About Me
I have a heartfelt desire to help individuals, couples and families who are experiencing conflict, stress, and anxiety due to problems that seem overly challenging right now. There may be deep inner pain related to the darkness of grief and loss, there may be feelings of self-doubt and insecurity due to relational turmoil with significant others, or you may be disheartened by your current lifestyle, spiritual understanding, or career profession, especially in the high tech world. Perhaps I can lend a listening ear, a caring heart and some gentle assistance to help you to discern what new directions to consider and how best to find the motivation for taking action and moving forward.
I am a licensed marriage & family therapists (LMFT), a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and a national certified counselor (NCC) holding a doctorate in human development and professional coaching, and a second doctorate in spiritual formation and leadership. I am based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I provide psychotherapy, counseling, coaching, and spiritual direction for individuals, couples and families in all phases of life. My husband and I have three children. We love to spend time making fun foods together, playing and listening to music, supporting college football and USTA tennis, reading, watching movies, and laughing with extended family and friends.
My story doesn't start in the usual way
I joined the tech industry as an engineer after completing my bachelor degree studies in artificial intelligence, computer science and math. I spent twenty years living and breathing that tech world, experimenting in cybernetics, artificial intelligence, programming, network infrastructure design, and information systems while working for engineering firms all over the world, eventually serving as the Executive Director of Information Technology in education at the University level.
As much as I enjoyed troubleshooting technology in my role as a computer geek, caring for my fellow engineers became my true passion. There was a time when my professional title was officially "Programmer Analyst", yet my employer and coworkers referred to me as "Programmer Analyst and Professional Counselor." I was told that this is how my title should appear on my business card. During my time in the tech industry, I learned that the computer geek-types felt the same pressures and weaknesses that all people do, but they were expected to hide their troubles.
It was clear that they needed someone who understood. They needed a listening ear, a like-minded thinker, and a place of healing.
I changed career tracks, and I earned a M.A. in Professional Counseling (George Fox University, 2002), a second M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy (George Fox University, 2007), a MDiv equivalent degree leading to the completion of a doctorate in Ministry, DMin, in Leadership and Spiritual Formation (Portland Seminary, 2006), a certification in Spiritual Direction (Portland Seminary, 2007), and a Ph.D. in Human Development and Professional Coaching (International University of Professional Studies, 2015). I interned and worked at The Anxiety Disorders Clinic (Lake Oswego, Oregon), Good Samaritan Ministries (Beaverton, Oregon) and completed my full licensing requirements for the State of Michigan at my private practice, Kare Counseling, and at The Family Counseling Center (Ann Arbor, Michigan). I have 18+ years of experience in the counseling and psychotherapy field. I wouldn't trade a second of this part of my life to be anywhere else.
Which brings us to now. You have, no doubt, experienced the ups and downs of life. The downs have a tendency to stick with us, to form callouses in our hearts, and scars the effect how we interact with people and view ourselves. It doesn't have to be this way.
Scars that take years to form won't be erased in one session. But I can promise this: We will walk together, shoulder to shoulder, until those scars are a small chapter in your story, instead of the whole book.
If this is what you want for your life, please get in touch today.
Contact Details
Keri Warren, PhD, LMFT, LPC, NCC
1945 Pauline Blvd., Suite 10
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Phone: (734) 838-4716
Psychology Today Profile —>
www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/keri-warren-ann-arbor-mi/216397
Professional Qualifications
CS & Artificial Intelligence, UCSC. B.S. Degree in Computer Science Minor: Mathematics, 1992 - Western Oregon University (WMU) Monmouth, Oregon
M.A. Degree in Professional Counseling, 2002 - George Fox University (GFU), Portland, Oregon
Doctorate degree in Leadership and Spiritual Formation 2006 - Portland Seminary, Oregon, DMin, MDiv.
M.A. Marriage & Family Therapy, 2007- George Fox University (GFU) Portland, Oregon M.A., MFT.
Certification in Spiritual Direction 2007 - Portland Seminary, Oregon.
