Shujianing holds a Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. She has worked and trained in different clinical settings, including college mental health, psychiatric inpatient, and intensive outpatient programming. She is pursuing a PhD in Counseling Psychology. Shujianing self-identifies as a queer 1.5-generation Chinese American woman. She is passionate about working with individuals from diverse ethnoracial, immigration, and class backgrounds and with different sexual orientations and gender identities. Shujianing believes the best treatment approach is personalized and emerges through equal collaboration with her clients. She often draws inspiration from relational-cultural and emotion-focused frameworks and uses somatic and cognitive-behavioral techniques. Shujianing offers services in English and Mandarin Chinese and will be joining our Golden Valley office.
Welcoming January 15: Student Therapist Kaelyn Dagon
Kaelyn currently is a graduate student at the Saint Mary’s Master’s Counseling and Psychological Services Program. She is working toward becoming a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC). Kaelyn received her bachelors degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She is passionate about working with emerging adults, older adolescents, and professionals in education with a focus on life changes, stress, occupation burnout, goal-setting, performance enhancement, anxiety, and depression. She enjoys working with a diverse population of individuals from different backgrounds and cultures and believes in incorporating one's unique experience into their healing journey. She looks forward to building a safe and welcoming environment where clients are able to build skills in order to achieve their goals. Kaelyn incorporate strategies and concepts from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness based and strength based practices, Narrative Therapy, art therapy, and strengths-based approaches.
In her free time, Kaelyn I enjoys working out, listening to music, watching sports, painting and spending time with family and friends.
Welcoming August 21: Ashley Helgeson
Ashley is currently a graduate student in the Clinical Mental Health program at Minnesota State University Moorhead. She is looking forward to graduating in May (2024) and is currently pursuing licensure in clinical counseling (LPCC). Ashley enjoys using person-centered, strength based and positive psychotherapy and is passionate about working with those who are experiencing depression, anxiety, stress, substance use, and co-dependency. She strives to create a safe, affirming, and non-judgmental environment. She looks forward to working with a diverse group of clienteles and is open to work with children, teens, and adults. Ashley looks forward to helping clients gain insight on how life events can affect one’s approach to life and she hopes to support and empower individuals as they take their next steps into that journey.
Outside of work and school, Ashley enjoys spending time with friends and family. She also enjoys crocheting, rollerblading and getting outside as much as she can during the summer months.
Welcoming in May: Austin Koester
Austin (He / Him) joins us from Saint Mary’s Master’s in Counseling and Psychological Services Program. He is working on becoming a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC). Austin received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from St. John’s University. Currently, Austin works at St. David’s Center for Child and Family Development where he helps to facilitate positive interactions and promote the social development of his clients.
Austin was drawn to the helping profession through his personal experiences and a deep desire to understand emotional processes and healing. He has a passion for emotional healing that improves relationships and the overall quality of daily experiences for each individual and their family.
Austin enjoys working with teens and adults from all walks of life who are experiencing low self-esteem, anxiety, low mood, substance use challenges, and trauma-related symptoms. His goal is to serve others and make a difference as he assists in navigating the life challenges clients may face and aid them in finding wholeness for themselves and in their relationships.
Austin believes that therapy, in part, is taking time to learn “why do I feel the way I feel, and what can I do to change how I feel.” He deems therapy a forward-looking process of what can be done now in order to be more effective in our lives and relationships. His commitment is to have a safe and trusting relationship without judgment and for you to feel heard, understood, and respected. He’s driven by making sure you’re okay, you got what you need, and you are growing into a better version of yourself. He incorporates several approaches to his person-centered counseling, including cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance, commitment therapy, and solution-focused therapy.
In his free time Austin enjoys playing music, reading, running, and spending time with family and friends.
JOINING US IN AUGUST: SONIA COBOS, MS
Sonia (she/her) is passionate about mental health and behavioral science and considers herself privileged to work in this field. Sonia recently completed a Master’s degree in rehabilitation and addiction counseling. Her training was focused on addiction and mental health counseling, including the special needs of individuals living with disability, congenital or acquired.
