Meet Dr Kathy Calabrese
Chances are you are looking for just the right therapist to help you because you know that your life is out of balance. Perhaps you are struggling in your marriage, perhaps you are depressed or anxious and you find yourself saying “What’s wrong with me? I have a good life!” Maybe you have suffered a terrible trauma and you want support, guidance, and understanding so that you can heal and get on with your life. Whatever you need, the first step is finding a therapist who feels like a good fit. Let me tell you a bit about myself so that you can determine if we might work well together.
Before becoming a therapist, I participated in a dynamic movement that brought hidden away handicapped children and adults into classrooms and workplaces. There they were able to develop their strengths and skills, to live their lives with dignity and pride. As a professor of special education, I loved my work with college students, parents, and people with special needs. But as you know, life has a way of changing when you least expect it. At a turning pint in my life, it was time to leave the world of special education, and I had no “action plan”. Little did I know that what seemed like a crisis was, in fact, the greatest opportunity of my life.
I was introduced to Family Systems Therapy during my doctoral studies. It awakened me to the fact that the uncomfortable feelings, the confusion that surfaced as I was attempting to make everyone in my life happy – dancing on the head of a pin – had their roots in my family life experience. Ah Ha!
Suddenly my path was clear. Since I believed, and still do, that knowledge is power, I found my way to a Marriage/Family Systems Training program at the University of Rochester Medical School. After three years’ study, I was ready to begin to work with the individuals and families whose confusion and pain had lead them to me. At the same time, I began my own journey to emotional, spiritual and physical health. I’m still on that path.
For over twenty-five years, my clients and I – partners in healing – have made our way. We have faced addiction of all kinds, struggled with relationships, sought clarity, nurtured courage, supported radical self-care, assumed personal responsibility, learned the body’s language, cultivated compassion, expressed anger, grieved deeply, laughed heartily, and celebrated joy.
I ask each client “What specific evidence will there be that things are getting better for you?” Your response to that questions becomes the template for our work. You deserve to feel better about yourself and your life.
That’s why I became a therapist and that’s why I want to help. I am thrilled to be part of Explore What’s Next and I hope to hear from you soon whether to ask about therapy or in comments on the blog. Be well!
To reach Dr Calabrese directly call 716.725.8135 or email drkathycalabrese@gmail.com