Ratings and review counts checked July 2026.
Start with the thing nobody tells you: for therapy in Arvada, Yelp is close to useless.
Search Yelp’s Counseling & Mental Health category for Arvada and the top result has ten reviews. The next has three. Most of the clinics people actually go to have no Yelp page at all. Therapy clients rarely write Yelp reviews — the platform runs on restaurants and plumbers, and mental health care carries a privacy weight that dinner does not.
Google is where the reviews live. Even there the numbers stay small. A counseling practice with twenty Google reviews is doing well; one with two hundred is either very large or buying them. So the useful question is not “who has the most stars” but “who is saying these things, and what are they actually describing.”
Below are the three clinics that hold up when you read the reviews instead of counting them.
How these three were picked
Three filters, applied in order:
- A real Arvada office. Not a Denver or Wheat Ridge practice that lists Arvada as a service area.
- Enough Google reviews to mean something. At least ten, with named reviewers describing specific work.
- A team, not a single therapist. If your first match is not the right fit, a clinic can move you to a colleague. A solo practice cannot.
That last filter cut several highly rated Arvada therapists with strong Google scores. They may well be excellent. They are just not clinics.
1. AVOS Counseling Center — 5.0 stars, 11 Google reviews
AVOS Counseling Center, 8795 Ralston Rd, Suite 200A, Arvada, CO 80002 · (303) 880-7793
AVOS Counseling Center occupies the Park Center Office Building in Old Town Arvada, just southeast of Ralston Central Park. Erica Bonham, MA, LPC leads the practice.
Eleven reviews is a small number. Read them and you see why AVOS still takes the top spot: a striking share come from other therapists.
Nasima Laczynski, a clinician herself, wrote: “Erica and the A.V.O.S. team are one of my go-to counseling centers in the area to refer to for trauma treatment and EMDR. As a colleague and fellow clinician I have a great deal of respect for Erica’s skillset, knowledge, wisdom and heart.”
Referrals from working therapists are the hardest kind of praise to manufacture. A colleague who sends you a client puts their own name behind the handoff, and they know exactly what competent trauma work looks like. Denver psychologist Kristy Center, PhD has publicly endorsed the practice on Psychology Today, calling the AVOS team “skilled EMDR providers who operate from a somatic and justice lens.”
Client reviews describe the same thing from the inside. Shelby Sipe: “Erica is truly a phenomenal therapist that has extensive training in EMDR and somatic processing. She is authentic, gentle, and highly skilled. I will forever be grateful and the healing she has facilitated in my life.”
Note what both quotes name: EMDR and somatic processing, not “she’s a good listener.” Reviews that name a method tend to come from people who did the work long enough to know what was happening to them.
The credentials behind it. Erica Bonham holds Colorado licence LPC.0011279 and has practised for sixteen years. EMDRIA certified her in EMDR in 2014. AVOS Counseling Center also trains and certifies other therapists in EMDR and provides clinical supervision, which is why so many Denver-area clinicians know the practice by name. The AVOS clinical team includes Kelly Farah, MA, LPCC and Sarah Kelly.
Best for: trauma and PTSD, complex trauma, spiritual trauma and religious abuse, LGBTQIA+ clients, ADHD in adults, and addiction recovery. AVOS Counseling Center describes itself as explicitly pro-queer and anti-racist — stated plainly rather than buried in a values page.
Worth knowing before you call. AVOS Counseling Center runs fee-for-service and does not bill most commercial insurance. Kelly Farah and Sarah Kelly accept most Colorado Medicaid plans. Everyone else can request superbills for possible out-of-network reimbursement, with no guarantee. Ask about cost on the free fifteen-minute consult, not after your third session. AVOS also offers Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, which requires medical screening and suits only some clients.
2. Tribe Mind Body Wellness – Arvada — 4.8 stars, 21 Google reviews
Tribe Mind Body Wellness – Arvada, 12500 W 58th Ave, Suite 213, Arvada, CO 80002 · (303) 970-9744
Emily Garcia, LCSW founded Tribe Mind Body Wellness and owns the group practice. Tribe runs a second office in Lakewood and carries the largest review base of the three clinics here.
