Kalyn Sanderfer

I'm Kalyn — a licensed therapist (LMSW) with 9 years of experience and a background that started in community organizing and advocacy, not a clinic. That foundation shapes everything about how I work: I take your whole context seriously, not just your symptoms. I went to the University of Michigan for my MSW, and I've spent nearly a decade working with adults navigating anxiety, trauma, chronic illness, grief, identity, and the kind of stress that doesn't show up in a checklist.I work with adults across Michigan via virtual sessions, and I want you to know that I bring my full self to this work — including my own lived experience as a Black woman navigating a world that doesn't always make space for us to fall apart or ask for help.

Therapy with me is collaborative and practical — but "practical" doesn't mean surface-level. I draw from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), somatic approaches, and narrative therapy. That mix lets us work on both what you're thinking and what you're feeling in your body. I don't believe in one-size-fits-all treatment plans. I spend real time understanding how your history, your identity, and your circumstances shape what you're going through — and then we figure out what actually makes sense for you.My approach honors both the mind and the body. I'm not going to hand you a worksheet and call it therapy. We'll go deeper than that — and we'll do it at a pace that feels right for you.

Honesty first: the first session isn't going to fix anything, and I won't pretend it will. What it will do is give us both a real picture of what's going on and what you're hoping to get out of this. I'll ask about your history, what's bringing you in now, and what support has or hasn't worked before. You can share as much or as little as you're ready for — there's no script you need to follow.By the end, we'll have a sense of whether working together feels right, and I'll share some initial thoughts on what we might focus on. Most clients leave that first session feeling like they were actually heard — which, if you've been carrying things quietly for a while, can be a relief in itself.