Helping people along life’s journey with Christian based mental health services in the Tri-Cities

Meet Our Richland Staff

Emmaus Clinical Staff

Robert "BJ" Olson MS, LMHC, Executive Director

BJ is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who graduated from Central Washington University with a Masters in Counseling Psychology Degree in 1999. He is a Child Mental Health Specialist and has specialized training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Illness Management and Recovery, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and SYMBIS Marital Assessment. He has worked in a variety of mental health counseling settings including psychiatric hospital, jail, group home, and rehabilitation facility working with homeless, schools, and workplace issues. BJ is an Ordained Minister and also serves at Richland Baptist Church as the Pastoral Care Counselor. He joined Emmaus Counseling Center in 2005, serving as Clinical Director until assuming the position of Executive Director in 2014. He continues to see clients part-time including children age 4 and up, adults, couples and families.

Lisa Lovejoy MA, LMHC, NCC

Lisa is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who has worked with the chronically mentally ill in the community and in their homes. She joined Emmaus Counseling Center in 2012. She specializes in working with individuals with trauma backgrounds, depression, anxiety, grief and more. She is trained in Gottman method therapy, working with couples to restore broken marriages, lack of trust in relationships or within families, or for anyone who would like to just learn to communicate more effectively. Lisa has a passion for people and has been called to restore hope and direction for those who seek help. She is also trained to provide Critical Incident Stress Debriefing for individuals and groups of people where there has been a crisis of any magnitude. Lisa will see individuals age ten and older.

Steve Peck MS MDiv LMHC

Steve is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with a Masters in Counseling Psychology, a Masters in Divinity, and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from MARS Hill Graduate School. He joined Emmaus Counseling Center in 2006. Since 2007, he has also worked full time at Lourdes Counseling Center on the PACT Team providing services for individuals with severe and persistent mental health issues. Prior to his work as a counselor, Steve had a 28-year career as an engineer, manager and consultant. He sees adults, adolescents, children (age 4 and up) and couples with anxiety, mood disorders, psychosis or relationship issues. He works to help clients develop insight into their issues to allow effective changes in how they think and live, and to develop coping skills to support the changes clients want to achieve.

Karen Brashear MSW, LICSW

Karen is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker. She has training and experience in art therapy, play therapy, grief and loss, anxiety, depression, and codependency therapy. Karen works in Brief Interventions, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Family Systems. She works with clients to focus on strengths, collaborative goal setting, developing new thought patterns, and learning skills. This approach is conducted while upholding Christian values and beliefs. These varied therapeutic approaches are integrated to help clients maintain mental health and overcome barriers that clients have faced in their lives.

Jamie Brault MEd, LMHC

Jamie is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who graduated with a Master of Education in Community Counseling degree in 2009 from Washington State University after earning her undergraduate degree from Seattle Pacific University in Psychology. She rejoined Emmaus in October 2018 after taking some time off to adopt her second child (both international adoptions). She was recently accepted into a 9 month certificate program which focuses on trauma-focused narrative therapy through The Allender Center at The Seattle School. Jamie is a Child Mental Health Specialist and has been trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), an evidence based training from The Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress (formally the Harborview Sexual Assault Center) through the University of Washington. Jamie has experience in community mental health working with children, teenagers and adults. At this time, she will be seeing clients age 8 and up. She is also trained in the “Prepare and Enrich” premarital counseling program. She works with individuals with a specific focus on addressing depression, anxiety and trauma recovery. She takes a strength based goal oriented approach along with offering a space for your story to be told as a way to facilitate healing.

Caleb Peck MS LMFT

John Simpkin MSW, LICSW

Rollie Snider MA, LMHC

Rollie works at both Richland and Walla Walla locations.

Rollie is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who began practicing in Tacoma in 1992, joining Emmaus Counseling in 2016. His prior work includes directorship of an outreach and school for at-risk children and their families, extensive teaching and business experience, and teaching and preaching in support of local churches. His training includes Seminary and Pastoral Counseling and SYMBIS certified for pre-marital counseling. Rollie views counseling as forming an alliance with his clients by not only exploring the specific problems which bring a client to counseling, but also taking a crucial in-depth look at the nature of relationships in a client’s life – past and present – and how those relationships affect their life in the present. He enjoys helping people from a wide-variety of backgrounds and age groups with a special interest ministering to men and men’s issues, as well as pre-marital and marriage counseling. Rollie will see clients age 13 and older.

Cynthia Marquez, Christian Counselor

Heather Belts, Student Intern

Heather Belts is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling at the University of Cumberlands. She has been a crisis counselor with Crisis Text Line since 2016 and has worked with Because People Matter to provide emotional support and basic resources to the homeless community.
While Heather enjoys working with people from all walks of life, she has a special interest in trauma work, anxiety, ADHD, and grief. She is looking forward to getting a chance to work with children and try out play therapy, which she learned in school. Heather prefers a person-centered approach and believes that through client-therapist collaboration, the client can be empowered to increase self-compassion and acceptance, find new ways to handle hard situations, and better understand how their thoughts and feelings impact their behavior. She is open to seeing clients of all ages.
In her free time, Heather enjoys photography, snowboarding and going on hikes with her Australian Shepherd.

Emmaus Administrative Staff

Frances-anne Hiemstra, Office Assistant

Frances-anne joined Emmaus Counseling Center in July of 2019. She has been active in non-profits in our community, most recently as the Central Office Manager of the Tri-Cities Food Bank, and has many years volunteering with school and music related organizations throughout the Tri-Cities. Her duties at Emmaus include client intake and scheduling, client billing, insurance verification, medical records, and other support as needed.

Susan Birney, Office Assistant

Susan joined Emmaus Counseling Center in 2016 as Office Assistant and Receptionist. Prior to joining The Center, she was employed at Hanford as a secretary. She has also worked as vacation relief for the Administrative Assistant at West Side Church where she has attended since 1989. Her duties at Emmaus include: receptionist and front desk tasks, client intake and scheduling, client reminder phone calls, insurance verification, chart processing and filing, and providing other support as needed

Main Office Hours:

Mon- Thurs 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Fri 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Other times available by appointment.

Contact Us:

1-509-946-1430
1-844-375-3929
Fax 509-946-1432
1124 Stevens Drive Richland, WA 99354