Kateland Godat

She/ Her/ Hers

Clinical License

Illinois LPC 178.019795

Supervising Clinician: Fallyn Lara, LCPC 180.016203

Education

MA in Counseling, Reformed Theological Seminary, Oviedo, FL
BA in Psychology with minor in Missions, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA.

A green decorative plant in a wooden vase.

Specialities

Couples Therapy
Faith Integration & Spirituality
Religious Trauma & Church Hurt
Attachment & Family Of Origin
Loss & Grief

Techniques

Narrative Therapy
Attachment Theory
Emotion Focused Therapy

I’ve walked through my own share of pain, grief, chaos, anger, joy, sorrow, laughter, and love—experiencing firsthand how complex and unpredictable life can be. But it was through these struggles that I came to understand the profound value of every person’s unique story. Each experience, each emotion we feel, shapes who we are and holds the power to transform us if we’re willing to truly see it. When I began to embrace my own vulnerability, to connect deeply with my soul and body, and to speak the truth of my life, I found a sense of freedom and peace that I want to help others find too. I believe that by honoring your story—no matter how messy or painful or even mundane it may seem—you can begin to heal and reconnect with yourself, others, and the world around you. At the heart of it all, we all long to feel truly loved—seen for who we are, celebrated for our uniqueness, and delighted in for the beautiful, complex individuals we’ve become. It is my privilege and delight to sit and listen to the inner workings of another human being’s soul.

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“I was having repeated interpersonal issues with previous partners and Kateland helped me to connect the patterns in my family of origin and generational trauma into how I relate to others in present relationships. Then we were able to process what it looks like moving forward.”

“Therapy has been so empowering for me! Kateland was able to hold hope for me and my circumstances, even when it was hard for me to feel that for myself.”

“Working with Kateland has been a game changer for our family. We came in with repeated arguments, disconnection, hurt, feeling misunderstood, and built up resentment from each other. Through thoughtful guidance, Kateland helped us see each other’s perspectives in ways we hadn’t before, and slowly, we started to open up more honestly with each other. It wasn’t easy, but with Kateland’s help, we’ve made real, lasting steps toward understanding one another and rebuilding our emotional connection.”

Reviews

Our clients' stories

What do you find most rewarding about being a therapist?
Hi, I’m Kateland Godat and I’m a therapist here at Optimum Joy. I think my favorite thing about, yeah, being a therapist is kind of that moment when somebody makes like a realization and they get really excited and then I get really excited and then we’re like excited together and it’s a little bit of like an adrenaline high, I would say. Like I think that’s one of those like moments when you realize you’re stepping in like really deep new maybe territory where like “whoa all this stuff is connecting” and yeah I just like love seeing somebody recognize those things about themselves and getting to be like “whoa I’m discovering who I am” and getting to be there alongside that—I just see it as like a huge like it’s like a sacred woo-woo moment. But yeah I think that’s my favorite like thing about it is just having those moments of like whoa.
What led you to pursue a career in counseling?
I just have always enjoyed people in general whether it was like my family growing up, friends in high school, random people on the street that tell me their life problems. I’ve just always kind of naturally been that person for a lot of people and like enjoyed it. Like I don’t really value anything as much as I value the relationships in my life. And just people around—it’s like so fascinating hearing about people’s lives and how different everybody’s lives are but also the same. And I’ve just always loved getting to know people.
How has your background influenced your work?
Well I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. So very like conservative Bible Belt Christianity world. And I think there was a lot of like “this is right and this is wrong.” And that was like very stressful for me and sometimes like a little traumatic. Also there are good things. But I think just getting to meet more people and be in that space of someone like questioning all these things in their lives just felt more like real and true than like a lot of what I experienced sometimes—not all the time—but in like growing up in that setting. I really just enjoy like hearing the hard stuff which is like kind of weird, but it just feels more honest to me at times.
What is your approach to the therapeutic space?
Yeah and even though like I think a lot of people see counseling as just like the hardest most depressing stuff, I see it as like getting to know the person or the people in the room. And that person has more than just like tears and sorrow but also like laughter and humor and like joy and weird quirks that they have. And I just really think it’s important that therapy can include all of those things.
I really like to meet with all kinds of people. I think just in my life getting to meet different people in the counseling room has really like grown me and impacted me in a lot of ways as well. And like every type of person has something within them that I would just love to discover with them and enjoy and like delight in them about.
Which populations and areas of focus are you passionate about?
As for things that I specialize in, I really like working with individuals, couples, families, adolescents, teens—like again, all the different groups. But I really love working with people that have like some kind of spiritual or religious background, whether it’s like traumatic, hurt, something they’re trying to discover within themselves. Figure that out for themselves. There’s just so many questions about the world. And we live in such a like dark place sometimes that everything can be so loaded and it’s like hard to have a place where you can just like question something and be like, “but why is it this way?” or whatever. And it’s safe to do that and you get to question and or be upset and be mad. And maybe in your circle, you can’t be upset or be mad at this population or this group or this leader. But here you can.
How do you help clients navigate family and relationship dynamics?
I really love working with people who are working like with family stuff, whether it’s a family that comes in to see me together or like one kid or a couple of parents. I just really enjoy like seeing the pattern—like what’s going on between families. And it’s always like sweet and hard and like amusing sometimes. And I think it helps me like I enjoy helping people make sense of what happens between them.
I really just enjoy helping people make sense of the chaos of relationships sometimes, like whether it’s a couple or someone coming in and talking about things that have been hard for them or like a family or a teenager. I feel like relationships are like what we carry with us more than anything. And they’re also so hard sometimes. Like when you get really close to someone or in families or like partner relationships, it brings out like the hardest things that are going on in us and in them. And there’s all different types of chaos.
How do you help clients process loss and transition?
I guess one would be like the chaos that comes with someone that was in your life and now they’re not. Whether it’s breakup, loss, death, moving, life transitions. People come and sometimes people go too. And that can be a loss of parts of ourselves at times as well. And so I enjoy working with people through that because that is part of the relationship that’s happening. You’re there and then maybe that person isn’t there anymore. And it’s like: what do I do with that part of myself? What do I do with the part that maybe only that person tapped into? Or the part that we enjoyed together and now I don’t have anymore? And how to move on or how to carry on holding it with you?
All of it is love in some way, whether it’s grief or whether it’s the chaos and the conflict in a family because people are trying to work out their own desires for the other person and their desire for themselves. And it’s just really hard to work through that. But it’s all love in the end or loss of love.
What would you say to someone considering therapy for the first time?
If you’re thinking about coming to therapy, just come and try it. It’ll be worth it. And you get to be with someone that delights in being with you. Like, it doesn’t have to be so intense. It can just be like us getting to know each other. And it doesn’t have to start at like the deepest thing. You don’t have to tell me like the most traumatic thing in your life immediately or ever if you don’t want to. But therapy can just be like what what you want it to be.