Brooke Landry TLLP, PhD

From infancy, we explore our environments to establish a very critical piece of our development: safety. When our safety is threatened physically, emotionally, and mentally, our body and our mind find ways to protect itself. We may engage in negative self-talk, repress painful memories, or shut ourselves off from others. We may engage in harmful activities that to make us feel invincible. The less we feel supported, seen, or heard, the more painful this all can feel.

For some, entering therapy feels scary and uncomfortable, especially when we are young. With that being said, safety is of utmost importance to me with every client that I have. In this environment, you are the expert of you, and I can accompany you on your journey to a place where you feel heard, validated, and accepted. We can work on developing skills that help affirm this both inside and outside the therapeutic space. While our past may inform our present, it does not determine our future or our ability to achieve peace and stability. 

As a self-identified White heterosexual female, I work daily to understand my role in providing a culturally responsive and inclusive therapeutic experience. We do not exist separately from that of our culture, family, peers, and societal framework; this is true both in and outside of a therapeutic environment. With each client, I uphold values of cultural humility and openness, and I am committed to the lifelong journey of cultural competency. Adopting a more integrative approach, I am passionate about incorporating several modalities into my sessions with my clients. This includes Psychodynamic interventions, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Emotion-Focused Therapy, Mindfulness strategies, and more. For children and adolescents, I am comfortable incorporating Child-Centered Play and Art Therapy to encourage self-expression, identity development, emotional intelligence, family support, etc. With all ages, I utilize a Person-Centered and Strengths-Based therapeutic approach that focuses on empathy, active-listening, and unconditional positive regard.

I am passionate about working with children, adolescents, and their families. So much of who we are is informed by our early childhood experiences and our attachments with our family members. I believe we can work together to identify the strengths in the current family structure and use that as our solid base for support and growth. I have experience working with adjustment-related disorders, anxiety disorders, selective mutism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), LGBTQ+ children and adolescents, depression, grief, childhood trauma, post-traumatic stress disorders, and family/relationship issues. 

Currently, I am a PhD Candidate in the Counseling Psychology PhD program at Wayne State University. My research interests include early childhood development, parent-child relationships and their influence on development, community-based research methods, and racial socialization. I have recently defended my dissertation, which analyzed the ways in which White parents are discussing race and culture with their children and the affective factors that influence those strategies. I am projected to graduate with my PhD in Fall 2023. I am passionate about my current and future work as a clinician, scholar, advocate, and educator in this field. I am very excited to be providing short- and long-term therapy at Mala Child and Family Institute.