I grew up in the corn and soybean fields of Central Illinois, moved to Chicago after college, and spent years working in business. In my early twenties I wasn't confident, had some difficult work experiences, and found myself having panic attacks. I didn't have the language for what was happening at the time — I just knew something needed to change.
That search for change led me down a long and winding path. Graduate school at the University of Alabama. A PhD in geology. Thirteen years teaching geology at the university level. An internship at a domestic violence shelter in Montgomery. And throughout all of it, a persistent fascination with one question: why can some people move forward and others stay stuck?
I discovered tapping in my years working in science and began offering it as a coach. People kept coming to me with bigger and more complex problems — trauma, dissociation, anxiety that had been there for decades. It became clear that I needed clinical training to meet them where they were. So I went back to school for mental health counseling. It has been one of the best decisions of my life.
Today I specialize in working with women who are carrying what talk therapy hasn't been able to reach — trauma stored in the body, anxiety wired into the nervous system, patterns that feel impossible to change no matter how much insight they've gained. I use somatic tapping, brainspotting, and hypnosis because these are the approaches that work at the level where the pain actually lives.
I am a moderately gifted polymath with a lot of interests. When I'm not in session you'll find me outside in nature, baking bread, reading about biology or physics, watching Star Trek, or spending time with dogs — who remain, in my view, the very definition of unconditional love. I relate deeply to Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, which is perhaps not surprising given the path my own life has taken.
If you've found your way here, you're probably on a journey of your own. I'd be honored to be part of it.


I approach every client from a fundamental conviction: people can get better. Anxiety can lift. Trauma can be processed and released. Depression doesn't have to be permanent. This isn't wishful thinking — it's what I've witnessed in my practice, often in people who had given up hope that change was possible.
I work somatically, meaning I work with the body and nervous system alongside the mind. Talk therapy is valuable, but many of the patterns that bring people to my office are stored below the level of conscious thought — in the body, in the brain stem, in nervous system responses that were formed long before language. Somatic tapping, brainspotting, and hypnosis allow us to access and process what words alone cannot reach.
My work is solution-focused and collaborative. I will not tell you what to do or who to be. But I will work alongside you with every tool I have to help you find your way forward.
Licensed Professional Counselor
Alabama #4426 | Florida TPMC 1055
Educational Specialist in Counseling (Ed.S.)
Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
PhD in Geology (yes, really)
Certified in the Emotional Freedom Technique, 2010 by Gary Craig
EFT Universe Certification, 2011
Guild of Energists Energy Trainer, 2019
Somatic Tapping Trainer, 2022
Brainspotting Training Phase 1 & 2, 2021
Hypnosis Training, Dr. Gary Elkins 2026
Star Behavioral Health Military Training, 2025
Provider for Wounded Warrior Project through Centerstone


Diana Sturm, Licensed Professional Counselor
Alabama #4426; Florida TPMC 1055
Preferred contact: [email protected]
251-283-2112 (please leave a message)
Sessions are by appointment only.

Online Sessions with secure HIPAA- compliant video platforms
Mail: PO Box 850053, Mobile, AL 36685-0053
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The Mobile, Alabama location for in-person sessions is near Old Shell and Hillcrest. The address will be provided to current clients.
Florida residents – only online sessions are available. There are no in-person sessions available for Florida residents.
Florida Department of Health https://flhealthsource.gov/telehealth