A therapist looks back

On March 1st, it will be Kettle Moraine Counseling’s 10 year anniversary, and I can’t hardly believe it.
It began as a small practice of me and 2 other part time therapists, and has grown to 30 staff members and 3 locations, with a 4th location currently being explored.

On March 1st, it will be Kettle Moraine Counseling’s 10 year anniversary, and I can’t hardly believe it.
It began as a small practice of me and 2 other part time therapists, and has grown to 30 staff members and 3 locations, with a 4th location currently being explored.

It started with the intention of me practicing mainly by myself in order to have autonomy over how things were run.  I have always had strong opinions about how people should be treated, and I was coming from a dysfunctional work environment that was taking it’s toll on my psyche.

My goals at the time were to treat people fairly, see the good in others and situations, provide a healing place for clients and a place to grow.  I wanted control over my time and schedule also.

Over the past 10 years, we have served 1000’s of people in our community, and have partnerships with local non profits and schools that are also working hard to help heal, comfort and provide resources for growth and recovery.

We have created good relationships with employee assistance programs in our area, and really love being a resource for local business to help their employees be successful.

Our first location in downtown West Bend served us well, but we outgrew it and the downtown parking had become a nightmare.  Moving to Barton was such a good move; we have our own parking lot! (And we have outgrown that also!), lots of space that I never thought we would fill, but from 2016 when we moved in to now, we have outgrown the space, and are working on solutions to fill the need for more therapists, especially child therapists in our communities.

Our first waiting room:

Saying on the wall at first waiting room:



I am proud that we have very little turnover of our staff.  My personal vision is to see the best in everyone and every situation, to help the staff see the good in themselves and their clients, and for everyone to feel safe and comfortable at Kettle Moraine Counseling.  I work with exceptional therapists and we are blessed to have the team we have.

To our clients:  We thank you for giving us the opportunity to do what we love to do! Help people! Being a therapist is deeply fulfilling work, and I hope to be practicing the rest of my life if possible.

To my staff: Thank you for trusting me and for being the compassionate, wise, funny people you are! We are a group of fun loving, kind people and I feel a sense of home with all of you.

To the community and all our referral sources:  Thank you for trusting me and our team!  Our hearts are always in the right place, we will help as many people as we can, and when there is a mishap, we correct it.  We are dedicated to being here for the long term, and will continue to nurture our professional relationships.

Thank you Aurora EAP and Marcella Blomwillis for taking a chance on a new clinic 10 years ago; you helped to “grow us” and get established when no one knew who we were.

We have some fun events planned to celebrate 10 years.  A ribbon cutting with the West Bend Chamber of Commerce on March 2nd.  An Environ-“Mental” Health Day, where we clean up around Barton and then have a brat fry with music in our parking lot on May 2nd!  Featuring music by Gene Gruber!   The first week of March we will be celebrating also with our clients at the clinic, with special treats (cookies!) as a way to give thanks for the opportunity to do some good in the world.

Looking back, I feel blessed and my heart is full.  I am grateful for all the challenges and the opportunities that being a leader at Kettle Moraine Counseling has given me.

Now, lets see what the next 10 years bring!

With a grateful heart,
Devona Marshall

Listening to your body

I am one of these people whose emotions manifest somewhere in their bodies, almost instantaneously! Particularly anxiety or worry will be felt in my stomach usually as a swirling emotion and sadness/grief in my chest or head area.

I am one of these people whose emotions manifest somewhere in their bodies, almost instantaneously! Particularly anxiety or worry will be felt in my stomach usually as a swirling emotion and sadness/grief in my chest or head area. The other part of my body that carries my emotions is my lower back- not all of my back pain is emotionally connected, but when I am feeling down or having relationship issues, my lower back will often hurt.

I have learned to use this as a guidance system to what is going on inside of me and to bring things into awareness that I was out of touch about and then take care of the emotions in some way. For me taking care of worry or anxiety is doing soothing self talk and exercise. I am amazed that even a 5 minute walk with almost always reduce any anxiety I feel. When I am sad or feeling down, what helps me is to journal and to connect with others, and then I usually feel the physical sensations subside.

With the individuals I have seen in therapy, I have had a front row seat in seeing how our emotions manifest in our bodies from fainting, vomiting, heart palpitations, tingly sensations, headaches, movement problems to high blood pressure influenced by stress.

