Samantha Dehring

A Master-level Social Worker, and clinical mental health and substance abuse therapist, with special certification from The Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute’s Advanced Training in Adult Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program, and honorably discharged 1LT Behavioral Health Science Officer of the Michigan National Guard. People are more than a mere diagnosis or behavior. They are a vast sum of their mind, body and spirit, of memories, heredity, beliefs, environment, experiences, emotions, strengths, weaknesses, fears, hopes, dreams and desires, successes and failures. This sum of body, mind and spirit combines to form the root system of either growth and progress or toxicity and stagnation in the present. I aim to provide a gateway to self-awareness, sobriety, empowerment, freedom from addiction and a kaleidoscope of mental illnesses. I won’t pathologize you, but instead seek to understand you from a multi-faceted lens to help you better achieve your goals and improve the quality of your life. I am interested in you, and in raising you to your highest standard, in helping you overcome your pain, grief, addiction, fear or sense of powerlessness. I often learn just as much from my patients as they learn about themselves throughout the therapeutic process. I am human and prone to err; however, I am not above learning unfamiliar concepts, ideologies, philosophies, practices or preferences. I am committed to educating myself on any sphere of identity which my patients hold as valuable in order to enrich the therapeutic alliance and foster a deeper sense of rapport. In order to truly help another, I believe, strongly, it is the principal job of the therapist to take the time and rigor to truly understand the patient’s world, perspective, value system and belief structure. This is integral to the treatment process.