Galen Kerrick (he/him)

Having 5+ years working in community mental health as a child and family therapist, I have extensive experience working with children and their support systems on challenges ranging from anxiety and depression to identity development and behavioral issues. I have also worked closely with caregivers, using a trauma-informed model to make shifts in the home to help support system regulation and healthy development.

Without diminishing the experience of other genders, I believe it is an interesting time to be a boy or man in today's society. Our two traditional roles of warrior and sole provider are shifting and, as exciting as it is to have greater freedom and flexibility of expression, it has also left many men feeling adrift and isolated from value and purpose. I work with men to navigate this shift, exploring their relationship with masculinity to build a sense of purpose and connection.

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I have firsthand experience of navigating that process of reconciling our identity with society's/family's/own expectations. Regardless of what part of the community a person belongs to, I work with them to navigate the many social narratives that can have a harmful impact, to foster a sense of self-acceptance, and to access the resources that support their identity.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been my primary modality of practice in my work in community mental health. I have worked with children, youth, young adults and caregivers through challenges ranging from depression and anxiety to trauma and behavioral struggles. Together we have identified ways to make changes that help shift unhelpful patterns in thoughts, feelings and behaviors to patterns that move the individual or family towards their goals.

IFS has been enormously helpful to me in my own therapeutic journey, helping me identify the different parts and values in myself. It's a modality that felt important to be trained in so I might offer the same opportunity to others. Sometimes our protector parts are pushed into extreme roles in order to keep the system as a whole safe and/or functioning. But we can learn to heal the vulnerable parts that are being protected, and then those protector parts are able to relax and let go.

Having been trained in and am currently a trainer for a model of trauma-informed therapy, I have worked with many children and families who have experienced complex trauma to build stronger attachments, create routines and rituals that support regulation and connection, build emotional identification and modulation skills, and identify effective responses to challenging behaviors, all to reduce the adverse impact of trauma on their lives.