Ph.D. Human Development and Professional Coaching, 2015 - International University of Professional Studies (IUPS), Maui, HI
How I Work
As you can imagine, there are a variety of treatment methods available. From one end of the spectrum there is the psychoanalytic couch work where clients lie down several times a week and say whatever comes to mind. Clients engaged in this process are free to verbalize anything and everything pertaining to thoughts, feelings or body sensations. Some of the deeper, more conflicting issues often arise either indirectly or symbolically and the therapist can help to interpret what's really being communicated so that any hidden or unspoken pain that is crying out for healing can be addressed. I have undergone my own psychoanalytic therapy for seven years and I continue my own self-study and self-analysis that is based on the model taught by David Klein, PhD, psychoanalyst in the Ann Arbor area. I will integrate this knowledge and understanding when providing psychodynamic therapy treatment. There are other helpful ways for working with unconscious or repressed material. For example, I enjoy sand tray therapy, art therapy, interpersonal and developmental therapies as well as the integration of prayer and spirituality that I believe are excellent modalities for gaining access to unconscious material and can help to re-create healthy attachments for promoting deep and powerful healing. On the other end of the spectrum, I have extensive training in the more interactive and experiential methods, including the directive and highly structured cognitive-behavioral (CBT) therapy approaches. Since no one client is like any other client, I do not impose a one size fits all approach. There are times too, when clients prefer to engage in couch work when seeking spiritual direction or when engaged in certain couples techniques as part of the Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT) model. How I work depends fully on your needs, your preferences, your style, and the treatment methods that are most appropriate for your circumstances.
When we first meet together, I will review the paperwork that you complete and bring with you to your first session. I will then ask a few important questions, such as: “In your heart of hearts, what do really want in life?” and “If you were celebrating and clapping high fives because we accomplished your goals, what would they be?” I will also ask if you wish to integrate any spiritual growth goals, as some clients seek me specifically for this reason and some do not. Learning about you, your style, and your preferences will help me to know how best to proceed.
From here, we develop a treatment plan, keeping in mind that other issues may surface along the way and can be integrated and prioritized, depending on the severity of the problems. And if there are certain emotional, psychological, or spiritual challenges that are harder to understand and define, I will provide strategies for promoting deeper insight and awareness to keep you moving forward at a safe and realistic pace.
This gives us a solid foundation from which to build on together. For some clients, this process takes months. For others, it can take years. No one person or problem is equal to another. But know that each person who works with me will make some form of progress and is forever changed. All people are welcome! I value and appreciate individual differences. As we begin our journey together, it is my hope that you feel cared for, accepted, loved, and ultimately known from within your own heart that you are a person of great value and worth.
Get Started
If you are interested in scheduling a session with me, please complete the contact form below to send and email or call (734) 838-4716.
Should you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, I require a 24-hour notice. Without the 24-hour notice, the missed session will be billed at the full rate. I may choose to waive this charge in the case of emergencies.
There may be additional fees for psychological testing, scoring, writing reports or letters on your behalf, or for photocopies of treatment materials.
I accept cash or check. I am out-of-network with BC/BS BCN (Blue Care Network), but I can provide monthly billing statements for out-of-network health insurance claims for you to submit for reimbursement. For clients that prefer to keep billing and their sessions as separated from each other as possible, I can keep your credit card or HSA prepaid health savings card securely on file and bill for each session automatically. A sliding fee scale option is not available at this time.
Anxiety, Stress, Worry, Job or Family Stress, Panic, Religious Anxiety
Everyone experiences nervousness before a test or stress before an important job interview. Experiencing an uptick in emotion right before a major life event is normal. But anxiety, worry and stress that disrupt sleep and normal daily habits should give you pause. If your health, your work, or your relationships are being impacted by high levels of anxiety and worry that prevent you from leading a normal life, know that you are not alone, and that I am happy to help you. Please contact me if you are struggling with anxiety issues such as panic attacks, social anxiety, performance anxiety, separation anxiety, PTSD, or specific phobias (i.e., vomit phobia, driving over bridges, fear of dogs and cats, etc.). Religious anxiety can also be a source of stress or even torment. If you have excessive fears of offending God, fear of judgment, fear of not doing enough or being good enough or basically view God as highly punitive, know that you no longer have to live life this way. Come to discover your true identity as a beloved individual with great value, worth, and created with a unique plan and purpose in life.
