Therapy with Justin
Welcome! I’m Justin. As a sensitive person, what I've discovered is that my greatest strength is in connecting with and understanding people. This responsiveness helps me create with you a calm, safe, and supportive space for you to explore the hard things, and to grow at a pace tailored to your needs.
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LGBTQ+ affirming. I respect the inherent dignity and worth of each person, and I work to offer therapy attuned toward suffering in all forms—personal, relational, sociocultural, and systems of oppression.
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If you've never been to therapy, you might wonder what it's all about. Even if you have been in therapy previously, every therapist brings their own style and experience to their approach. Below is a poem I’ve written, called Two Shorten the Road, to try give a sense of what therapy with me is like from a zoomed-out, or even hindsight, perspective.
Two Shorten the Road
a poem, by Justin Grotheer
Softening, allowing, loving, and healing
Toward the parts of us that have suffered
And been hurt,
That are still hurting
From experiences small and large,
Some of overwhelm and unwanted aloneness;
Others of loss, or betrayal, or unmet needs
Of not feeling safe, seen, or heard
loved, valued, or respected
With all the sadness, shame, and guilt,
Anxiety, and defenses that grew out of it
It’s hard to soften toward those parts of us
We just want the feelings to go away
We run and hide
Push the feelings down
Consume, numb ourselves out
Or the feelings take over completely
And carry us away
Relentlessly chasing the missing pieces
Stumbling after a sense of feeling safe, seen, and significant
Finding it for a moment
Holding on so tight...
Only to feel it slip away
And oh, how we take up the chase again!
The parts of us that hurt are hard to be with
It’s hard to soften toward anger, and resentment
Toward the fears in us
Toward the parts of us that vehemently exclaim,
I am never going to let THAT happen again
Toward the parts of us that are still running, hiding, walling off
It’s hard to soften toward sadness, and regret
Toward the memories of loved ones who let us down
Especially those we trusted
Or important people who were supposed to be there for us
Friends, family, partners, or parents
who were supposed to protect us
But didn’t
Or worse, who hurt us
And still,
Something healing and transformational happens
When we sit with those hurting parts of us
—not as enemies—
But as caring friends
Being with the hurting, sensitive parts that need us
Simply allowing those feelings to be there,
Without shame, without guilt
Without the urgency to run away or change them
Then, with curiosity, from our best selves,
We say to them,
It’s ok
I’m here for you
Let me walk you home...
It is a sacred act
To sit fully present...
Softening, allowing, and loving
In the hard places
Learning to love ourselves whole
—again,
Or for the first time
To see the best of me
—that is already here
Embrace it, know that it is true
And live boldly from it
©Justin Grotheer Therapy