About Emily Thomas

Emily Haynes Thomas is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with over 20 years of experience in the field. She grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. After High School, Emily became an Aggie at Utah State University, graduating with a degree in Family and Human Development in 1995. After working with a refugee resettlement agency for a few years after college, she decided that she wanted to pursue a degree in marriage and family therapy. Emily graduated with her Master’s Degree from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2002.

Emily has served in both therapy and administrative positions throughout her career. She began her career as a therapist working with adolescents in 2000, initially with boys within the juvenile justice system where she did conduct disorder and attachment related work. Over the course of her career, she went on to work in wilderness treatment, eating disorder residential treatment, and creating an intensive in-patient program for active duty service members and veterans suffering from PTSD and substance abuse. Emily’s passion for working with adolescents and their families brought her to where she is today, specializing in working with complex families, trauma, emerging personality disordered teens, depression, anxiety disorders, adoption, and attachment related issues.

Emily is a “systems thinker.” “Whether I am working with an individual, couple, or family, I always have the family system in mind. If we don’t change the system within which we live (or how we think about it) we will have a difficult time sustaining our individual changes.”

In her home life, Emily enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, step-son, step-daughter, and two chocolate labs. “We love camping and being outdoors. Whether it’s in the camper or on the four wheelers, we just love being in the wilderness.”

Associations

• AAMFT
• UAMFT Board of Directors
• Psychology Today