Meet Our New Therapist: Lauren Preusz

Lauren Preusz recently joined the Guided by Grace team as one of our new therapists. Since you will be seeing and hearing from her, we wanted you to get to know her!

Q: Lauren, where are you from?

A: Well, I originated in Louisiana. When we were 9 I moved to Iowa, and then at 17 I moved to California! And no, my dad is not in the military, ha. He just has a job that required him to move a decent amount of times. I then got my undergraduate degree at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, FL. After that, I moved to Indiana with my (now husband), and got my Masters in Clinical Psychology at the University of Indianapolis. Long story short- we LOVE Florida. So we moved back, had a bunch of babies, and here we are.

Q: Define ‘a bunch of’ babies.

A: Three. Which basically equates to a million. I have an almost 6 year old girl, almost 4 year old boy, and almost 2 year old boy. Also, a puppy and 10 chickens.

Q: Wow, chickens? Why on earth?

A: Great question. Next.

Q: Okay fine, but we will have to come back to this. First and foremost, how on earth do you pronounce your name?

A: Preusz is pronounced like ‘Cruise’, just with a P instead of a C.

Q: What are your clinical interests?

A: I absolutely love people. I don’t care how old you are or what your gender is. I just love hearing people’s stories, and have a strong desire to see people be WELL. We all operate at different levels. However, most of the time, we aren’t operating at our full capacity. My passion is helping people uncover areas where they are ‘stuck’ and then get the change that they desire.

I also love Jesus. So, we can talk about him in therapy, if you desire, or we don’t have to. That’s fine too. But based on my experience, I do believe that the most powerful change we can experience is on a spiritual level; and it is my belief that we achieve that by tapping into the Holy Spirit. I view the Holy Spirit as a “bottomless well’’ of healing. It is right within our grasp, but sometimes we need help getting there. I know the most important thing in helping others is to refrain from having any sort of agenda, and to help them come to truth on their own journey. I hope to facilitate that in a way that feels safe to all people.

When we are able to fully understand ourselves, our emotions and how they work, and why we do the things we do- we are able to operate at a much higher capacity in our relationships. I have a heart for seeing relationships improved and healed.

Lastly, I think the Enneagram is an amazing tool for better understanding yourself and others. So if that’s an area you wanted to explore, I’d be all about diving into that.

Q: Can you tell us something fun about yourself that may help people relate to you?

A: Sure. Hopefully it doesn’t scare anyone away. Just kidding. But not really.

So, I’m a 7 on the Enneagram. Which basically means I LOVE having a good time, I’m super spontaneous, get FOMO very easily, and in my case, am incredibly extroverted. It has taken years of work for me to learn healthy boundaries, when to say no, etc. I have grown, but it definitely takes work for me. The 10 chickens is a great example of me slipping into my ‘impulsive’ tendency. I wanted fresh eggs, so what better way than to buy a bunch of chickens? Five minutes later: done.

To answer your question, something ‘fun’ about myself, is that I absolutely love to create. I love to paint and draw and write. Now that I’m a mom of three littles, I don’t have tons of time to do these things, but can still get those itches scratched by creating/making a new recipe or doing art with the kids. I would love to one day incorporate art therapy into my professional work.

Q: Tell us a little about your history in mental health counseling.

A: In graduate school, I received my practicum hours working at a hospital on the psychiatric inpatient unit with adults. The main focus there was medication management, finding and creating goals to accomplish once they were released, and instilling hope. Most of our patients were there due to attempted suicides. I also saw a lot of mania with Bi-Polar Disorder, Eating Disorders (severe), and various levels of Psychosis. During this time, I also gained experience working with Chemical Dependency issues as well as children and adolescents in the inpatient setting.

Fresh out of grad school I worked with a company doing home-based therapy for people in crisis situations. These were generally families that were in jeopardy of having their kids removed from their homes due to various reasons (neglect, abuse, substance use) and I would attend court with them and give my clinical opinion to the judge. The goal was always reunification with the original family unit, if possible.

Following this, I did therapy (a lot of CBT) with residents at several nursing homes and spent several years volunteering at First Care Women’s Clinic where I did counseling with women in the community. Most of these women were pregnant, and many needed assistance with resources as well as deciding how to navigate through their pregnancy.

Q: That is so awesome and we are excited to have you join. For fun, let’s end this with a random silly question. If you could bring back any fashion trend from the past, what would it be?

A: Fanny packs. I know they are being sold in stores right now, but I don’t believe they have caught on as a trend. Do you ever see people wearing them out and about? No. I don’t even do it! I’m all about being comfortable, so if something isn’t comfortable I’m probably not going to wear it longer than an hour. What could make you more comfortable than having snacks, chapstick or even a pen when you need one, right within the reach of your fingertips at all times? BRING BACK THE FANNYPACK!