HIPAA compliant In-Person, Telehealth Therapist for Adults
Cassandra Merriweather LMSW, LICSW
I understand and appreciate the courage it takes to reach out to a therapist. I am greatly interested to learn your story and partner with you on your therapy journey.
Get in touch today to get started!
Integrative Psychotherapy
Experience
As a highly skilled and empathic therapist with a strong desire to engage with and help others, I opened my own practice, Insights Together, in 2021 with the intention of working with adult clients from all walks of life. I see both UofM students and the greater community extending across SE Michigan, specializing in the treatments of Depression or Bipolar, Anxiety, Grief, PTSD or C-PTSD, in the context of an array of major life transitions. I graduated from Wayne State University in 2016 with a Master of Social Work. There, I interned for The Women's Center of Southeast MI in Ann Arbor MI, providing low-cost care to women with issues such as domestic abuse, bipolar disorder, depression, and life transition issues. I also gained experience connecting clients to resources in the community. At the Center for Healing Connections in Monroe MI I served adults and children with varying issues including suffering infidelity, abuse, bipolar, depression, anxiety, and PTSD/C-PTSD, and grief, for 4 years. Clients also included those leaving day treatment facilities and those with post-partum. This clinic greatly valued the trauma informed lens and working with the inner child. I worked for the psychoanalytic non-profit The Mel Bornstein Clinic in Ann Arbor MI for 1 year where I gained valuable experience working in an attachment and trauma informed psychodynamic manner for a variety of adult clients with diagnoses stated above.
Attachment, Psychodynamic Therapy
What does psychodynamic therapy mean? Essentially, it is working with the knowledge that just beneath the surface of our conscious minds there is a wealth of emotions, beliefs, and experiences that guide our actions and feelings, and that through therapy we can get in touch with these influences to create change. Attachment is a specific theory created by Bowlby and expanded by Ainsworth that examined and explained the psychological wiring developed in a child by the connection with their caregiver. This can carry over into adulthood, including relationships with self and others. These patterns and feelings can be worked with and transformed in many ways when utilizing an open, nonjudgmental, and kind and curious stance. As a highly attuned therapist, I am also able to help clients heal that have felt unseen or "othered."
Trauma Modalities
Trauma-informed Care improves psychodynamic therapy by providing educational tools and expanded treatment techniques about trauma and grief. Some examples are somatic awareness and modalities like S.A.F.E. EMDR. Somatic awareness includes being aware of affect and emotions, sometimes in more embodied ways, and tracking them to achieve resolution of distress and to increase a sense of safety with the felt self. S.A.F.E. EMDR stands for somatic and attachment focused EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing). This is a highly researched modality that involves eye tracking and is used for many issues, including trauma and grief. These tools are especially useful for when words are not enough to process an experience.
Philosophy
I believe it is my job to create the right space and environment to allow for your mind and nervous system's natural inclination to heal. Meeting consistently once or twice a week supports this process.
What is therapy like?
Therapy With Me IS NOT
Therapy With Me IS NOT
Therapy With Me IS NOT
- Only about the past
- Shaming
- Overly directive
- Unsupportive
- Aimless
- Judgmental
- Just a mental exercise
Therapy With Me IS
Therapy With Me IS NOT
Therapy With Me IS NOT
- Empathic/Attuned
- Ethical
- Invites curiosity
- Warm
- Collaborative
- Open, emergent
- Hopeful
- Tailored to you
Therapy Outcomes
Therapy With Me IS NOT
Therapy Outcomes
Clients often find that as a result of our work together, in addition to feeling better and finding relief, they develop a new relationship with both themselves and the world around them. They find more joy, ease, and sense of possibility, enabling them to feel free to make new choices.
InsuRance, Private pay, Format of Sessions
Insurance
In Person and Telehealth
Private Pay
- Aetna
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Blue Care Network
* Please check with me if you have another insurance provider, you may be able to use it.
Private Pay
In Person and Telehealth
Private Pay
- Intake: $215
- 55 minute session: $185
- 45 minute session $155
- 90 minute session: $275
*Limited number of sliding scale slots available based on need.
In Person and Telehealth
In Person and Telehealth
In Person and Telehealth
In person, as well as telehealth visits, are available once or twice a week. Insights Together uses HIPAA compliant platforms for online sessions. Please consider where you will have the most privacy and comfort in order to speak freely and feel safe during sessions. This will help you get the most out of your therapy time.