The road to running a private practice has been a long and winding one.
Some days I look back in astonishment at how many different jobs I’ve had and how each one challenged, grew, and shaped me. It’s not actually the jobs that impacted me – it’s the clients. It’s always been about the people.
For me, therapy is about the relationship between therapist and client. It’s about the safety created between them – the care given, the witnessing offered, the acceptance reflected. I’ve always believed that people change within relationship. That’s why therapy is so powerful. And that’s why I’m so good at what I do. I excel at building connection and helping people feel seen and loved.
I also firmly believe that while I have skills and techniques to teach, it is you – and only you – who knows what’s best.
All the wisdom, guidance, and direction you need is already within you. It’s just sometimes covered up by years of trauma and unhealthy patterning, negative beliefs and false narratives. Most of my clients come to me unable to access their own inner navigation system. So, we excavate together. We get curious about what’s getting in the way. We tend to wounds and process painful memories. We heal, layer after layer after layer.
If you asked me what kind of therapy I do, I’d tell you it was integrative and intuitive.
Meaning, I draw from a number of modalities and I trust my own nudges. I’m trained as a systemic therapist – that’s primarily what being a Marriage and Family Therapist is – which means I understand that everyone is part of and impacted by a larger system (many systems, in fact). Systems ranging from your family of origin to your current community to broader, older paradigms of patriarchy, capitalism, and religion.
I also draw a great deal from narrative, experiential, and somatic therapies, internal family systems and parts work, and I’m trained in EMDR. In addition to trusting my own inner guidance in therapy, I also enjoy utilizing intuitive-based tools in session like visualization/meditation, essential oils, and oracle cards.
I specialize in working with women and primarily focus on individuals though I do keep a small number of couples on my caseload.
I have extensive training in couples and family work and so relationships are often a focus. Other areas of focus include divorce, trauma, religious trauma and deconstruction, attachment, anxiety and depression, life transitions, and parenting. If you asked me what I help the majority of my clients with, I would say – trusting themselves. It sounds simple and maybe a tad trite but it’s the probably the most essential skill we can learn. And it often takes a great deal of work, practice, and healing to get there.
It’s so worth it though. I can’t put into words the experience of journeying with clients who do get there. The freedom they feel. The groundedness they experience. The way they’re able to ask for what they need and tend to their own wounded parts. The ease with which they set boundaries and keep their commitments to themselves. The times they come home to themselves, over and over and over again.
This work is so important to me because it’s work I’ve done and continue to do myself.
I’m on this journey too, and it’s my clients who inspire me to keep growing, learning, stretching, and healing. I love being a therapist. It’s truly the most fulfilling work I could imagine doing. I’m deeply honored when someone chooses me to walk alongside them. I look forward to journeying with you too.
Kristine is licensed in both Michigan and Indiana.