Laurie Groh: Hi, my name is Laurie Groh. I'm the owner of VitalMinds Counseling, and today we have Katelyn Kosinski with us. Thank you for coming, Katelyn, so today, we're just going to get to know you a bit better, Kaitlyn, and we'll go through some questions, and let's start: who is your ideal client?

Katelyn Kosinski: I kind of have two parts of answers to that question because I see individuals, and I see couples. So individuals typically see people suffering from some symptoms of anxiety and depression, or maybe even I also tend to kind of groove really well with young adults who are struggling. Just as with life transitions, maybe going from college to the workplace or relationship transitions in your twenties, those can be really challenging. So I definitely really work well with that area and then with couples. Typically I see people who are just looking to either just improve their relationship, whether it be like communication or intimacy type things. I've also worked with couples who are really struggling with something, maybe a little bit bigger, like infidelity or considering divorce. So those are kind of the realms of.

Laurie Groh: Some depression, anxiety, young adults, their transitions. I think, too, that transition from college to the workforce is startling. And yeah, yes, and it feels like for a lot of people that everybody's three steps ahead of during that transition. That can be really challenging, so extra support during that time can be so helpful.

Katelyn Kosinski: There's a lot of comparisons that go on, I think, in young adulthood, and so therapy can definitely help kind of with maybe some cognitive distortions that are going on just perspective.

Laurie Groh: Right, and even just figuring out what somebody wants. That can be really difficult for sure, and the couples. So I also worked a lot with couples, love, working with couples. I like that range of communication where every couple can make improvements, that piece for sure, but then also some other potentially deeper issues like infidelity, intimacy issues, things of that nature. So that's also part of what you do. All right, so tell me a little about your approach to helping. Obviously, that's different right with individuals versus couples. Maybe break them up a little bit. So approach with individuals.

Katelyn Kosinski: So with individuals, and I would say this is actually true for couples too, it is really just trying to meet, meet the patient or the client where they're at and not forcing them to try anything or make any big leaps that they're not ready to. So just being patient with them and understanding how they're feeling about their situation. Yeah, so, with individuals and couples being collaborative with therapy, I do a lot of narrative work with individuals to be kind of creating a story that is helpful for the client. I don't really like the idea that I'm the expert and the client is coming to me for advice. That's not how it goes. In sessions with me tend to see the client as if they are the expert on their life. I'm just going to guide them and help them kind of like figure out what the important things are to them so that they can make decisions that feel good to them that I have.

Laurie Groh: I love that. I think that it is challenging for sure to know what are those important things. It seems like, in some ways, a very simple question, but it's not, and it's often complicated and challenging. To figure out what you know, what you might want out of life, what you might want out of a relationship, and what you might want out of your work-life balance. All those things can be really challenging, and I think, too, with couples, that that can be a big, big challenge of like number one. There are two people that have different goals potentially and two people that have different needs and different personalities and different backgrounds, and figuring out for them. What exactly is it that you want out of your relationship? Out of your time in therapy can be a big hurt. So I love that you're focused so much on where the client is and where they want to go.

Katelyn Kosinski: Yeah, and I think that that speaks to a lot of, like, values-based type of exploration. We do a lot of that in session with me, so I love it.

Laurie Groh: I love that. All right. What about Strings as a therapist?

Katelyn Kosinski: I think I think two things come to mind when I think of Strings, and the first one is just being nonjudgmental, a really, really safe space. I've, you know, heard some clients talking about bad experiences that I had in therapy where they felt judged or they felt like they weren't completely understood. I think because of my background in mindfulness, which has a really big emphasis, emphasis on nonjudgment, right even towards yourself. As you're right, I think that comes across in my work with couples or individuals just being nonjudgmental and open to hearing whatever their situation is. So that's one. And then I think another strength is I am a newer therapist recently graduated. I think that that is a strength in the way that I still have. All that grand school knowledge is still so fresh for me, and I think that you know there's present count. Still, people who have a lot of experience they have that you know the experience which is strength for them. For me, it's more like the evidence-based years are still very fresh, and I think that that really comes across an is is.

Laurie Groh: Yes, yes, I think so, and I think too, it's that the freshness right of it being right there. Also, I feel like what can sometimes happen throughout, at least for me throughout my career there, is you start to get into your own belief system, right with how therapy works, and that can be very useful because it can be kind of quick. But at the same time, having that, that general curiosity that is so fresh right there, and you're right there with them, can be extremely beneficial, and that excitement is there, and that, I think, comes across for sure in those sessions of like I'm here, I'm ready, let's work, yeah, and that in combination with how you were talking about the nonjudgmental peace right and letting the client tell you what is happening and slowing it down, I think can be a huge benefit to coming in to see someone where there's not. You know the judgment piece you're talking about happens when somebody is too quick. Okay, I think I know what's happening. I think I know right, and that might not be true, so allowing for some space and time to hear all of the story, all of the things that are really happening for that person, I think that is a huge asset.

