Hannah Miller (she/her)
LLMSW
Therapist
I am passionate about walking alongside my clients as they work toward healing, growth, and meaningful change. My role is to hold space, offer support, and empower you to move toward the life you want to build. I find that sharing my humanness with clients is essential in building rapport. I have experience helping those struggling with a variety of challenges, most often related to anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, and addiction.
I have specialized training for treating porn and sex addiction, betrayal trauma, and supporting couples with the repair process. I also have specialized training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). In couples therapy, I help identify the negative cycle of communication that keeps the couple further apart, feeling stuck, disconnected, and misunderstood. Once the couple can identify the negative cycle and acknowledge their parts in it, I guide them in shifting and reframing a healthier pattern of communication in which each partner feels heard, seen, and supported.
What drove me to becoming a therapist...
Personal experiences have largely contributed to why I am a therapist and shaped me into the person I am today. I am passionate in helping people struggling with mental health, trauma, addiction, and grief. My work gives me a sense of purpose, fulfillment, joy, and belonging. I find it important to clarify that work is not the only place I get these needs met but I truly do feel blessed to be able to enjoy what I do for a living. I see my work as an opportunity to learn from others' experiences, and it is my goal to leave a positive impact on the individuals I get the opportunity to work with.
When clients consistently show up for themselves, that motivates me as a therapist. When I say show up for themselves, I mean exactly that. Whether it's coming in person or virtual, actually showing up is the most important part. I want to normalize that progress in therapy doesn't always look or feel like how we envision; sometimes it's painful, heavy, and hard. Other times, it's joyous, exciting, and enlightening. I do not rely on progress or breakthrough sessions for motivation. Of course, the progress and breakthroughs are celebrated and not overlooked. However, I view progress as consistency and not perfectionism. I strive to embrace a nonjudgmental, humanistic, compassionate "come as you are" approach to help alleviate any performance pressure or people-pleasing tendencies clients may struggle with.
When working with me, you can expect a warm, welcoming, nonjudgmental approach. I will offer you options; not to overwhelm you, but to create a person-centered treatment plan to find what works best for you.
Therapeutic Modalities
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Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
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Internal Family Systems / Parts Work
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Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
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Person-Centered
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Motivational Interviewing
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Strengths-Based
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Carnes’ 30-Task Model
Areas of Specialty
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Addiction
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ADHD
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Anxiety
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Depression
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PTSD, complex trauma, betrayal trauma, and religious trauma
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Relationship issues related to attachment and intimacy
Client Focus
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Individuals and couples
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Ages 16-60
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LGBTQ+ affirming
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Neurodivergent affirming
My preferred clients are those who are open to a holistic treatment approach. They are engaged in the process and willing to learn, practice, and implement skills shared in sessions, and prepared to commit to weekly sessions for at least the first eight to ten weeks, and then discuss the option for spacing out to biweekly sessions. If weekly sessions are not accessible to you right now, please know I can be flexible on frequency, offering biweekly sessions, from the start, if that's all your schedule or budget allows for. Similarly, if you prefer to keep weekly sessions for an extended period of time, this option can also be discussed.
Education, Credentials, and Experience
I am a limited-license clinical social worker. I received my Master of Social Work degree from Western Michigan University. I started working in the mental health field six years ago, during my undergrad. Since then, I have had previous job experience in various roles and treatment settings, such as crisis residential, inpatient addiction treatment, inpatient behavioral health treatment, and outpatient services.
I am level 2 trained in EFT, emotionally focused therapy for couples. This modality is focused on attachment and healing past trauma to address the negative cycle and build a secure attachment in the relationship. I am a CSAT-Candidate, which means I have specialized training to help people with sex addiction and partners with betrayal trauma.
I might be a good fit if...
If you thrive on structure. I am happy to provide assessments, worksheets, and workbooks to support our work together.
If you are someone who struggles with intellectualizing such as overthinking, overexplaining, trying to use logic and reasoning to analyze your feelings. I can help you slow down and guide you through processing your emotions in the present as they come up in session. If you have trouble accessing emotion, I can assist you with that, too.
If you are looking for support through mindfulness, creativity, and guided reflection. I offer these interventions and can provide you with free at-home resources as well.
If you're looking for someone to guide you through sessions. I offer grace, compassion, vulnerability, authenticity, honesty, and humor when appropriate.
If you’re looking for clarity and understanding on how attachment figures (primary caregivers and significant relationships) impact how you view yourself and relate to others. I enjoy working with clients to unpack family of origin complexities through a variety of tools. These may include but are not limited to: genogram/family systems maps, attachment quizzes, assessing primary caregiver and partner dynamics, creating significant event timelines in the context of stages of development, and connecting any dots relevant to where you might be feeling stuck or fixated on.
If you are someone who is drawn to or curious about inner child healing, softening your inner critic, or reparenting. I am passionate in helping you explore these parts of yourself by using the internal family systems model in addition to addressing shame-based core beliefs through guided self-compassion practices.
If you identify as an adult child of emotionally immature parents, trying to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma. We can work together to review attachment styles and the role they play in your day to day. I can help you gain the confidence and skills to establish appropriate boundaries that will move your healing forward to get you out of cycles.
When working with me, you can expect a warm, welcoming, nonjudgmental approach. I will offer you options, not to overwhelm you, but to create a person-centered treatment plan to find what works best for you.
If we find out I am not the best fit for you, do not worry, I will be happy to assist you with other referrals.
More about me...
Outside of the office, you can often find me on a nature trail hiking with my dog, spending time with my cats or horses, at a yoga/meditation/sound healing class, engaging in a creative practice such as painting or gardening, or spending time with friends/family. I am child-free, but I love kids and am a proud aunt to my niece and godmother to my two godsons. I believe by prioritizing the people/places/things that bring me such joy, I can recharge my battery/fill my cup so that I can show up fully for my clients each week.
If you’re reading this and notice any shared interests that you are curious about whether they could be incorporated into your therapy sessions, just ask! For example, I have offered walk and talk therapy sessions, mindfulness-based practices, and art-assisted therapy sessions.
I recognize how daunting and overwhelming the search for the right therapist can be. This first step is often the most difficult, so please give yourself some grace with this process. Thank you for considering sharing your story with me. I invite you to reach out if you would like to explore next steps. I hope to hear from you soon!
Ways to Reach Out: Psychology Today profile
You may also call or text: (616) 284-1329 or email Emily Chivis at echivis@mariposacounselingllc.com