Kate Friesner

Kate is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, specializing in trauma-informed therapy, adolescent distress, attachment issues, couple's work, adoption, mood disorders, family dynamics, grief, relationships, parenting skills, anxiety, depression, women’s issues, spirituality, emotion regulation, and other life stressors.

She completed her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Sociology at Houghton College in upstate New York and returned to Minnesota to earn her Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul. She is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and is a Prepare/Enrich facilitator.

Kate is especially interested in attachment and narrative therapy and the way our sense of belonging and connectedness affect the stories we live by, influencing all of our relationships starting at birth and echoing into our adult relationships. She is grateful for the opportunity to share in the stories of people’s lives and help them identify and succeed in the improvements they wish to make in their ongoing stories.

I approach therapy from a neurobiological lens, incorporating attachment, narrative and cognitive behavioral approaches, while also utilizing the concept "what happened to you"--as in, what is your history, story, and the ongoing impact of what you have been through, rather than approaching mental health through a pathological "what's wrong with you?" mindset.

I like to use the first session to ask the basic questions of "Why are you here and what do you hope to get out of therapy?" I try to connect in that first session to be sure that we are a good fit for working together. If you feel safe and comfortable to move forward, then we will work towards developing a treatment plan/goals for our work together.