Grief Therapists in Montana

I am bringing to you the best of my knowledge, skills, training, and experience of over 40+ years in direct care in the mental health field and my commitment to support you in your healing journey through a spiritual approach. My journey in integrating Christian spirituality in therapy has been a growing process since childhood, and I find that the deepest meaning, understanding, and peace clients find is when they can touch into their spirituality to make meaning of life's challenges, disappointments, wounds, but also celebrate and appreciate their achievements and resolutions of past challenges. I am here to support you in this process through the skillful use of counseling, various methods and theories of healing, and constant compassion for your challenges.

Hello, I'm Mary. Something I find myself saying often is: "it's hard to be human." Life brings so many ups and downs, and our own histories, genetics, circumstances, life events, etc. can impact how we find ourselves functioning from day to day. I am passionate about helping clients discover the tools and frameworks that work for them to meet their own identified goals for their life and decreasing the emotional intensity of symptoms causing barriers to meeting those goals. In 2010, I graduated from the University of Georgia with a Master’s of Social Work and earned my license to practice independently in 2013. I received my Bachelor's of Science in Family & Child Sciences at Florida State University in 2005 and my Doctor of Philosophy in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University in 2017. (A bit of a random PhD, I know...my dissertation research was about the relationship between social identity and emotional well-being for service members and veterans in the context of community reintegration.)

I feel that clients shouldn't have to be in therapy forever! While co-creating this process with you, I strive to balance my active listening with imparting active, hands-on techniques to help you reclaim your narrative and overcome obstacles in your path. I feel it's about more water rather than less soda, so to speak, and take both a clinical and holistic approach to helping you enhance alignment and experience deeper fulfillment in your journey. Along with my LCSW, I am trained in EMDR, certified in Theta Healing, Reiki, Transformational Life Coaching, and Therapeutic Touch, and Master Practitioner certified in Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnotherapy, and Time Line Therapy. I feel I provide a safe space where shame and judgements are left at the door, and we will explore your wants, needs, and feelings with curiosity and compassion. I feel it's very much a co-created process, as you know more about you than I ever will. The work is also far more about our uncovering your truth than you adopting mine. With that said, I have a wide array of modalities and approaches I feel I have quite dialed in, and we can collaboratively determine which tools and approaches best suit your needs. My hope is that our work together will help you feel not only hear and validated, but also empowered and aware of how to eat the elephant on your own going forward. I see this work as us walking side by side, with you gradually taking the lead with me supportively in your corner. If you have something pressing you wish to discuss in session, that will always take precedence. My job is ultimately to actively listen and hold space. With that said, if that's all I was doing, you'd inevitably say, "Robby, you're a nice guy. But I don't know how much we're actually getting done." To that end, I feel it's far more important to determine HOW you think rather than WHAT you think. So it tends to be important for us to explore unconscious limiting beliefs and emotions along with the conscious. You can also expect to learn clear and concise action steps (ranging from mindfulness exercises to creative writing prompts to holistic practices like meditation and breathwork) to help you regulate your emotions and reclaim your narrative. I feel that many people are hesitant to engage in therapy because they perceive a stigma tied to seeking support. After all, the notion of "mentally ill" does have a negative connotation. The way I see it, though the process is not about fixing a broken thing, but rather enhancing one's alignment and fulfillment (and okay, yes, also confronting obstacles to those pieces). But if the focus is on "Where am I trying to get to and how will I know that I got there?" where our work is to simply close the gap between here and there, it can help us leave shame and judgements at the door, and perhaps even enable you to look forward to increased awareness and empowerment in your journey forward.