Mission
I began Lycan Counseling with the vision of working to build a community where young people feel their voices matter, where they have access to support to navigate challenging transitions, and where they can build fulfilling lives.
With Lycan Counseling, my mission is to provide wellness services that help to foster hope and empower area youth and young adults to create change.
Walk through my views and goals to accomplish this mission below.
Fostering Hope: Feeling that we have the ability and determination to get through difficult experiences are key to hope. Yet, there are times that deciding to take that first step is hard. I understand that unique challenges require individualized solutions.
My goal is to provide that support by cultivating a diverse network of providers who are willing to walk with you on your path, give you the tools and skills necessary to face barriers, and encourage you to take the next step toward your goals.
Empowerment: Too often we feel that we do not have power and control over our situation. We feel we cannot speak out and, even if we could, we are not enough to enact the changes necessary to have a life worth living. My goal is to help you tap into your power and walk beside you as an equal, NOT as someone with power over you. I am dedicated to creating spaces that are safe and accessible, and to connecting you to other resources that you can lean on throughout your journey.
Empowerment also requires one to take an approach that focuses on the wellness of the individual within the community at large. The most important way I work toward this goal is by continuously working to build community connection so that I can better understand the actual needs of members of marginalized communities such as LGBTQIA2+, disabled, BBIPOC, and neurodivergent young people.
Creating Change: Mental health challenges continue to carry stigma and are often seen as an illness or sickness that requires a cure or individual change. This is often not true. When we have normalized responses to events, this is NOT sickness. When we struggle to be okay within community systems that are designed to sustain oppression, WE ARE NORMAL. Systemic problems can create long-term difficulty for people that we call illness, but that word is kind of like passing the buck to the individual’s struggle and away from the system.
I believe that creativity plays a huge role in maintaining wellness and finding success. If we can be vulnerable, we can move through the hard things. Sometimes creative approaches looks like thinking outside of the box and sometimes like using art and music. My goal is to work toward changes in the way we view mental and emotional wellness by utilizing these creative approaches to demonstrate the power of meeting needs through expression, vulnerability, and connection.
