Kathie seated looking welcoming

Kathie Nowicki, LMSW

You deserve a therapist who understands this work and understands you.

You're looking for someone real. A trauma therapist who's been in it: the mess, the complexity, the parts of life that don't have clean edges, and didn't look away.

That's what I bring into the room.

I work with adults across Michigan through telehealth, specializing in complex trauma, dissociation, CPTSD, ritual abuse, and mind control.

Let me be straightforward with you: I’m not a therapist who sits behind a clipboard and nods thoughtfully while maintaining careful professional distance. That’s not me in the office. It’s not me anywhere.

I laugh. Sometimes at the absurdity of what survival looks like. Trauma can be genuinely, darkly ridiculous, and sometimes that's the most honest thing two people can acknowledge together.

I use real language, including occasionally the kind your mother might have frowned at, because scrubbed-clean words can make hard things feel even more distant. And I tell the truth, even when it's uncomfortable, because you've already had enough people dancing around what's real.

I am curious, direct and I can sit in the uncomfortable places without flinching.

I find this work genuinely humbling: the way the mind protects itself, the creativity of survival, the parts that hold what couldn't be held alone. I don't bring distance to this work. I bring presence.

Kathie standing in her office

What I found, over and over, is that the people doing the hardest healing are also some of the most insightful and remarkable humans I've ever had the privilege of knowing.

This work is an honor. I don't say that lightly.

I didn't stumble into specializing in complex trauma, dissociation, and organized abuse. This work found me, and I leaned toward it. Not away.

I kept learning. I kept training. I kept sitting with people whose systems had done extraordinary things to survive extraordinary harm.

What working with me actually looks like.

Let me demystify this, because for many people who come to me, the idea of "what therapy is" has been shaped by painful experiences with providers who didn't understand what they were carrying.

Here, you won’t be asked to prove your experiences. You won’t be pathologized for the ways your mind learned to survive. You won’t be rushed.

What you will find is someone who takes you seriously: all of you, including every part that holds a piece of what you've been through.

Someone who understands that healing isn't linear, that some sessions will feel like progress and others will feel like you've taken ten steps back, and that both are part of the same real process.

I pace this work carefully and collaboratively. Nothing happens faster than it’s safe for it to happen. You’re always in the driver’s seat.

And yes, sometimes we’ll laugh.

Sometimes we’ll sit in silence.

Sometimes I’ll say something real instead of something clinical, because that’s what the moment asks for.

That’s what I mean when I say you get the whole person.

Kathie sitting with client

Therapy with me is…

  • Being seen, heard, and emotionally understood by another person without judgement, correction, or dismissal.

  • Remaining present, steady, and compassionate in the face of difficult, painful, or complex experiences without turning away, minimizing, or becoming overwhelmed.

  • Being fully integrated within yourself. Where your thoughts, emotions, body, and experiences (past and present) are acknowledged, connected, and working together rather than feeling fragments or disconnected.

Line drawing of a slender, upright plant with narrow, elongated leaves along the stem.

If Any of This Feels Like a Fit

I'm genuinely curious about what your life can hold once the past stops running the show.

If any part of this sounds like the kind of person you've been looking for, I'd be honored to talk.

You can schedule a free 15-minute consultation.

No pressure, just an honest conversation about whether we're a fit.

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Schedule a Free Consultation

My Training & Education

    • Bachelor of Social Work, Oakland University

    • Master’s of Social Work, Michigan State University

    • Licensed Master of Social Work (LMSW), State of Michigan, Clinical Social Work

    • Evidenced-based Trauma Treatment Certificate, MSU

    • EMDR Certified

    • Theory of Structural Dissociation of the Personality (TSDP)

    • Somatic Embodiment Certification

    • Member of International Association of Trauma & Dissociation (ISSTD)

    • Member Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing International Association (EMDRIA)

    • Member of National Association of Social Workers (NASW)