Aundrea Ruppert Headshot smiling

Aundrea Ruppert | she/her

Role: Associate Marriage and Family Therapist

License: AMFT #141376

Location: 317 West Bedford Ave, 105D, Fresno, CA 93711

Email: info_va@relationshipcounselingcenterofcalifornia.com

Phone: 559-633-9030 ext 104

Contact Aundrea
I help you move from feeling lost, conflicted, and searching for meaning to experiencing keener self-direction, emotional clarity, and deeper grounding in your values. Whether you’re navigating grief, trauma, or the unique challenges of first responder work, there is a season for everything, and we already carry the strengths we need to move through each one. You’ll feel more aligned and confident moving forward.
– Aundrea Ruppert

About Aundrea:

If you’re feeling sadness, searching for meaning in your life, feeling lost, or conflicted between what you feel and what life demands of you, you’re not alone. I work with individuals, couples, first responders, military personnel, veterans, and their families in Fresno and across California who are actively grieving a person, role, or relationship that once gave their life shape.

My clients often carry emotional depth, complexity, and ambivalence, and they’re looking for a therapist who is comfortable sitting with pain without rushing to fix it, explain it away, or force it into positivity. They want someone who will help them understand themselves more clearly and find their way forward with honesty and compassion.

In our work together, you’ll find a space where you’re truly understood, especially if you serve others in your work. I’m an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT), California Registration #141376, with a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy from Fresno Pacific University. I specialize in working with first responders, military personnel, veterans, and their families, understanding the unique stressors you face both on the job and at home. I’m EMDR-trained, Gottman Method-trained for couples, and a Trauma-Informed Care Specialist.

I am attuned and curiously reflective, helping you feel seen and understood before supporting you in moving into your chosen path of change. My approach is both empathetic and honest, helping you name your truth while building insight and confidence in making decisions and meaning that is true to yourself.

I work deeply with individuals, couples, first responders, veterans, and families navigating grief processing, relationship conflict, boundary building, identity and values exploration, and depressive symptoms. Whether you’re processing painful life experiences or PTSD, working through relationship challenges as a couple, managing career burnout, or seeking meaning after loss, I help you understand the patterns beneath the surface. I work well with emotional depth, complexity, and ambivalence. There is a season for everything, and we already carry the strengths we need to move through each one.

My approach is warm, curious, gentle, insightful, and calm. I’m curious, reflective, and exploratory, and I prefer open-ended and depth-oriented work rather than protocol-heavy approaches. Change tends to happen when you’re open to question and accept your truths, rather than avoid or silence pieces of yourself.

Change happens when you view yourself holistically and honor each part of yourself without judgment, developing greater self-compassion and healing. You’ll work collaboratively to celebrate progress and adjust as needed. This is your process, and I walk alongside you with skill and genuine care.

What I consistently help people move toward is keener self-direction, with a better understanding of self, emotional clarity, and deeper grounding in personal values, structure, goals, and life decisions. You’ll feel more grounded in yourself and your decisions and what really matters in your life.

You’ll feel confident in managing and understanding your pain, rather than running from it, and you’ll recognize more meaning, strive confidently toward personal goals, and become more intentional about the quality of relationships in your life. You’ll feel more aligned and confident moving forward.

Serving Fresno, Clovis, Madera, and the Central Valley, with online therapy available throughout California. Supervised by Constance Leger, LCSW (California License #76698) at Relationship Counseling Center of California.

Specialized work:

First Responders & Military

Military, Veterans & Their Families

Grief and Loss

Gottman Method Couples Therapy

Individual Therapy

EMDR Therapy

Trauma & PTSD Treatment

Boundary Building

Identity & Values Exploration

Career Burnout

Anxiety & Depression

DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy)

Mindfulness Skills

ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy)

I’m Here to Support You Through:

Individual Therapy Icon Person sitting across from therapist in session

Individual
Therapy

Couples Counseling two people sitting across from each other in therapy session with therapist

Couples
Counseling

Grief and Loss icon person holding head with broken heart representing a person needing grief and loss therapy

Grief & Loss

First Responder Mental Health icon first responder goes to therapy showing their mental health gets better represented by a heart shape in their brain

First Responder
Mental Health

Trauma and PTSD recovery person's head showing health heart to get healthy in therapy

Trauma &
PTSD Recovery

Military and Veteran Support icon showing icon of man in military hat and uniform ready for therapy

Military &
Veteran Support

Request an Appointment

Is Aundrea Right for You?

