Wholesome Healing:One Woman's Dream To Positively Impact The World From The Inside Out

Thanks to Vanessa Kellner for allowing me to share with all of you her passion for helping others achieve freedom and peace in their lives.

Vanessa and I go back 15 years and even then it was her desire to pursue a career in counseling and mental health. This wasn't a whim that would change with the seasons. Being as close as we were in our teens and early 20s, I witnessed firsthand her drive and dedication to making her dream, a reality.

Fast forward to present day and Vanessa Kellner is a licensed clinical professional counselor and registered play therapist in the state of Maryland. She specializes in working with children as young as 2, and their families, using a child centered play therapy approach. Vanessa works out of her private practice in Severna Park, MD. Her services include individual and family counseling, parenting groups and parent consultation. She's also a mom to three beautiful,spirited children, who are her greatest teachers!

Wholesome Healing

Vanessa Kellner, LCPC, RPT, NCC, RYT

"Vanessa received both her master's degree and her post-master's certificate from Johns Hopkins University in 2011. She is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in the state of Maryland and a National Board Certified Counselor for all 50 states in the U.S. She is also a Registered Play Therapist (RPT) and member of the Association for Play Therapy (APT), the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors of Maryland (LCPCM).

In addition to being a licensed therapist, Vanessa is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. She offers school-based, individualized and group yoga programs and also incorporates mindfulness strategies and yoga philosophies into her therapeutic work.

Vanessa uses a person-centered / holistic approach in her practice, helping clients find freedom from what is weighing them down, so that they can come to see the beauty that is already within them."

- Wholesome Healing website

If you live within driving distance of Severna Park, Maryland and are seeking counseling, Vanessa would love to speak to you and begin your journey to healing and wellness. Visit her website to get in touch with Vanessa, either by phone or email. You can also get in touch via her Facebook page.

Recently, Vanessa wrote some very encouraging and introspective words that spoke to my heart. Let me know in the comments section if you are able to relate:

For all those who have faced hardships - so for all of us:

There is a numbness that acts as a shield. A protector and strength during the rolling and raging storms that life brings. It’s one whose presence is unknown until the skies begin to clear, only then is it's power known. It makes us strong and fierce, a warrior in the face of darkness. A force that continues to move forward through each seemingly insufferable turn. It is the adrenaline that makes us seem strong enough to handle anything. But it’s a deceptive shield. For when the storms settle and the numbness wears off, the intensity of the feelings masked now pulse impatiently at the surface. The rawness from facing the elements all of a sudden become apparent. They are baffling in their presence as their simultaneous urgency and murkiness come right at the beginning of the sun’s reappearance, right as the dust begins to settle, right as it seems we should be starting to feel safe and settled. It seems the exact opposite of what should be. The problem is, when we finish a battle – or a series of battles – we think we can just keep going without pause or reflection. How mistaken are we to think we don’t need to take time after the storms – to assess the damage and to rebuild. Time to mourn what we lost in the fight. To give the pain it’s due and allow it release. Release from our body… and our soul. This pain demands to be seen, and felt and recognized. It screams out for attention - in a moment in time where we want so desperately to move on. Yet we must give the pain and efforts of the past the respect they have earned. A fierce and relentless fight requires careful contemplation. When the dust settles - we need to stop and take inventory – feel what needs felt… what we could not feel before. Grieve what we’ve lost. See what is left. We must fall now, broken and raw – in the aftermath – and let the shock waves stir a vibration in us. Releasing all that has been suppressed beneath our ever protecting shield. We let it fall, releasing with it a flood of tears. Cleansing us of the debris. It is only then that we can stand tall and allow the warmth of the new day to reach down into the depths of our soul. To fully feel the gratitude for what remains. To be healed.

Blessings,