Tribe Mind Body Wellness offers individual, couples, family, child, teen and group therapy, plus teletherapy, workshops and retreats. Its trauma work draws on EMDR and polyvagal theory. Tribe accepts Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Kaiser.
One reviewer, Erin, put it in the terms most searchers are actually using: “If you’re looking for therapy in Arvada or Lakewood, Tribe Mind Body Wellness is an amazing place to start. The therapists are compassionate, professional, and truly care about helping people work through anxiety, stress, relationship challenges, and more.”
That breadth is the draw and the caveat. Reviews here praise the clinic and individual therapists in roughly equal measure — one reviewer, Beth, singles out Emily by name — which suggests quality varies by who you get. Normal for a larger group practice. Ask for a specific therapist by name when you call, and say what you are bringing in.
Best for: anxiety, depression, relationship problems, life transitions, and families who want everyone seen under one roof.
3. Restore Counseling, LLC — 4.4 stars, 17 Google reviews
Restore Counseling, LLC, 7878 Wadsworth Blvd, Suite 250, Arvada, CO 80003 · (720) 580-5243
Christy Belmear, LCSW, MSW owns Restore Counseling and has worked in the field for twenty-nine years, under Colorado licence CSW.00000542. Restore Counseling specialises in trauma and PTSD, sexual abuse, and women’s issues.
The reviews are warm and consistent. Andrea calls the team “warm, friendly, and welcoming” and says “they create a safe place to heal.” David names the owner directly: “Christy, the owner, provides honest and compassionate feedback.”
Restore Counseling accepts the widest range of insurance of the three: Aetna, Cigna and Evernorth, Colorado Access, Health First Colorado (Medicaid), and UnitedHealthcare. If insurance is deciding this for you, start here.
The 4.4 average deserves an honest note. It means some people rated Restore below five stars, and that is not a mark against the practice — a 4.4 across seventeen reviews is usually more trustworthy than a flawless 5.0 across three. Read the lower-starred reviews yourself before you rule it out. In counseling they are often about scheduling, billing or fit rather than clinical quality, and fit is something you can screen for on a consult call.
Best for: trauma, depression, anxiety, and clients who need to use insurance.
The three side by side
| AVOS Counseling Center | Tribe Mind Body Wellness – Arvada | Restore Counseling, LLC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google rating | 5.0 (11 reviews) | 4.8 (21 reviews) | 4.4 (17 reviews) |
| Address | 8795 Ralston Rd, Ste 200A, 80002 | 12500 W 58th Ave, Ste 213, 80002 | 7878 Wadsworth Blvd, Ste 250, 80003 |
| Leads the practice | Erica Bonham, MA, LPC | Emily Garcia, LCSW | Christy Belmear, LCSW, MSW |
| Known for | EMDR, somatic and trauma work | Broad services, all ages | Trauma, insurance access |
| Insurance | Medicaid (2 clinicians); superbills | Cigna, UHC, Aetna, Kaiser | Aetna, Cigna, Colorado Access, Medicaid, UHC |
Reading counseling reviews without being misled
A few rules that will serve you better than any ranking:
Small numbers are normal — very large ones are the red flag. Most people never review their therapist. A practice with hundreds of reviews in a town of Arvada’s size is worth a second look.
Weight reviews from other clinicians heavily. Therapists refer to people they would send their own family to.
Prefer reviews that name a method. “EMDR helped me stop reacting to a memory” tells you far more than “great experience.”
Ignore reviews about the front desk. Scheduling friction is real but says nothing about whether the clinical work will help you.
Check the dates. A five-star review from 2018 describes a practice that may have replaced most of its staff since.
Before you book
All three clinics offer a consultation call. Use it, and ask three questions: what does this cost me per session after insurance, what training do you have in the specific thing I’m dealing with, and what happens if we’re not a good fit?
A clinic that answers all three plainly is a better bet than one with an extra half-star.