Stress, Job Stress, Marital Stress, Panic, Fear, Religious Anxiety
Trauma, Shock, Heartbreak, Betrayal, PTSD, Childhood Abuse
Trauma can come from experiencing events that are shocking, disturbing, or life-threatening. No two people experience these events the same way. What is traumatic for one person may not be for another. Yet as men, women and children become traumatized, they may continue to re-experience the pain of a traumatic event over the months and years that follow the event. There are also times when current circumstances activate past trauma. Sometimes the earlier trauma is repressed (forgotten), but the feelings re-surface such that the PTSD-like symptoms make life seem surreal. For example, you may find yourself scanning the environment for safety, you experience fear-based anxiety with overwhelming visceral sensations, and you find it hard to understand why you can barely function or perform your normal everyday life activities. If this phenomena resonates with you, we can work together towards healing and develop coping mechanisms to help lessen or eliminate the long term effects of a traumatic event.
Trauma, Upheaval, Shock, Devastation, Heartbreak, Betrayal, PTSD, Childhood Abuse
Family Counseling, Blended Families, Parent/Child Problems, Sibling Relationship Problems, Divorce, Marriage after affairs
Family therapist Virginia Satir once said, "Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible—the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family." So often, the perfect family we envision in our head doesn`t play out amongst the real living and breathing dynamics of family life. Divorce, remarriage, and blended family dynamics can make this reality even harder to contend with. There are many reasons for seeking family therapy: You may be an adult professional or parent and still find that you are overly controlled by your own parent(s) or in-laws. You may have difficulties with your siblings, or your own adult children, teenagers, or small children. Clinicians who have received training in family therapy take a systemic approach that is quite different and more helpful than the training that is geared for individual counseling and psychotherapy. Your life exists in a context where significant others, including their feelings and behaviors, are interconnected one way or another (family, community, friends, work, school, church, etc.) Together we can improve family and other relationships through gentle, thoughtful counseling sessions. To learn more, contact me below.
Family Counseling, Blended Family challenges, Parent/Child Problems, Sibling Relationship Problems, Divorce, Marriage after infidelity
Couples Counseling, Marriage Therapy, Disillusionment, Hopelessness, Parenting Conflicts, Separation and Divorce
Among the many couples therapy modalities I use when working with couples, the Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT), Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Bowenian Family Systems (BFS) models seem to greatly benefit clients that are engaged in couples therapy. EFT is an eye-opening experience for couples because of the tremendous relief they feel when they can finally put a name to the deep pain they feel as a result of the harmful interactions that have so deeply hurt their marital relationship. This identification then allows for appropriate treatment and healing, otherwise how do you fix a problem without first identifying its cause? The name, Attachment Injury, occurs when certain incidents tap into a kind of a pain that hurts at a deep cellular level and feels almost like a death. Some clients describe the feeling this way way: "It feels as if I could just curl up and die, it hurts so much! How can I ever forgive when I hurt this much?" Attachment injuries sometimes occur early in marriage. Sadly, they can remain undetected for years, until the couple enters therapy and discover that the earlier harmful event was actually the beginnings of a downward spiral; that regardless of the many attempts in seeking counseling, nothing has seemed to ease the pain. Most often caused by a profound violation of trust, attachment injuries promote shattered assumptions that forever change the relationship. Quite different from the ordinary highs and lows of ongoing relationships, the injured person feels vulnerable and suffers from feelings of abandonment, rejection, fear, shock, shame, or disbelief. The notion of building trust and extending forgiveness and reconciliation seem hopeless. If this sounds painfully familiar to you, please do contact me. If not, know that there are many other reasons for seeking couples therapy. Some couples are considering marriage and desire proactive pre-marital readiness assessments such as the 16PF Couples Counseling Report, the Prepare-Enrich, or other similar resources before marriage; some couples wish to discuss child birthing and family planning options such as adoption; some are at odds about having children; some want relational healing; others want to improve their communication skills; some want to experience more intimacy and closeness; others are trying to save their marriage; while others have given up all hope and feel disillusioned, but choose counseling to discuss the impact of divorce on children. Individually, I find that husbands who meet with me often say that they have a hard time understanding their partner`s varying emotional needs. Likewise, wives who meet with me are dealing with husbands that find it hard to communicate and express their feelings. These stories are repeated over and over. And while gender may vary, couples struggle with each other’s well-intentioned attempts at problem-solving and conflict resolution: one is overreactive and frequently incapable of regulating emotions while the other shuts down and is quiet and non-communicative. In each case, we can work together to identify your ultimate relational goals and achieve the outcome you desire.
