Built for the Whole Person, From the Ground Up
Lea M. Roman is a licensed therapist, neurodivergent and queer human, and founder of Amethyst Holistic Counseling, a California-based practice built on the belief that healing has to be whole. Her approach is attachment-based and family systems oriented, meaning she doesn't just look at what's happening now. She looks at where it came from: early caregivers, lived identity, systemic forces, the full and layered picture of a person. Her practice is feminist, queer and neurodivergent-affirming, and explicitly built for people who have spent too long in spaces that weren't made for them. Amethyst Holistic Counseling opened in 2025, and it needed a website that could hold all of that without shrinking any of it.
The Mission
Lea came to me with a logo and a vision she felt deeply but couldn't yet see. What she needed was a website that could carry that energy into a full digital presence, one that would feel as warm and human as she is, while making space for the full scope and specificity of her practice. The challenge with therapy websites is that most of them look like therapy websites. Clinical, soft, predictable. Stock photo of a couch. Some copy about a safe space. A booking button. Lea's practice is none of those things, and her site couldn't be either.
Services
Website Strategy
Squarespace Web Design & Development
The Outcome
What we built is unlike anything else in the therapy space. The site opens with a JavaScript-powered animated intro: floating botanical illustrations and gemstone elements that drift across the screen before settling into place. From there, the site unfolds through animated sections, crystal and botanical illustrations, and a values marquee that runs bold and unapologetic—Protect Black and Brown Lives, Fat-Affirming, Queer-affirming, Sex Positive—front and center, exactly where they belong. Because for Lea's ideal clients, seeing those words is the moment they know they've found the right person.
The Impact
Lea launched with a site that doesn't just describe her practice, it demonstrates it. Prospective clients can feel her approach before they ever read a word of copy. The people she's built this for—neurodivergent adults, queer folks, people who have been dismissed or misunderstood by other providers—can see themselves reflected in the design itself. That kind of alignment between brand and service isn't accidental. It's the whole point.
Website Strategy
With four pages total (Home, About, Offerings, and Contact) the site is intentionally lean. That wasn't a limitation, it was a decision. Lea's clients are often navigating a lot, and the last thing they need when they land on a therapy website is to feel overwhelmed before they've even made contact. Every page has a clear job, and nothing exists just to fill space.
Booking is handled personally by Lea rather than through an automated system, and that's reflected in the site too. There's no third-party scheduler embedded in the flow; instead, visitors are guided gently toward getting in touch, which keeps the experience human and relational from the very first interaction. A blog is also planned, giving Lea a place to expand on the topics and ideas that inform her work without forcing them to fit into a services page. It's a smart content layer that will grow with her practice over time.
Front End Design
The visual starting point was the logo, and everything grew outward from there. The existing mark had a soft, wellness-forward aesthetic that already set Lea apart from the clinical look of most therapy practices. Our job was to honor that foundation while building something expansive enough to evolve with her.
The color palette was developed directly from the logo's existing tones, then extended deliberately to give Lea room to move. The goal with any palette we build is to create something dynamic -- a system that feels cohesive but never rigid. Think of it as a box with windows and doors: the boundaries are there, but they're easy to move through. Typography followed the same logic, with heading choices that complement the logo's personality and body fonts selected for legibility and warmth.
The illustrations were the element that took this site somewhere truly different. The animated intro -- crystals and botanicals floating across the screen before the page settles -- had been a technique waiting for the right project, and Lea's site was it. The crystal imagery tied naturally to the brand name and the collage-style layering throughout was inspired in part by the aesthetic language of brands like Chani Nicholas, which Lea admired. What resulted is a site that feels more like a curated editorial space than a standard service website. Dynamic, layered, full of personality -- which is exactly what therapy websites almost never are, and exactly what Lea's practice deserved.
The Results
Lea hasn't just been happy with the site, she's been blown away. The collaboration went so well that she came back to expand the project, bringing us in to develop her print collateral including business cards and branded notepads. That kind of continuation is its own kind of metric. It means the work landed, and it means the trust is there to keep building.
Amethyst Holistic Showcase
"Alex is a delight to work with. We aren't even finished with my projects and I had to write this review ASAP as she deserves all of the praise and recognition. She upholds values that really align with my branding, championing diversity and the full spectrum of the human spirit. Her creativity is a gift, especially for those of us who have trouble translating ideas into tangible realities. I am so grateful that she has helped me to craft the vision for my website and branding that I have dreamed of."
— Lea Roman, Psychotherapist
Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸
Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸ Ready to Get Started? ✸ Get in Touch Today ✸