Abby Heisserer, MA, LPCC
abby.heisserer@affinitypsych.com
Hi, hello, and welcome! My name is Abby (she/her) and I’m a licensed professional clinical counselor in Minnesota as well as a certified clinical trauma professional. I have a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and a Master’s in counseling and psychological services from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.
Those degrees are what make me a professional, but what makes me awesome is that I have a goal to visit all 30 major league baseball stadiums, I am the mother to two guinea pigs who only tolerate my love because I feed them, I won a hay bale tossing contest three consecutive years in high school, and I have a very real passion for helping people manage their mental health to create a life of meaning, fulfillment, purpose, and a sense of control over their own destiny.
How I Work
Going to therapy can be intimidating, so my first priority in our work together will be helping you to feel safe in our therapeutic space. I want you to feel like you’re talking to a real person, and not a “therapy robot” using psychological terms and jargon that’s impossible to understand, let alone apply to your life!
I take an extremely collaborative approach because you and I are experts on different things. You are the expert on yourself (even if it doesn’t always feel like it!). And I am an expert on a lot of stuff that we will help you implement in order to reach your goals. I want to help you identify and expand on the strengths that you already have, so they can be adapted to multiple aspects of your life. Along with my strengths-based approach, I also utilize aspects of cognitive behavior therapy, narrative therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and implement all of these with a foundation of trauma-informed, person-centered care.
What Sets Me Apart As a Therapist?
I decided a long time ago, back during my hay bale tossing days, that if I was going to spend 40 hours of my week working, I wanted to do something that was meaningful and helped people. I found the perfect combination of this in therapy.
Many of my previous clients have said to me that they appreciate the way I can balance the heavy and the light, using humor and empathy to discuss mental health and trauma using a non-judgmental approach. (I will, however, judge you harshly for being a Yankees fan. Consider yourself warned.) I want all of my clients to feel that while they are talking to a professional capable of providing real help to manage their mental health and life challenges, they are also talking to a person with whom they can be vulnerable and authentic.