Katelyn Kosinski: All of the new ones, yeah, and not like, yeah, what you just said, not thinking that just because you kind of have an idea of what's going on, that you understand the whole, there's always those nuances to every individual that we see.

Laurie Groh: And allowing the client to say: you know, if there are those instances, that's not quite, it is this. This is more, I need to say more, and for a client to feel that they can do that is vital to the whole experience and how they can move forward. So I think that is a huge, huge strength to have as a.

Katelyn Kosinski: Being open to feedback, I think, is important in so, yeah, totally always open to hearing what you know. What did I miss this session, or what could I have done better? What you know, is there something that you needed that I didn't give, I think, an approach that I try to take?

Laurie Groh: Yes, and that real-life learning of how to do that in a relationship. There's nothing better than that because you're in a safe space, you can give feedback, and you can share your thoughts and feelings in real-time, which is vital to the process. What can a client expect to experience with a session with you? We kind of talked a little bit about it already.

Katelyn Kosinski: I have more to say on that. Something that really drew me to this profession is its art and science. As a therapist, and I think that comes across in session with me, is there's that part that's very intuitive and very, you know, is doing like the intent, listening and looking to understand, which I consider more of, like the art. But then there's also the science, which is like the evidence-based approaches that we know and really being able to put that into practical tools for people to taste. So I think that people can expect to feel understood and listened to and heard and seen. Still, then they can also expect to walk away with like practical tools that they can integrate into their list.

Laurie Groh: Yes, that is. I feel like having both of those things is crucial. Right, because you have to be. That relationship has to be there, and if you're being, you know, with that person in the room and listening and understanding and guiding, and then you also have the tools. But having them together is everything because nobody's going to listen to the tools unless they know that you're there with them and that you understand. Well, this might not work, but let's try it, but that you, you know them well enough to know. This could be really useful, and they, they do have to accept it, so that balance is really important. To be able to do both is not an easy thing, but a wonderful, wonderful quality. Some are all right. What about the results? I know a lot of times people want to know what. What am I? What am I going to get at the end? What's the transformation? What's going to happen?

Katelyn Kosinski: Yeah, so this kind of goes back to, like, what you can expect in my sessions too, but I also try to take a very practical approach to self-compassion and mindfulness. Right, and not just saying, oh, you, you need to be more self-compassionate, right, or we need to increase mindfulness, but actually breaking it down and teaching clients like how. How do you do that right sometimes and be like I don't? I don't know how to be compassionate with myself like that's really hard, and so again, getting those tools to be able to do those things, and then the result leads to, for individuals being more flexible in outcomes and being more gentle with themselves, and just kind of a greater sense of peace. I think a lot of people will come to. Their fear of outcomes is just things that are really uncertain in their life. And being more self-compassionate and more mindful kind of increases those skills of being able to sit with others. You know, whatever happens, or whatever comes up right for individuals. That's kind of my answer. And then, for couples, the biggest thing that I see is just a greater understanding of their partner, right, like really starting to understand why it does. You know, certain behaviors are felons and understanding why that's happening, and then, with that understanding, they're able to create new experiences and engage with each other in different ways. So those results that I see in clients that I work with.

Laurie Groh: Yes, I think too, with couples, right, that it's a wonderful thing to be in the room when that occurs when one of the partners is sharing their experience and then sharing what's actually happening for him. Within that experience, and lots of times, it looks one way, but it's actually about something else, and it can. It can change how everything moves when that other person knows, oh, they're feeling, they're feeling scared, they're feeling anxious. They're actually not. They're presenting one way, but the underneath part is quite different. And if I, if I can just take myself out of it and be with them through their feeling, it can sometimes just dissipate or it can create, like you said, a new experience, a new dynamic, new back and forth that can be much healthier and rewarding and make people feel a lot closer to each other.

Katelyn Kosinski: Yeah, I love, I love that use of that because I do notice that with couples that usually they come in thinking their problem is one thing, but real. It's totally now something else that they weren't even aware of. And to elaborate on what you are saying, too, is really why I love working with couples. Almost that instant gratification of seeing as soon as they understand their partner it's like, oh, now I can really know in a different way and sings in session is really cool.

Laurie Groh: Yes, it's incredible, it's incredible to see. Yeah, all right, Alan. I want to share your contact information. That's down on the bottom of the screen. But if anyone does want to reach out to Kaitlin, you can do that at our website, vitamines, counting, dotcom, and you can schedule right online. You can reach out to Kaitlin, email her phone numbers there as well, or text call, and she can get it. Get you in for the help that you need or want. All right, thanks, Katelyn, thanks, all right, we'll talk soon.