About Kennedy

Licensed in Michigan, Vermont and Wisconsin

A Judgement-free space for you to speak your mind and grow your skills

Hello! My name is Kennedy Boulis and I am here to help you sort out and work through the challenges that life throws at you. You probably have questions on what therapy will be like with me. Therapy with me will be a safe space that allows you to speak your mind without fear of judgement and fear of getting “in trouble.” Together, we will explore your strengths and learn how to use those to better your daily life. While therapy can become stressful and emotional at times, my goal is to help support you while you work through these in session. As well as, helping you to learn skills to practice outside of therapy that helps to decrease your daily stress and increase your emotional regulation skills.

Our first session will focus on learning about you, your stressors, and your goals for therapy. All while, beginning to build a therapeutic relationship. This therapeutic relationship will be used throughout your time in therapy to help you feel comfortable expressing. Our second session will continue to work on building this therapeutic relationship. However, the main focus will be on working with you to prioritize your goals and identify the steps to work on in therapy that will help you reach your goals. This plan is called your treatment plan. This treatment plan will be reviewed every three months to gauge your perspective of your progress. As well as make changes as your goals may change throughout your time in therapy.

Our sessions will average about 50 minutes. Each session will start with a check in with you to see how things have been going for you since your last session. As well as, to help identify any specific situations that occurred that you would like to process, or problem solve. After this check in I will ask you what you would like to focus on that day. If you are unsure, we will review the topic that was identified to work on at the end of the previous session. If you do not wish to talk about the topic you previously identified and are unsure of what you would like to focus on, after checking in, we will review your overall objectives in your treatment plan for you to identify which one you would like to address.

Our work together is just the start

Our work together is a process and does take time, but you set the pace of progress. After discussing the topic identified, we will move into a wrap of the session. In this wrap up, we will review your take aways from the discussion, answer any questions, identify the topic you would like to focus on in the next session, and schedule your follow up appointment. The frequency of your sessions is set by you. We can do weekly, bi-weekly, every three weeks, or monthly appointments. When identifying the frequency of appointments, I will work with you to identify what best works into your schedule.

There may be “homework” asked of you during the wrap up of the session. If I ask you to do some homework, please note that this will be discussed with you before asking you to do it. This homework will focus on the topic that was discussed in session today, or of the topic you identified wanting to work on in the following session. Some examples of “homework” include, tracking behaviors or thoughts to reflect on, practicing skills taught in session, or handouts to complete and discuss in the follow up.

About Me

I am passionate about helping others to learn to help themselves

I have wanted to be a Social Worker and help others since I was around the age of 13. Some of my now closest friends were experiencing things out of their control and being there to help them overcome the unfortunate and stressful situations life threw at them lit a spark in me to help others. Over the years in school, I have learned that becoming a Social Worker is not about helping others or “fixing things for others,” but rather helping others learn to help themselves. This is accomplished in a many ways, one of which is therapy.

Along the way to becoming a Social Worker, life threw me some situations that I was unsure of how to handle. This has given me a unique insight to use when I am working with others who face similar situations as I did. One thing I learned through these situations is that leaning on your support people is a positive thing. I bring this perspective into therapy when we work to identify who your support people are. If you struggle to identify them, we work to identify those that can become support people for you.

My educational and professional qualifications…

I received my Bachelor’s degrees in Human Services from Baker College and my Master’s degree in Social Work from Saginaw Valley State University.

I am a fully licensed Social Worker in the State of Michigan, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Throughout my years in working to become a Social Worker I have gained experience with working with the elderly, mothers and infants, the Child Advocacy Center, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, adolescents, youth in a behavioral residential setting, and both adolescents and adults in an outpatient therapy setting. Through these experiences I have been able to grow as a professional and learn new skills.

I continue to participate in trainings that help me grow as a professional and learn new skills to teach those with whom I work.

Insurance Plans I Accept

Blue Cross
Blue Care Network
Priority Health
United/Optum
Medicare (MI, IN)
Aetna

My life is not all work.

In my free time I enjoy spending time with my family and my friends. I enjoy going on family outings or “adventures” as my sister calls them, with her and her children. I enjoy playing with my dog, watching movies, and card nights with friends.