and other trauma-specific protocols. Some use play therapy and art therapy, because a nine-year-old will not sit and discuss their feelings for fifty minutes and should not be asked to. Several are Gottman-trained for couples work.
We are not attached to one school. The question is which approach fits what you are working on, and that is a question we answer with you rather than about you.
Culturally affirming as practice, not as a label
A lot of practices say they provide affirming care. What that should mean in the room is fairly concrete.
It means your clinician does not need you to explain your family structure, your faith, your gender, or your community before the work can begin. It means the therapist is willing to say when something is outside their experience and to learn rather than to guess. It means we do not treat a cultural expectation as a symptom, or a family obligation as enmeshment because it would look that way in a different family.
Our team includes clinicians working in culturally affirming therapy, LGBTQIA affirming care, and Deaf and ASL services. Where a clinician here is not the right fit for you, we would rather say so and help you find someone who is.
How we work with the rest of your care
Therapy is one part of a system, and pretending otherwise produces worse outcomes.
We coordinate with prescribers when medication is part of your picture, with schools when a child needs accommodations discussed, with medical teams when a chronic condition sits alongside the depression, and with recovery programs when that is part of your life. All of it happens only with your written authorization, and you decide exactly what may be shared.
Being local matters more than it sounds. We have worked with the school districts across MetroWest, the pediatric practices, the prescribers, and the hospitals people in this area use. That familiarity makes coordination faster at the moment when speed matters.
Who we see
Individuals from early childhood through older adulthood, couples, and families. Our clinicians' specialties span anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, life transitions, neurodivergence, substance use and recovery, perinatal and postpartum mental health, identity, and relationships.
Some of our clinicians are fully licensed and some are pre-licensed and practising under supervision, which is stated plainly on each profile along with the name of their supervisor. Pre-licensed does not mean less careful. It means their work is reviewed by a senior clinician regularly, which is a level of oversight most fully licensed therapists no longer have.
Where a clinician here is not the right fit for you, we would rather say so and help you find someone who is.
What we are not
We are an outpatient counseling practice. We do not prescribe medication, we do not provide inpatient or partial hospitalization care, and we are not an emergency service.
If you need a level of care we do not offer, we will say so directly rather than keeping you in the wrong room. Our crisis resources page covers what to do when the need is immediate.
The practical details
We are at 20 N Main St in Natick, with sessions Monday through Saturday, 8am to 9pm. The office is on the second floor and is not currently wheelchair accessible, which we state plainly rather than leaving you to discover at the door.
Telehealth is available wherever your clinician is licensed, which across the practice currently spans Massachusetts, Vermont, Michigan, Florida, and Connecticut.
We are in network with most major Massachusetts plans and provide superbills for out-of-network reimbursement. The full picture is on rates and insurance.
Questions
Common questions
How long has Aurora been in Natick?
How do you decide which therapist I see?
What kinds of therapy do you offer?
Do you see children?
Are your clinicians licensed?
Do you prescribe medication?
Is the office accessible?
The practice
Aurora, by the numbers
- clinicians on the team
- 12
- areas we work in
- 20
- insurance plans accepted
- 11
- states licensed for telehealth
- 5
Each with their own focus and training
From anxiety and trauma to couples and play therapy
Participation varies by clinician
You must be in one of them at session time
Get started
Ready when you are
If this sounds like the kind of place you are looking for, the next step is a short call. Request an appointment or call 508-650-0991, and you can read the whole team on our therapists.