Finding the right therapist is an important decision. Here’s what working with Aundrea looks like:

You might be a good fit if…

You’re a first responder, military member, veteran, or family member seeking specialized support

You’re experiencing grief, loss, or actively mourning a person, role, or relationship that once gave your life shape

You feel sadness, searching for meaning, lost, or conflicted between what you feel and what life demands

You’re a couple struggling with communication, conflict, or reconnection

You’re processing trauma or PTSD and want EMDR or trauma-focused therapy

You’re experiencing anxiety, depression, career burnout, or relationship strain

You want to explore identity, values, and boundary building

You value authenticity, warmth, and genuine connection in therapy

You want a therapist who understands the unique demands of service work and won’t rush you to “fix” your pain

What to expect in our work together

Working with Aundrea means entering a space where you’re truly understood, especially if you serve others in your work. She knows the weight of difficult calls, the strain on relationships, the challenge of finding balance, and the battles you don’t talk about. If you’re a first responder, she understands the unique psychological demands without you having to explain what others don’t see.

Using EMDR, DBT, ACT, mindfulness skills, and the Gottman Method for couples, Aundrea helps you process what you’re carrying, build healthier coping skills, strengthen communication, and reconnect with what matters most.

She uses trauma-informed approaches including EMDR, DBT, and ACT to help you process difficult experiences and remove the shame that often comes with them. You’ll work together to reconstruct a meaningful narrative that reflects your personal goals, values, and emotional growth. Sessions are collaborative, warm, and focused on your goals.


Whether you’re working through trauma, strengthening your relationship, or finding balance in a demanding career, you’ll feel supported, respected, and understood. Therapy works best when it feels authentic and vulnerable. Aundrea brings warmth, authenticity, and humility to every session, building trust through respect and confidentiality.

You’ll collaboratively create treatment goals, celebrate progress, and adjust as needed. This is your process, and Aundrea walks alongside you with skill and genuine care.

Not sure if we’re the right fit? Let’s talk.

Schedule a Free Consultation

Aundrea’s Approach to Therapy

Aundrea’s therapeutic approach is grounded in honoring your story while helping you understand yourself more clearly and find meaning. Change happens when you’re open to question and accept your truths, view yourself holistically, and honor each part of yourself without judgment. There is a season for everything, and we already carry the strengths we need to move through each one.
Trauma-Informed & Shame-Free
Trauma isn’t just what happened to you but how it impacts you today. Aundrea uses trauma-informed approaches including EMDR, DBT, and ACT to help you process difficult experiences and remove the shame that often comes with them. She’s comfortable sitting with pain without rushing to fix it, explain it away, or force it into positivity. You’ll work together to reconstruct a meaningful narrative that reflects your personal goals, values, and emotional growth. Change happens when you’re open to question and accept your truths, viewing yourself holistically and honoring each part without judgment.es with them. You’ll work together to reconstruct a narrative that reflects your strength, values, and growth rather than just your wounds.
Specialized Support for First Responders & Military
Aundrea’s calling to this work is deeply personal. After witnessing the bravery of first responders following the September 11th attacks, she dedicated her life to being of service to those who serve others. Through her professional experience working alongside law enforcement in crisis intervention, she gained firsthand insight into the demands of first responder work, the challenges of keeping families together under stress, the struggles with burnout, and the inner battles that often go unspoken. She understands the unique psychological demands of serving others in high-stress environments. You’ll be understood without having to explain what others don’t see.
Gottman Method for Couples
For couples, Aundrea uses the Gottman Method to strengthen communication, rebuild trust, manage conflict, and deepen connection. Whether you’re first responders navigating shift work stress, a military couple dealing with deployment, or any couple struggling with relationship conflict or reconnection, Aundrea helps you understand the patterns beneath the surface and build healthier ways of relating. She works well with emotional depth, complexity, and ambivalence, helping you honor each part of your relationship while moving toward greater connection.
Warm, Authentic, Collaborative
Therapy works best when it feels authentic and vulnerable. Aundrea is warm, curious, gentle, insightful, and calm. She’s curious, reflective, and exploratory, preferring open-ended and depth-oriented work. She’s attuned and curiously reflective, helping you feel seen and understood before supporting you in moving toward your chosen path. You’ll collaboratively create treatment goals, celebrate progress, and adjust as needed. This is your process, and Aundrea walks alongside you with skill and genuine care.