Sonia takes a holistic and goal-oriented Adlerian approach. Informed by this perspective, Sonia believes that the person’s wholeness or holistic nature is irreducible, therefore considering parts of the personality while ignoring others undermines the understanding of the individual. Sonia likes to apply contextual psychology, family system theory, cognitive behavioral therapy, and motivational interviewing in her practice.
As an immigrant, Sonia is mindful of cultural influences as well as the trauma and generational trauma experienced by the immigrant and first and second generation Americans. She approaches multiculturalism as an enriching opportunity to expand our humanity and grow consciousness.
Sonia’s clinical training is patient centered and non-directive. Sonia’s research during graduate school was in neuroplasticity and the promotion of neurogenesis as part of the therapeutic approach for individuals with addictions and co-occurring mental illness.
Sonia enjoys working with individuals of all ages and backgrounds, and has special interest in helping those who experience addictions, domestic violence, developmental trauma, PTSD, grief and traumatic grief, and patients with long-term disability.
Trade-in Your New Year’s Resolutions for SMARTER Goals This Year
In a normal year, January would be our starting-point for identifying all the changes we want to make in the next 12 months. But this isn’t a normal year, and as a means of coping with the uncertainty and disappointments of 2020, many of us started making our resolution list a little early this year. Birthdays, holidays, and traditions only feel remotely tolerable right now because we are promising ourselves that we will have more memorable ones next year. Similar to promising ourselves we would use that gym membership more, or spend less, or whatever resolution you tend towards, we often find ourselves at great (or even guaranteed) risk of disappointment.
Part of why this happens is because humans have a predisposition towards thinking errors, also known as cognitive distortions, which cause us to struggle to identify what is realistic. One of the hardest cognitive distortions to overcome is referred to as magical thinking, and it can frequently be found masquerading as its healthier counterpart, positive thinking. These two are difficult to distinguish from each other because, fundamentally, they are not all that different. Each side wants things to be better, require belief that all parts involved have the capacity to change, and both can contribute to an optimistic outlook on the horizon. We need to have faith things can be different, and that we can feel different, perhaps now more than ever.
Where positive, or magical, thinking tips over into unhealthy territory is when we set expectations that are impossible to achieve, unintentionally keeping us stuck in unhealthy patterns. When we set these kinds of expectations for ourselves, others, or institutions, we are engaging in what the 12-step community commonly refers to as “premeditated resentments.” We end up building logs of evidence, expectations and failures, compounding hurt and disappointment, increasing our pressure and avoidance of the behaviors needed to succeed. It is, in short, a set-up-to-fail. And no one needs any unnecessary hardship next year. Luckily, there is a better way, and you don’t need therapy to do it.
Some of you might be familiar with SMART goals, which stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Therapists often use this acronym when setting goals and objectives for client treatment plans. If increasing health is a goal, we ask you specifically what you mean by that—how would you measure your success? Is it achievable for you in your given context and circumstance? Do you have evidence you have the capacity to do it at the level you are setting out for, or should we lower the bar just a bit to help you gain your confidence? Every few months, we check back in about these goals and revise them based on how you have been doing, not what you thought you would be capable of. Missed a day of exercise because you were sick? Sure! Missed a day of exercise because you skipped Monday and so the whole week is basically a moot point? We can work on that!
However, at home, we encourage the SMARTER approach, adding: Expectations and Rigidity to the mix. Ensure that you are expecting some setbacks and failures along the way, and that your expectations aren’t outside of your control (like wanting a parent or partner to change). Assess if your goals are too rigid (it can only happen in this way at these times in this way), or are too weak under external fluctuations (like needing to move or a job change). Through taking the SMARTER approach, you can mitigate the risks of over-relying on positive thinking, let go of thinking errors and thoughts about how things “should be”, and cultivate the resilience and mental flexibility to make the most out of how things actually are. This should allow you to work smarter, not harder, on all the ways you’ll make 2021 the best it can be.
Wishing you all a Happier, Healthier, and SMARTER 2021!
