Clinical Director
Karen House., LPC
Karen House has rejoined Taos Behavioral Health as its clinical director, a position she held four years ago before she left TBH for a three-year stint as an embedded counselor with US Special Operations. She has served as a military counselor for a total of ten years. A Special Forces widow, Karen is deeply committed to supporting veterans and has used a variety of therapies to reach those who returned from service with deep trauma.
Just prior to returning to TBH, she served three months at Thule Air Base, 800 miles north of the Arctic Circle. With a Master of Arts in counseling and psychology and a minor in adventure/wilderness programming, Karen believes strongly in the power of the natural environment and wilderness challenges to heal trauma. She is also skilled at using CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), MST (Multisystemic Therapy), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), and mindfulness de-escalation techniques.
Karen has been the clinical director at San Cristobal Treatment Center, a wilderness-based program for young men with addiction, and the family resource director at Taos Charter School. She also maintained a private counseling practice in Taos for seven years and was instrumental in bringing grant funding for truancy prevention to Taos schools. She is the founder and executive director of The Challenge Group, which provided educational and therapeutic adventures from 1999 to 2012 for people facing significant challenges.
Karen is passionate about whitewater, and has been a rafting guide with New Wave Rafting Company for 20+ years. Karen is a fifth generation New Mexican. She is currently completing a second master’s degree in social work at Western NM University.
