Star Rise Counseling

I am a licensed mental health professional with a master's degree in counseling psychology and over 12 years of counseling experience. In addition to the modalities listed further below, I use a "harm-reduction" approach to support therapeutic use of psilocybin and have cofounded the Psilocybin Assisted Therapy Association. I have created an integrative approach that recognizes all parts of your life as potentially contributing to who you are, how you think, & how you feel. WHAT IS INTEGRATIVE COUNSELING Integrative counseling helps when events from the past are unresolved, you don't feel empowered, or your internal guidance seems silent. Your past can be healed but not forgotten. Even the greatest difficulties can be made useful. Integrative counseling uses the past in such ways as identifying past beliefs, processing trauma, and analyzing the chain of actions and events that led to a certain decision or outcome. Your power is in the present moment. Integrative counseling ultimately focuses you on the point where past and future meet: now. To take inventory of your skills, areas of overdevelopment, and areas to be developed, is to begin finding the balance that grounds you. Your guidance is created by your desired future. You don't have to know specifics about what you want. Being general is more than okay - it's the awareness of your feelings that counts. Clearly you care about creating your life consciously, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Integrative counseling brings in any and all of the tools that are appropriate for your situation, to help you use all you've been through, and all you've thought and felt deeply about, in order to achieve your goals. In this approach, we will work with the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual parts of you, so you can begin to act with integrity to move yourself forward one step after another in the direction that is right for you. MY BACKGROUND IN SERVICE My parents came from service fields: my mother was a nurse and nursing teacher and my father a psychology professor and military veteran. I've spent most of my professional life in service to others, adding my voice to that of those most in need of being heard. Among other places lesser known, I've worked for: the Boys and Girls Club the YWCA Lutheran Social Service Minnesota's Housing Finance Agency's supportive housing division ​My work has included: * 10+ years in non-profit organizations * 5+ years focus on LGBTQ+ community * 5 years working in/with homeless shelters, serving unhoused and formerly unhoused families and individuals * Working with people with serious persistent mental illness in their homes to increase their stability and community integration * Coordinating volunteers and donations in programs assisting formerly unhoused families and individuals (paid and volunteer) * Teaching and tutoring English as a second language (paid and volunteer) * Work with raising funds to send rural Cambodian youth, primarily young women, to college (paid and volunteer) And my time and work continues to be dedicated to service of the underserved, including people and our beloved animal companions. "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” ~ William James