Welcome! We’re so glad you’re here. We’re Kelle and Leah, licensed mental health therapists in Stillwater, MN. We saw a huge need in our community for quality, modern mental health services for the WHOLE family – not just adults, or teens or couples, but for the children and itty bittys in our lives too (we see little ones birth on up!). We also believe that there is no one type of family and want to remove the barriers that have been in place a long time that restricts or prohibits expansive and diverse families. We’re passionate about creating an allied and safe space, where all are welcome.
We are unique in that we take a more holistic approach to mental health. In fact, we really don’t love the whole ‘medical model’ that focuses solely on dysfunction and often loses sight of all the innate resiliencies we have as humans. We wanted to offer something different. Something that marries quality, evidence-based services that work, with a sense of gentleness, trust, authenticity and real-ness. In fact, we believe it’s good to pair our humanness alongside our professional training. Our ability to pair these two allows for us to continue to practice cultural humility, to address our implicit biases and encourage accountability for growth within ourselves and our clients.
For a longgggggg time therapists were supposed to be these ‘blank slates’ devoid of their own feelings and experiences – essentially non-emotive robots that are supposed to help with the wide variety of emotions, struggles and other challenges that those that come through our door experience. This just doesn’t convey an atmosphere of trust and genuineness, nor does it aid in accountability. If you can ‘read us’ then how are you supposed to feel comfortable diving in and doing the work?
It is a priority for us to challenge the stereotype of therapy sessions where the therapist is the ‘expert’ and has a ‘blank slate’ approach with clients. We believe that we are all the experts in our own life, and each of us has our own self healing ability. It’s our job as therapists to support you along the way! We do this through expressing genuine care and emotion, and building a safe and trusting relationship with our clients.
Our ability to connect to one another through the sometimes-shared human experience is what makes us good at our job. We get it, because we’ve also lived it. The reality is, we as the therapists also change in the midst of the therapeutic process. We each impart on each other little bits of wisdom, experience and a lens on how we see the world. It’s how we grow together as a community.
We also live and work in this community. You’ll see us at the store, with our families, our pets, or just moving around town. We really believe mental health stigma should end, and as such we’re putting ourselves out there and being vulnerable and courageous with you.
We’d love for this blog to be about you. What are you needing? What topics feel relevant? What questions do you have? Let us know. We’re listening, and waiting, and want to use this platform to provide for our community.
Whatcha got for us? 😉
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