Brain Body Therapy
About Us
Brain Body Therapy Group is comprised of practitioners who are passionate about providing a safe space for clients to explore challenges and struggles they are experiencing. We offer individual, couple/relationship, family, and group sessions based on specific need. Our practitioners work with a variety of populations including children, adolescents, and adults.
Areas of specialty include, but are not limited to, trauma, anxiety, depression, addiction and recovery, anger management, behavioral challenges, grief and loss, parenting, family/relationship conflict, self esteem, suicidal ideation, and emotional distress.
What we offer
Services
Individual therapy sessions are for children, adolescents, and adults. These sessions can meet a variety of needs depending on the client's situation.
Couple/relationship sessions are for any two people in a close relationship. With the help of a therapist you can gain insight into your relationship, resolve conflict, and improve relationship satisfaction utilizing a variety of therapeutic interventions.
Family therapy sessions are for all or some members of a family unit. The specific goals and interventions will depend on each family's situation. Family therapy can be useful in any family situation that causes stress, grief, anger or conflict.
Group therapy is centered on a specific need and some of the topics we focus on are addiction & recovery, parenting, and relationships. Brain Body Therapy Group provides different group opportunities and you may contact our practice to find out more about current groups.
Reiki is a holistic, safe, natural healing technique that uses energy force to reduce stress and anxiety and encourage relaxation that benefits body, mind and spirit. You may contact our practice to learn more about Reiki sessions.
What we provide
Our areas of specialty
Trauma
Do you find you struggle with upsetting emotions, memories, or anxiety that won't go away? Often times trauma reactions include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect.
Addiction and Recovery
Addiction is difficult to live with and learning how to heal can seem impossible. If you or someone you love is struggling with drugs, alcohol, shopping, gambling, eating or any other type of addiction, we're here to help.
Anxiety
Do you have trouble sleeping or lie awake at night worrying? Do you often feel overwhelmed? Are you have difficulties concentrating and focusing? If this sounds familiar, we can help.
Teletherapy sessions
We offer teletherapy sessions via a HIPAA compliant secure platform, that allows our therapists to be able to see clients located anywhere in the state of Michigan.
We are here to help
Meet our Team
ASHLEY OUTMAN-BOHNE MA, LPC, CAADC
KIM HAYWARD MA, LPC, SCL
KATHY PIECUCH MA, LPC, CAADC, MITS
SARAH TAKACS LMSW
DANIELLE KRIENGSAK-OBHAS MA, LPC, CAADC
JUSTICE SPEARRITT LMSW, CAADC, ADS
MICHELLE SIMMONS LMSW, CRC, ADS
BRITANY VANCE LPC
BRIAN HARRISON LMSW-C, CAADC
KEVIN KERSHAW LLPC
JOSH CARVER LMSW
ELIZABETH MCGEE MA, LPC, CADC
EMMA STINSON MA, LPC, NCC
AUBRIE CASE LLPC
STEPHANIE MURPHY LMSW
CRAIG BOLTHOUSE MSW INTERN
JANELLE TURNER CERTIFIED REIKI MASTER
AMY PRADNA-WAUGAMAN MA, LLC, LLMFT
STEPHEN WEAVER LLMSW
RAPHAEL JOHNSON LLPC
MEGAN VANDENBOSS LLMSW
KARLA KAUFFMAN LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPIST
"Where you look affects how you feel"
What is Brainspotting?
Developed by Dr. David Grand in 2003, Brainspotting is based upon the idea that what’s going on inside our brain is directly related to where we focus our eyes. To quote Dr. Grand, “where you look affects how you feel”.
As a focused treatment technique, Brainspotting aims to alleviate negative experiences caused by traumatic memories as well as help reduce symptoms of many issues clients struggle with, including but not limited to anxiety, depression, addiction and grief. Brainspotting.com states: "Brainspotting works with the deep brain and the body through its direct access to the autonomic and limbic systems within the body’s central nervous system. Brainspotting is accordingly a physiological tool/treatment which has profound psychological, emotional, and physical consequences."
Brainspotting taps into the body’s innate ability to heal in order to reduce and eliminate the impact of unresolved trauma, negative beliefs, and emotional distress.
How Does Brainspotting Work?
Brainspotting posits that certain eye positions relate to specific emotions or traumatic memories. It is believed that stimulating a Brainspot taps into a person’s natural ability to self-heal, essentially moving the memory from one part of the brain, the limbic brain, to another, the cerebral cortex, where it can be processed, rather than sit stuck as is what happens with unresolved traumas/issues. Finding the brainspot, along with a Brainspotting therapist holding the dual attunement frame, helps the client find healing from these unresolved traumas/issues.
Who Does Brainspotting work with?
Whether this is your first time seeking therapy, or you have been in therapy before and are seeking a therapist with new techniques, Brainspotting can work for you.
Brainspotting is effective for a wide variety of emotional and somatic conditions. Brainspotting is particularly effective with trauma-based situations, helping to identify and heal underlying trauma that contributes to anxiety, depression and other behavioral conditions. It can also be used with performance and creativity enhancement. Brainspotting gives the therapist access to both brain and body processes. Its goal is to bypass the conscious, neocortical thinking to access the deeper, subcortical emotional and body-based parts of the brain.
What does a Brainspotting session look like?
In a typical Brainspotting session, a client will bring up an "issue" they are struggling with to some degree. The therapist will ask the client to share a little bit about the issue and where they notice "activation" in their body, such as tension in their hands, tightness in their chest, hard to swallow, etc., when speaking or thinking about that issue in that current moment. The client is then asked to notice the intensity level of this activation using a scale of 0-10. The therapist then holds a pointer and slowly guides it across the client's field of vision. When a certain point seems to bring up that stressful memory or evoke an uncomfortable or painful physical response, the therapist encourages the client to focus on that spot and notice what "comes up" in the brain and body while remaining focused on that spot. The therapist and client will process through the experience at the end of the session.
This is just a snapshot of a "typical" Brainspotting session, as there are many other pieces to this process and your therapist will more fully explain and explore with you.
Finding Peace and Freedom with Brainspotting
Brainspotting allows for true healing in the brain and body. It breaks open the capsule of unresolved past trauma that continues to impact our present. Brainspotting along with living life mindfully, can set you on a course to true peace and freedom.
Our Blog
News & articles
Reiki
Turning the Spotlight on Brainspotting
Mindfulness
The Fine Art of Not Being Offended
Partner with us
Support for therapists
Looking for supervision, an internship, or consultation?
Kathy Piecuch, MA, LPC, CAADC, is a MITS trained supervisor for LLPC's in the state of Michigan. Our practice offers internships to students in counseling programs with future employment opportunities.
Consultation in specialty areas is available.
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