Our Story
Katie and Clare gained their counseling training from Divine Mercy University, where they learned about the Christian-Catholic Metta Model of the Person (CCMMP). The CCMMP highlights that every person is created with innate dignity and deserves the opportunity to learn to flourish. This was a great starting point but both wanted to go deeper for faith integration with Thomistic Psychology.
Aside from integrating faith into counseling, both Katie and Clare specialize in helping clients learn long-lasting skills through CBT, DBT, and ACT. Both clinicians utilize a solution focused, strengths-based approach.
Sometimes the healing journey can feel like a twisting and winding path. Our goal is to help clients find the freedom to flourish as they navigate these twists and turns in their journey. We am passionate about working with diverse clients to promote wellness, happiness, and personal growth through the therapeutic process. We integrate faith and psychology to support clients in discovering greater flourishing and becoming the person they were created to be.
Why a deeper dive? Why Thomistic Psychology?
What Is Thomistic Psychology?
Thomistic Psychology provides a philosophical framework for understanding the human person, especially their intellectual processes, based on the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the great Dominican and Doctor of the Church. It emphasizes how reason and faith together help us comprehend human nature and behavior and presents an authentically Catholic anthropological view of the person. Rooted in classical metaphysics, it views the human person as a unity of body and soul, where the soul is the form of the body and the seat of intellect, will, and emotion.
Unlike modern psychological models that often separate mind and body or reduce human behavior to biology alone, Thomistic Psychology offers a holistic view that integrates reason, free will, and the moral dimension of human life. It provides a timeless framework for understanding human nature, personal growth, and the pursuit of happiness in alignment with truth and virtue. According to Thomistic psychology, living a virtuous life and properly using and developing the intellect leads to mental health. From this perspective, we pursue happiness by knowing and loving God and through the development of virtue. Saint Thomas teaches that God creates our existence, and through Him, we find happiness both in this life and the next.
Why Thomistic Psychology?
In 1879, Pope Leo XIII issued the papal encyclical Aeterni Patris to respond to the cultural and philosophical shift away from Christian philosophy and a true understanding of the human person. The document formally established Thomism as the Catholic Church’s primary philosophical perspective and aimed to counter the philosophical errors of the modern age, which gave rise to contemporary psychological theories. Therefore, we must look to a Thomistic standpoint to find a true solution to the errors of modern psychology and to pursue authentic mental health and well-being.
“…We exhort you, venerable brethren, in all earnestness to restore the golden wisdom of St. Thomas, and to spread it far and wide for the defense and beauty of the Catholic faith, for the good of society, and for the advantage of all the sciences” – Pope Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris
How Do We Incorporate Thomistic Psychology Into Our Services?
We integrate Thomistic Psychology into our counseling by grounding our work in a rich, Catholic understanding of the human person as articulated by Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and the Tradition. This theological and philosophical foundation provides a holistic framework for understanding how mental health and mental illness develop, how they can be addressed and overcome, and how authentic human flourishing can be cultivated in daily life. By beginning with a sound anthropology, we help clients understand themselves not merely as isolated individuals but as embodied souls created for union with God.
Our approach includes an in-depth exploration of the four temperaments, helping clients identify their natural inclinations and patterns of behavior so they can better understand both their strengths and their challenges in both their psychological and spiritual lives, as the saints have instructed us and done successfully themselves for nearly two centuries. We reflect deeply on the effects of virtue and vice, examining how habits are formed, how they shape personality and character, and how growth in virtue brings increasing freedom, peace, and wholeness. We also consider the effects of grace, recognizing the essential role of God’s action in elevating and healing human nature. In addition, we draw on Thomistic insights into the operations of the human intellect and its various faculties, making these concepts practical and accessible so clients can better understand their interior life and decision-making processes in order to achieve deeper integration.
While our work is rooted in the wisdom of the Catholic intellectual tradition, we also integrate modern neuroscience, evidence-based psychological methods, and informed therapeutic practices. These contemporary insights help illuminate and complement the teachings of Saint Thomas, providing clients with practical tools for emotional regulation, cognitive clarity, relational healing, and personal growth. By weaving together traditional wisdom and modern research, we offer a comprehensive and unparalleled path to well-being.
According to a client’s comfort and goals, we encourage regular participation in the Sacraments, and we support clients in cultivating a consistent prayer life, which can be incorporated into sessions according to each individual’s comfort and desire. All of our interventions are intentionally aligned with the Church’s authentic understanding of the human person—body and soul—and are oriented toward fostering genuine psychological, spiritual, and emotional health in a way that honors human dignity and the fullness of Christian life.