Couples Counseling, Marital Therapy, Disillusionment, Parenting Conflicts, Separation and Divorce
Bereavement, Grief, Loss, Death, Dying, Early-life Loss
Unbeknown to many people, substantial research has confirmed that loss (loss of connection with a significant other or important attachment figures) can result in a host of dysfunctional behaviors or lifelong heartache. Examples include: restless overactivity, compulsive caretaking, somatoform disorders, impulse control disorders, self-reproach and self-blame; loneliness, emptiness, and sadness; yearning, pining, longing, and searching; chronic feelings of helplessness; pain and tightness in the chest and throat; preoccupation and obsessional thought patterns; withdrawal and isolation; suicide ideation; and anxiety, anger, and depression. In general, the bereavement process causes emotional upheaval and sorrow with a decline in functioning that is often followed by a long period of recovery. It is estimated that three years is the standard recovery period. Everyone will go through the pain of loss sometime in life. In my own life, working through the loss of important family and friends is never easy, especially when working through life-long chronic feelings of sadness resulting from the early-life death of my mother and also the recent death of my 31-year-old brother. If you are experiencing the loss of a loved one, death of a child or miscarriage, chronic heartbreak due to the early-life loss, the loss of a job, a phase of life, loss of a pet, a break-up, divorce, or the loss of a friendship, you need not go through this lonely and distressing stage alone. Contact me to learn how I can help you through your emotional pain and also provide stability and emotional support during this most difficult and time of your life.
Grief, Loss, Bereavement, Death, Dying, Early-life Loss
Life Coaching, Motivational Counseling, Decision Making Coaching, Life Transitions, Academic Coaching, Small Business Startup Coaching, Marital Coaching, Spiritual Growth Coaching
Coaching is different than counseling and psychotherapy. Coaching services are intended for well-functioning individuals who want to take action and make behavior for achieving certain goals for life and work. While at times I may wear my coaching hat when working in my counseling or psychotherapy roles, the reverse is not true when you hire me to work as a coach. In a coaching relationship, the client takes more action, thinks outside of the box, and achieves success with the help and accountability that a coach provides. Coaching is for anyone hoping to create a high-quality life style and finds it to be more motivating when working with someone to help you to brainstorm ideas, work more strategically, create a vision and a plan, be accountable, but most of all, feel empowered! As your coach, I am already aware that you have everything it takes to accomplish your goals. I will help you tap into your own resources and teach you how to sustain the necessary motivation for continued success. Examples include: Academic Coaching, Leadership Coaching, Small Business Startup Coaching, Spiritual Growth Coaching, and Couples Coaching. Other coaching goals could be weight loss, exercise goals, help with decision-making, stress reduction, increasing self-confidence, or other ideas that you may like to explore together.
Life Coaching, Motivational Coaching, Decision-Making, Life Transitions, Academic Coaching, Small Business Startup Coaching, Marital Coaching, Spiritual Growth Coaching
Infertility, Adoption, Attachment and Bonding Challenges
While adoption is both a miracle and a blessing for birth parents, children and adoptive parents alike, there is no question that there can be deep emotional challenges for all parties involved. My own mother passed away when I was three years old, my father was raised in an orphanage, and my husband and I have a blended family along with two foreign adoptions. These experiences have furthered my understanding of the amazing blessings as well as the challenges that come with adoption. There can be losses due to infertility, giving a child up for adoption, or the blending of new families. Whether you were given up for adoption or you are a couple pursuing adoption, I can help provide understanding, adjustment, healing and hope. As an Adoption Coach, I can suggest strategies for completing the long and arduous paperwork that is required during the pre-adoption phase and help parents and children develop healthy attachments during the post-adoption phase. Please contact me for help with any of the related challenges you may be facing.
