Kimberly Stratton

I am Kimberly Stratton, a licensed clinical Social Worker and Therapist. I have been working as a Social Worker for 14 years in various settings, including: adults with severe and persistent mental health disorders; teens and adults addicted to substances, hospice/home healthcare; those in mental health crisis, and meeting with adults and couples in a private practice setting. I have worked as a crisis counselor on a crisis line for 6 years, and am familiar with how to best provide clinical help and resources as needed. I have extensive experience with dynamics involved in relationship with friends, family, and partners/spouses. I obtained a Bachelor's in Science at Grand Valley State University in 1999, and began graduate school at Western Michigan University a few years later. I earned a Master's in Social Work in 2004.

I am trained and skilled in providing EMDR therapy for any clients who have experienced trauma in their past, or present. My personal counseling style is one in which my focus is getting to know you and what you are hoping to gain from this experience. I want to acknowledge your courage to begin counseling. I also have a very warm and compassionate style to interacting with clients that comes natural for me. I use a variety of therapeutic interventions with my clients that includes: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Psychotherapy/Psychoanalytic, Mindfulness, Solution Focused Therapy, and aspects of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Staying in touch and being available to you is important to me, and I check messages every day and throughout the week.

I am skilled at assessment techniques, and perform a psycho-social assessment for each client I begin working with. It is important to me to get a glimpse of who I am working with, and information on various aspects of their lives, so I can best support them. The ideal client I would like to work with is one who struggles with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, past trauma, veteran's mental health, family dynamics, women's issues, dynamics involved with couples/marriage, and those who are going through life transitions. I enjoy assisting clients with goal setting, and getting at the barriers they encounter with accomplishing these goals. I have years of experience working with individuals who have symptoms such as suicide ideation and self-harm that is present within the depression they struggle with. I also help individuals get to the root of symptoms of depression and anxiety, and how to best manage these symptoms so they can feel like they are winning in life instead of in a dark hole or crippled by anxiety. I do not view my job as a therapist as "work" because I find so much joy in helping people improve the quality of their lives.

You can expect the first session to be warm and inviting, and I will gather relevant details about you and your life, including the goals you would like to work on, and any barriers you have found to get in the way of accomplishing those goals. My style is informal and conversational, yet professional. We will typically put together a treatment plan by the end of the first session which includes what is most important for you to achieve from this therapeutic experience.