I do believe in a balanced approach to physical pain/problems that may have an emotional component. First and foremost, any medical causes have to be ruled out/ruled in! Then we can look at the mind/body connection and how our emotions may be influencing the physical.
A quick way to see if your bodily sensations are emotionally connected is to:

  • Scan your body in your mind. This can be quick, but notice what sensations are at each part, if any.
  • Describe the sensation, what does it feel like.
  • Ask yourself if this sensation is connected to anything in your life.
  • If an emotion/situation does get identified in this process, take some steps to listen to it and address it (talking, exercising, journaling, positive self talk, etc).

What is Art Therapy

Perhaps Wisconsin native artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) said it best while describing her own creative process, “I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”

Angela Waldoch on Art Therapy:

Art Therapy 101

Perhaps Wisconsin native artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) said it best while describing her own creative process, “I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” This is the very core and beauty of art therapy.

So what is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is using art as a means of expression to improve and enhance the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages, abilities, and from all walks of life. Research indicates the inherent powers of art making can help people resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight (AATA, 2011)

How is Art Therapy Powerful?

Art is the universal language. It is cross-cultural; it knows no age, gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. In fact, human beings have been expressing themselves through imagery since the beginning of time. Whether you define yourself as an artist or not, creating art is a natural, innate gift we all posses.

The creative art process allows the client to experience freedom of spontaneity, choice, and control. Art making operates on a meta-verbal and often subconscious level; it can offer a different perspective and insight for a client, especially the resistive client who does not want to talk. You will be surprised how quickly someone will open up if given the opportunity to create art. Suddenly, the art becomes the thing to talk about, and this also allows for separation from the client’s situation, in a safe and non-threatening way. The art then becomes the problem, not the person and situation.

Who Can Do Art Therapy?

Art therapists are trained mental health professionals well versed in both the areas of art application and professional counseling. However, art as a form of therapy can be used by any mental health professional. I recommend having at least these basic materials readily available in your office: white paper, markers, colored pencils, and crayons, just incase you encounter a client who cannot find the words to express what is happening right now.

Passive Aggressive

So many of us are not comfortable with expressing our anger or sharing what our needs are so we resort to passive aggressive behavior in an attempt to communicate what we are feeling or what we want.

So many of us are not comfortable with expressing our anger or sharing what our needs are so we resort to passive aggressive behavior in an attempt to communicate what we are feeling or what we want. Problem is, this behavior does not get our needs met and it usually brings distance to a relationship rather than closeness. What is passive aggressive behavior? A definition is a pattern of behavior where you where one reflects hostility or resentment through indirect means.

The bottom line is that we do not feel that we can express ourselves directly or we don’t know how too, but our feelings come out in other ways: procrastination, “forgetting”, sarcasm, not doing things well, talking behind people’s backs, etc. Some examples from my personal life is my mother, who always had a difficult time saying how she felt, would get sick or have a headache (like clockwork) when an event approached that she did not want to go to, but felt like she couldn’t say no.

Passive aggressiveness is not only about inability to express anger, but also a more general message “I can’t directly state what my needs/feelings are so I have to try to get them met/heard in other ways”. Often, the person learns through experience that their needs won’t be met, or their feelings are not important- to change this it can be skill-building (in effectively expressing ourselves) or deeper issues of “my needs are not important”.

Most of us have displayed passive aggressive behavior at some point in our lives and some of us use it on a regular basis! I have used avoidance as a coping mechanism, which can be very passive aggressive, depending upon the circumstances.

A word of caution about sarcasm:
Sometimes, not always, it’s a way to indirectly express how you feel, in usually a negative way that can harm the relationship. If your partner/child/friend doesn’t like your sarcasm, it’s probably a sign to tone it down.

Here are some questions to reflect upon regarding expressing your feelings and needs:

  • Is it difficult for you to express what your needs/feeling are
  • Is conflict very difficult for you, and you prefer to avoid it?
  • Do you use a LOT of sarcasm, and it’s been noticed and mentioned by others?
  • Do you talk behind other’s backs a lot instead of directly telling the person whom you have an issue with?
  • Do you often agree to do something, then find a reason to back out later (knowing that when you said yes, you really wanted to say no)?
  • Are you often told by others that you procrastinate, or do jobs poorly on purpose?

What to do if you recognize that you have some passive aggressive personality traits?
– Stay calm, many of us do! It’s great that you can NAME what the behavior is, acknowledge that it is related to not expressing our feelings/needs, make a commitment to yourself that you will make steps in letting your needs be known, even when it’s uncomfortable (and it will be very uncomfortable at first) in a direct honest way. Do you not know what would constitute direct and honest way of expressing yourself? Then get some books on communication and practice building those skills! If you think you have some deep seated beliefs that your feelings/needs don’t matter, you may benefit from individual counseling to explore/heal that part of you.