Welcome, I’m Katey!

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #3087 in MN

Born to be a therapist?

People often ask me how and when I knew I wanted to become a therapist. Looking back, I can see evidence from around 5-7 years old. My fascination and curiosity of people’s stories was obvious. You see, while most other little kids dreamed of being a doctor, dancer, or sports player when they grow up my dream job was either to be a 911 operator or police detective. Both of these ideas were influenced by my favorite tv shows during that time Rescue 911 and America’s Most Wanted (this one I still watch today).

I also believe it ran in my genes. My dad was a teacher until he retired and he loved helping people learn. My friends and family will tell you I’m constantly learning something whether by reading or researching answers to questions. So, the fit with being a therapist isn’t a stretch.

On the other hand, from my mom I inherited this quality where I’m able to put people at ease where they feel comfortable pretty quickly. My mom and I have laughed a lot about her stories during the years when she worked in a cafeteria as a cashier. She worked in the line where workers would buy their food and her interactions with people were only a few minutes long. But, a funny thing about that. Somehow, she would come home knowing all of these details about their lives from stories about their children to vacations they had planned. Throughout my life, I have heard people say similar things about me the funniest being, “You have one of those faces that just makes me want to spill my guts.”

Finding My Direction

I’ll be the first to admit I had a hard time settling on a career choice. I enrolled in college, took a break from college, enrolled again, took another break, and took random jobs I was passionate about in between. The job that opened my eyes the most and pointed me further toward the direction of therapy was working at a shelter. My position included being at the shelter with the families and three days a week I would come to do after school activities with the kids.

One day will forever stand out in my mind. I couldn’t tell you what we had been working on, but one kid was drawing a picture that included their family. But, as I looked closer I could see the child had drawn another person in the picture in front of them holding a gun. I had NO idea what to do or say and this child proceeded to tell me the week prior they had been held up by gun point and robbed only blocks from the shelter. This child was young. If I had to pick the moment, I knew I wanted to do therapy I would say that was it. I still think about that child often, I can still recall the child’s name, and I wonder where the child is today.  I next enrolled in Metropolitan State University to finish out my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Right after I finished that degree, I headed to Adler Graduate School to finish my Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy.

I’ve had my owns bumps and curves in this thing called life

Sometimes life has its own way of doing things. And either you can roll with what it brings or do everything you can to fight back. It can be like watching a scary movie where you are sitting there laser focused on what’s about to happen. Then, BAM out of nowhere someone comes up and scares you from behind. Let me ask you something. . .

Can you name the worst or perhaps the most influential day, week, month, or year of your life? My guess is your answer is Yes. And, I am no different. For me that year was 2017.

I had dealt with grief in different shapes and forms since I was a kid. In fact, by 2017 I would say I had been very used to grief being in my life. In that year, however, I learned how terrorizing and chaotic it can really be. The highest ups and lowest lows all within a few minutes, hours, or days. In 2017, I was changed and I knew it and could feel it. For a while, I’ll be honest I questioned if I ever would do this profession again. With time, however, I realized grief and life had led me to exactly where I had always wanted to go. Back to working with clients like you through the worst experiences life hands us. I am thankful I sought help from a therapist like myself interested in having my back and walking through the muck with me. I am thankful I took time and became reinvested in the field of therapy. My personal experiences have made me more empathetic, wiser, and vulnerable to others in ways I never would have known had not lived through it.