Cherie L. Spehar
Like you, when seeking out any health practitioner, I want to have a good sense of what the person is like. How do they interact? What might it be like to work with that person? How will they treat me? While a good provider relationship is always valuable, finding an exceptional connection with the person who is going to share the most important aspects of your personal growth is even moreso.
With that in mind, I’d like to give you a snapshot of what you get when we meet. You will be enveloped in a haven of extraordinary personalized support, woven with an abundance of authenticity, compassion, warmth, and connection. Your Whole Self will be given special attention — mind, physical health, spirit, emotions. You will never find me acting as the expert on your life; instead, we are Partners in the Process. Therapy is really about a learning process, after all. You teach me about you and your life, and I can help you learn how to unlock the tools that already exist inside you, nurture them to life, help heal past hurts, find perspective while in the midst of your current pain, and help cope with all those emotions that tumble down around you. With your expertise on your family, and my years of experience and knowledge, we collaborate together to create the most highly do-able, individualized and creative plan to help you reach your goals.
You may have heard or read about an “integrative therapist” — one who is adept at utilizing a diverse variety of therapeutic interventions to help each unique person reach their fullest potential. As an Integrative Practitioner, I utilize this framework, and while it is true that certain types of therapies often work better for some issues than others, my therapeutic approach is truly individualized and highly creative. We will draw from not only what best practices indicate could be helpful for you, but what YOU say might work well for you. Though I may sometimes ask you to reach outside of your comfort zone, the way we walk the therapeutic path will be custom fit for your unique and magnificent self. Often, we combine interventions to create something brand new!
In my work with children, I have been a Play Therapist since 1996. I am the same “me” with your little ones, though slightly sillier and perhaps even more nurturing. It is important to know that child therapy will always include work with a parent or the entire family. Healing a child’s heart requires their most loved ones to walk their path with them, so we will do a combination of individual and family work utilizing the most connection-oriented approaches in existence for you and your child. These include Expressive Therapies, Filial Therapy, Connection Parenting, and Child-Parent-Relationship Therapy/Training (CPRT), as well as Contextual Family Therapy, Attachment Family Therapy to name a few. I am especially dedicated to working with children from ages 11-18.
Every family I’ve worked with, and indeed every person I have ever met, has taught me something that I incorporate into a therapeutic blessing. Simply stated, to share the path with you as you walk through the dark times is my deepest honor.
Did you know? Smiling Spirit Pathways is a nationally recognized and award-winning Trauma-Informed Treatment and Training Center.