Infertility, Adoption, Attachment and Bonding Challenges
Anger in Relationships and help with Emotional Regulation
Anger and other related emotions have a tendency to control our actions. Unchecked, these emotions can come to dominate our behavior in such a negative way that they can harm our relationships at work and at home. Unbeknown to many people, the deeper emotion that is often masked by anger, is deep hurt. Thus in close relationships, anger may actually be an attempt to make contact, feel close, and experience deeper intimacy, yet the anger response so often feels as if the reverse is true. The anger is expressed when feeling hurt, rejected and unloved, when actually, the deeper desire is to connect and be loved. Understanding the anger of despair that sadly blocks the ability to develop a secure and healthy attachment with our partner can help enable individuals to be released from their desperate (and hidden) early-life longings for an unresolved relationship with an important attachment figure from childhood. In other words, when we get in touch with the deep hurt and unresolved loss that lives underneath the anger, we can extend ourselves self-compassion as we grieve over our past inaccessible early-life attachment figures (a parent, for example). The desired outcome is to help clients communicate their needs, stretch to meet these needs, decrease and eliminate outbursts of rage and extreme emotional reactions, and develop the closeness and love we so deeply hunger for. Remember, anger is usually masked deep hurt. It no longer needs to define who you are. Get in touch today to get started.
Anger, Rage, Angry Outbursts, Emotional Reactivity
Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Life Coaching
My mother passed away when I was three years old. At the time of her death, my father was age 22 and my two younger brothers were ages 2 and 1. When I was a little girl, perhaps about 8 years old, my great-grandmother gave me a little white Bible. While I didn’t understand its significance at the time, another part of me must have known because I cherished this Bible. I kept it safely hidden between my mattresses and would retrieve for reading and to hold it close to my heart. The wisdom I gained from its teachings created within me a solid identity in Christ. There was a deep knowing that I was never really alone, and that all things work out for good (Romans 8:28) regardless of how painful or challenging things seemed at times. I am convinced that the strength of my faith was developed in the privacy of my basement bedroom on Watkins Lake, where I thought that it was just me and my little white Bible. Little did I know, it was never "just me." God was with me. He cared about me, loved me, and had a plan for my life. The spiritual foundation that was formed, was also reinforced by my wonderful grandparents. My grandpa loved God with all of his heart and soul. My grandmother always told me that God could be found everywhere – in my heart, in my closet, in the beauty of nature, in our places of worship, and in the amazing wonders of science. I loved physics, chemistry, and math and worked hard to grasp the profound discoveries of scientists like Einstein, Bohr, Pascal, and Newton. What a goofball, I know! I would buy these scientific books to share with my grandma and she would graciously accept them. I smile now, wondering if she actually read them, especially the books about computer programming and computer architecture. Oh, I miss her! My dad also contributed, but in a very quiet manner and also in the way he lives his life. Being raised in a Catholic orphanage, he developed a deep spirituality that was very private to him. Perhaps the daily teachings attending Catholic Mass helped him to know that he was never really alone, even though I know that he endured some of the harsh treatment there. In spite of the hardships he endured, my father is an innately kind, gentle soul, who managed to maintain a positive outlook on life. His solid character, personal integrity, and profound wisdom taught me the gift of sustaining strong personal resolve regardless of the issues at hand. He remarried just as I was graduating from high school. Both he and my stepmom are people of deep faith, hope, and grace. My spiritual development deepened when I turned 21 and moved from Michigan to California to attend the University of California at Santa Cruz. It was in Santa Cruz when I joined a church youth group and under the amazing tutelage of Pastor Steve Savelich, my spiritual understanding grew by leaps and bounds. I have continued this journey, completing seminary and becoming certified as a Spiritual Director. Spiritual direction is a relationship in which a trained person assists another person, couple, family, or group in the search for a closer union of love, acceptance, and peace with God. By reflecting God’s love, grace, mercy, and compassion, as your Spiritual Director, I will gently guide your spiritual healing process so that faith and trust are deepened, wisdom and discerning abilities are enhanced, and you find yourself living out your true calling in life as a beloved, creative, and authentic human being, so beautifully and wonderfully made in God's image. You are truly and deeply loved.
Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Life Coach
Depression, Chronic Loneliness, Sadness, Hopelessness
Depression is a serious medical issue. You may not understand the cause, making it all the more unnerving. While sadness that is tied to a specific event, person or place is a normal part of the human condition, depression is indicated by feeling deeply saddened and hopeless with a loss of interest and pleasure in activities as well as a loss of energy. It makes every part of life seem less enjoyable, less important and less valuable. Serious depression can cause people to experience anxiety, guilt, shame, insomnia, weight loss or weight gain, poor concentration, excessive crying, social isolation, fatigue, and feelings of hopelessness that make it hard to go on living. If you or someone you know is experiencing depression, please get in touch today and we can start working towards the road to recovery and personal healing.
fDepression, Sadness, Chronic Loneliness, Hopelessness
Self-Criticism, Low Self-Esteem, Guilt, Shame, Unworthiness
Self-criticism involves a harsh and judgmental response to oneself for failing to live up to one`s idealized self and achieving one`s chosen goals. It promotes feelings of guilt, shame, self-hate, a sense of inadequacy, low self-esteem and is implicated in numerous clinical disorders, relationship problems, and failure to achieve desired goals. Studies reveal that people who are self-critical are more controlling, engage in quarrelsome behavior, have fewer friends, less social support, and experience less satisfaction in life (Zuroff & Duncan, 1999). Feelings of self-hatred and self-loathing can cause people to feel disgust with oneself or with one’s body. They also feel undeserving of anything good, such as love, success, happiness, or affection that then lead to self-sabotaging behaviors to reinforce the self-hate. People who are self-critical are most often shame-based people who are highly sensitive to constructive criticism or correction and find it difficult to speak up for fear of offending or hurting someone else. Additionally, they are often people-pleasers and perfectionists, which are actually unhealthy avoidant patterns used to prevent any risks of further shaming and criticism. Other strategies for avoiding shame are isolating behaviors such as avoiding social situations, avoiding intimacy, and keeping one’s distance from others while withdrawing deeper inside as a way to escape the pain of exposure or rejection (Engel, 2015). My desire is to help you to rediscover your worthiness, that you are not a failure or a bad person, and that the reverse is true: you are a person of great value and worth. No one but you and God can define who you are. And in God`s eyes, you are beloved soul with an important plan and purpose yet to be fulfilled. Please see me to heal from past events that caused you to become self-critical so that you no longer have to live with shame, self-hate, and guilt. Come to truly understand and know just how precious you really are.
Self-Criticism, Low Self-Esteem, Guilt, Shame, Unworthiness
Cancer, Coping with Cancer, Dealing with Uncertainty, Anxiety, Sadness, and Fear (and maintaining a positive attitude with prayer for the healing of scary life-threatening health issues)
The photo you clicked on is a picture of my brother. We were meeting as a family, helping to shave his head since he was already losing piles of hair as a result of his cancer chemotherapy. I am grateful to report that he is now healthy and well! The same is true for me. I too am a cancer survivor. In my own bout with cancer, I was told that I had about a year left to live. That was 16 years ago! Sadly, my mother was not so fortunate. Having lost her life to cancer at the age of 21, she not only left behind family and friends, her husband was only 22 and her three children were ages three, two, and one at the time of her death. If you are experiencing the challenges and uncertainty of cancer, or any other life-threatening health condition, my desire is to help you cope with and be healed from your illness. Together we will help you to find victory so that you may live a life of continued health, happiness, and well-being.
Cancer, Coping with Cancer, Dealing with Uncertainty, Anxiety, Sadness, and Fear (and maintaining a positive attitude with prayer for the healing of scary life-threatening health issues)Testimonials
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Are you happy with who you are today? Are you satisfied with your significant relationships, your profession, your marriage, or your family life circumstances? Do you have inner peace? Do you feel that you have found your calling in life and are pursuing your goals and dreams? If your honest answer to these questions is no, I believe I can help.
Ready to schedule a session? Would you like to learn more? Send me a quick message below and I will get in touch.