Our Mission

Our mission is to provide a safe, compassionate, and empowering environment for individuals, couples, and families affected by trauma, addiction, and other challenges that interfere with relationships. We understand how to work with unresolved trauma, and how many struggles in life are rooted in unresolved trauma and the patterns that developed to keep safe. Our evidence-based practices aim to support our clients in reclaiming their narratives. We are here to enhance well-being and build healthier, authentic relationships.

Our Vision

Our vision is to foster a world where authentic connections thrive and where individuals, couples, and families embrace growth and healing in their relationships. We envision a safe and nurturing environment that empowers individuals to communicate openly, resolve conflicts with compassion, and cultivate deeper understanding of themselves and others. Through our commitment to holistic, evidence-based approaches, we aspire to amplify the narratives of healthy, authentic love. We believe that by facilitating the growth of healthy resilient bonds between loved ones, our human experience is enriched and our communities are strengthened and oriented towards holistic systemic wellness.

How we work with you to solve problems

We believe that therapy is a collaborative endeavor between the therapist, the client, and the client’s family, partners, and friends. Your therapist will use their knowledge and skills to facilitate growth that can have a long-lasting impact on your life and the world around you.

We use Marriage, Couple, and Family Therapy theory to help solve problems. Marriage, Couple, and Family Therapy theories utilize a systemic, non-pathological lens to deconstruct problems that you may be experiencing. Your therapist will look more broadly at the patterns, dynamics, and relationships within your life that maintain the problems you experience. Like throwing a pebble into one end of a pond, ripples can be felt on the other side; small changes in one area of your life will influence others. Together in therapy, you and your therapist will move through some of the most difficult times in your life and identify solutions that will help you meet your goals.

We believe in the power of authenticity, connection, and the human capacity for resilience. We strive to build connections and resiliency in your life by creating a safe space to heal from emotional pain and overcome your struggles. Together we will work towards the person that you want to be.

We are honored to have the privilege to witness how courageous and strong the human mind and spirit can be. Having a witness to one’s pain can be healing and promote the therapeutic process of integration.

about the Director, Elsa Kraus, MS LMFT

About Elsa (she/her/hers): I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin with my parents and older brother. I went to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where I met my loving husband and best friend. We moved to Portland, OR, where I received a Masters degree in Marriage, Couple, and Family Therapy from Lewis and Clark Graduate School in 2016. I returned to the midwest for additional graduate school and in the last 6 years, had three children and moved to Northfield, Minnesota.

I have been working with families since 2010 and have been clinically helping individuals, couples, and families along their journeys since 2013. I lead with empathy, compassion, openness, collaboration, and humility. I believe we all have a wealth of strengths that help us to get through difficult times.  We will uncover and reinforce those strengths to live a life filled with more hope, joy, and passion. 
I have worked in a state-funded problem gambling program, a residential treatment center for drug and alcohol abuse, and community counseling clinics where I provided services for many struggles that people experience, including: traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, addictions, communication issues, and parenting difficulties. I have also worked with families that have children who are gender diverse. I have specialized training to help people heal from traumatic stress resulting from experiencing and or perpetuating abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, financial), substance use, marginalization, discrimination, and oppression. I am trained in Narrative Exposure Therapy, an evidenced-based treatment which helps facilitate healing from traumatic stress and issues associated with traumatic stress, including depression and anxiety. I have also completed the basic training for an evidenced-based treatment for couples called Emotionally-focused Couples Therapy.   

I pursue my clinical interests on an international level, working closely with a counselor training institute in Fort Portal, Uganda. I have provided clinical services, clinical trainings, and classes in Uganda, and have received training from my Ugandan colleagues over the past 4 years. I have also taught classes in at UW-Stout in the Family Social Science program and co-taught classes as UMN-Twin Cities Family Social Science program.

I am passionate about strengthening relationships to create long-lasting change, and enjoy supporting organizations in developing systems that support well being. As a co-founder and consultant for Minnesota Trauma Recovery Institute, a non-profit organization committed to provided services and systems change for families involved in the criminal justice system, I analyzed how micro- and macro-level systems impact people at every level of the organization. My efforts prioritized developing an organization that centered well-being and sustainability for everyone involved. I also collaborated closely with developing a international non-profit organization called It Takes a Village, and also worked on advancing a branch of the organization called It Takes a Village: Uganda.

about the Therapist, Monique Brown, MA LADC

About Monique (she/her/hers): I am mental health therapist certified in chemical dependency, and a life coach with 5 years experience coaching. My primary focuses are depression, anxiety, and relationship issues, in addition to substance abuse. My style is present-focused, solution-focused, and client-centered. I enjoy helping people and watching them grow, and strive to cheer you on in your path of development. I believe that humans are resilient. I believe the therapeutic relationship is one between equals who are growing and in the process of transforming together.

I am a therapist who appreciates and encourages my clients to come as they are, because I believe that this state of authenticity is where true healing begins. I love to create a warm, inviting space for healing, and I am passionate about teaching individuals how to deeply connect with themselves in order to strengthen their relationships with the self and others. I utilize evidence-based practices to help clients manage challenging life circumstances, reduce anxiety and stress, and accept their past so that it doesn’t continue to influence their future.

I believe in the importance of using creative expression as a source of healing and enrichment. Additionally, I have witnessed how powerful movement can be to help clients move through areas of their life where they are stuck or unfulfilled. In my coaching practice I have used components of “Flow Theory,” a method of Positive Psychology, to help clients find meaning, clarity and personal freedom within. By implementing things such as dance, meditation, movement and conversation, clients learn how to discover their inner strength and power to overcome challenges.

about the Therapist, Carrie Thom, MA

About Carrie (she/her/hers): In our work together we will cultivate a safe, welcoming space where healing naturally unfolds. I am passionate about being present with people in the hard and dark areas of their lives to empower their voice, restore dignity, and foster healing and resilience in the broken places. I believe that within the safety of a therapeutic relationship, with emotional support, people can begin to process and understand feelings, reactions, and experiences, facilitating their own growth and change.

I am grounded in meeting each person where they are with compassion and understanding, and I invite presence, curiosity, and connection. I have an eclectic, trauma informed approach in order to meet each client’s individual needs. I encourage artistic expression as it applies to every facet of healing emotional wounds and I believe that the arts connect with the whole brain helping people to process what has happened and how they feel about their story. While always learning more, my training is informed by research in attachment, spirituality, cognition, narrative, art, play, trauma and memory work, and trust-based relational models.  I enjoy working with people of all ages, especially young children and adolescents. 

I have a master’s degree in counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary and additional training from the Global Trauma Recovery Institute. I have had experience helping people experiencing complex trauma, anxiety, depression, shame, adoption, interpersonal struggles, abandonment, mood disorders, grief/loss, and parenting support. During my time living and working in an East African context for many years, and as a mom of six children, I realized my passion for working through trauma and doing preventative work to help people learn how to navigate their thoughts and emotions. We all need support in our lives, and I deeply admire those who courageously seek this out. I am honored to be entrusted with the fine china of people’s stories and I look forward to the opportunity to connect with you!