Kiera Dressler-Reed, LLMSW

There are so many good ones to choose from, but here are a few of my favorites:

• “We cannot shame ourselves into change. We can only love ourselves into evolution.”

• “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

• “Pain travels through families until someone is willing to feel it.”

• “Don’t stop before the miracle happens.”

I’m forthcoming about the fact that I benefitted dramatically from mental health services as a young and highly anxious child. I believe in the power of therapy because of my own lived experience and how I was able to reap the benefits of it myself. Now, I am passionate about paying the amazing gifts of therapy forward to the next young person who needs it.

Being able to bear witness to the experiences of another person is a true privilege. Creating a space where someone feels safe enough to be unapologetically themselves and to speak freely from the heart, regardless of how messy our lives or thoughts may be, is an honor. The reality is that sometimes true growth is a slow and non-linear process, but leaving work knowing I made someone feel seen and heard is what makes me want to do this work every day.

Therapy is such a powerful tool, and the more you attend, the more you realize how much there is left to explore. It’s a constant process of learning and unlearning, but it’s some of the most important work you’ll ever do because your greatest project in this life is yourself. Like peeling back layers of an onion, with each layer you grow more and more into the most authentic version of you. More often than not, you learn that some of the burden you’ve been carrying all this time is not your weight to bear. Maybe it's time to lighten the load?

Much of the media portrays therapists as total blank slates, but in reality, we are two people connecting through our shared human experience. We’re going to laugh, and cry, and be lovingly challenged. I care deeply about creating a space where someone feels safe enough to be unapologetically themselves and to speak freely from the heart, regardless of how messy our lives or thoughts may be. The reality is that growth can be slow and non-linear, but I hope to consistently make my clients feel safe and accepted throughout the process. I know that therapy is not one-size-fits-all, and so I take an integrative approach that utilizes aspects of multiple evidence-based practices. Much of my therapeutic work is skills-based, involving helping clients learn how to effectively cope with emotional distress or intrusive thoughts, and to strengthen these skills over time in order to remain resilient despite life’s obstacles.

I want you to know that you are exactly as you are supposed to be at this moment in time. You aren’t meant to have all the answers or have it all figured out, and it’s perfectly okay that you don’t. Your voice, opinions, and feelings matter regardless of your age. You deserve a space where you feel seen and understood. I am never going to get mad at you, scold you, or shame you for anything you do or say in therapy. It’s nothing I haven’t seen, heard, or done before. You are so loved and needed, regardless of what difficulties you are dealing with. I hope you never dim your spark, but if you do, let’s help you rediscover it.

I center my practice on the belief that (barring a few exceptions) people intuitively have in them what is needed to live the life they desire. We enter this world imperfectly perfect, but then life starts life-ing and societal pressures start pressuring, and we lose that natural belief in ourselves and that we are exactly as we’re supposed to be. One thing I’m certain of is that we are more alike than we are different. We all want to feel loved, accepted and understood. To bring it back to one of my favorite quotes, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

I care deeply about helping others become catalysts for stopping generational trauma. Together, my clients and I explore childhood messages and formative experiences to gain a better understanding of why they are the way that they are, what messages they want to unlearn, and how to support their inner child moving forward. I’m also passionate about the intersection between addiction, trauma, and genetic predispositions; and using this knowledge to support those struggling with substance use disorder or other addictive tendencies.