Common Questions About Working With Aundrea

I use a trauma-informed, depth-oriented approach that combines EMDR, DBT, ACT, mindfulness skills, and the Gottman Method for couples. My style is warm, curious, gentle, insightful, and calm. I’m curious, reflective, and exploratory, and I prefer open-ended and depth-oriented work rather than protocol-heavy approaches. I’m comfortable sitting with pain without rushing to fix it, explain it away, or force it into positivity. I help you understand yourself more clearly and find meaning. There is a season for everything, and we already carry the strengths we need to move through each one.
Grief is one of my primary specialties. I work with people who are actively grieving a person, role, or relationship that once gave their life shape, as well as those experiencing complicated or unresolved grief. I’m comfortable sitting with pain without rushing to fix it, explain it away, or force it into positivity. Together, we explore what this loss means, how it’s shaped you, and how to honor your grief while finding meaning and moving forward. There is a season for everything, and we already carry the strengths we need to move through each one.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a type of therapy that helps you process difficult experiences and trauma so they no longer have the same emotional intensity. It works with your brain’s natural healing processes to help you feel more grounded and less reactive. EMDR is especially effective for trauma, PTSD, grief, and overwhelming emotions. We work together to remove the shame that often comes with difficult experiences and reconstruct a meaningful narrative that reflects your personal goals and values. See a full breakdown of what EMDR is here.
Yes! I specialize in working with first responders, military personnel, veterans, and their families. My calling to this work is deeply personal. After witnessing the bravery of first responders following the September 11th attacks, I dedicated my life to being of service to those who serve others. Through my professional experience working alongside law enforcement in crisis intervention, I gained firsthand insight into the demands of first responder work, the challenges of keeping families together under stress, the struggles with burnout, and the inner battles that often go unspoken. You’ll be understood without having to explain what others don’t see.
The Gottman Method is a research-based approach to couples therapy that focuses on strengthening communication, managing conflict, rebuilding trust, and deepening emotional connection. I help couples understand the patterns beneath the surface and build healthier ways of relating. Whether you’re first responders navigating shift work stress, a military couple dealing with deployment, or any couple struggling with conflict or reconnection, I work well with emotional depth, complexity, and ambivalence to help you honor each part of your relationship while moving forward.
We begin with a complimentary 10-minute consultation to get to know each other, discuss your needs, identify initial goals, and answer any questions about treatment. If you decide to continue, we’ll collaboratively create treatment goals, schedule regular sessions that suit your availability, and identify the skills and resources you need. Sessions are warm, engaging, and focused on what matters most to you. After every few sessions, we review your treatment plan together, provide feedback, and celebrate your progress.
It depends on your goals and what you’re working through. Some people see significant progress in a few months, especially with focused trauma processing using EMDR. Others benefit from longer-term support, particularly when addressing complex trauma, relationship patterns, or career burnout. We’ll regularly check in on your progress and adjust our approach as needed. The timeline is always based on your needs and goals.
Yes, I accept most major insurance plans including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and others. You can view all accepted insurance here. I also accept cash paying clients.
Yes! Cash paying gives us more freedom in our sessions. They can last longer. It’s especially useful for relationship and marriage sessions that way there is more time for everyone to get the most out of the sessions.
The therapeutic relationship is crucial to healing. I offer a free 10-minute consultation where we can talk about what you’re experiencing, what you’re hoping to gain from therapy, and how I work. This gives us both a chance to see if we’re a good match. There’s no pressure or commitment. It’s simply a conversation to help you make the best decision for yourself or your relationship.

Ready to Take the First Step?

Whether you’re a first responder carrying the weight of difficult calls, a couple struggling with conflict or reconnection, a veteran processing trauma, or someone navigating grief, depression, or searching for meaning, Aundrea creates a warm, authentic, depth-oriented space where you can understand yourself more clearly and move forward. If you serve others in your work, you’ll be understood without having to explain what others don’t see. There is a season for everything, and we already carry the strengths we need to move through each one. You don’t have to face this alone.
Schedule a Free Consultation
Call Us: 559-633-9030

Complimentary 10-minute consultation. Let’s see if we’re the right fit for you.

All inquiries are confidential, and we typically respond within 2-3 business days.

Contact Aundrea

Fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you within 2-3 business days.
All inquiries are confidential.

Crisis Support:

If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or go to your nearest emergency room.
Our practice is not equipped for crisis intervention.