Meet Jean Leverich, PhD, LMSW

Effective, compassionate therapy to help you move forward with clarity, intention and joy.

Therapy for long-term change.

I’m here to support you with empathy, compassion and expertise.

I specialize in supporting busy professionals, healthcare workers, and helpers of all kinds who have it within them to work through their pain and heal their wounds but need some help getting there. I’m a certified EMDR therapist who has over 20 years experience as a clinical social worker.

My advanced training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (a somatic approach), and Internal Family Systems (“parts work”) means I have the expertise you need and deserve. I also have a background in improv and theater, so we may even find ourselves having fun along the way! Therapy doesn’t need to be all tears. My clients describe me as warm, collaborative, supportive, creative and nonjudgmental.

Through my work with clients, I have learned that “words are not enough” and that therapy modalities that address suffering from a “bottom up” perspective have long-lasting, permanent results. Therapy approaches that focus primarily on coping skills and talk therapy to gain insight can sometimes leave you feeling frustrated, because no matter how much you try to talk and think your way into feeling better, it can only take you so far. You may intellectually understand your issues, but you still feel like there’s a disconnect between head and heart.

My clients are looking for deeper change. My approach integrates EMDR with attachment-focused therapies such as IFS (Internal Family Systems) and body-focused psychotherapies such as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, along with talk therapy, so that every step we take together is tailored to healing that includes both mind and body and helps you get to the root of issues so can start to feel like yourself again.

My goal is to empower you in every step of the process. Together, we’ll identify the difficult experiences that are causing you to feel stuck and we’ll create a roadmap so that you’ll know how to achieve your goals. We’ll focus on your strengths and build on your resources with practical mind-body tools that really work for you. We’ll work on transforming old wounds that are causing distress so they no longer keep you stuck in old patterns and unhelpful beliefs. By the end of our time together, you will know that even when life gets tough—which it inevitably will!—you will meet future challenges with self-compassion and resilience.

why I love EMDR & EMDR INTENSIVES

EMDR is transformative.

As Bessel van der Kolk wrote,“The body keeps the score.” There are some things that our emotions and bodies hold onto that our thinking brain alone can’t resolve and release.

EMDR helps you resolve and release old beliefs about yourself. Somatic, Attachment-Focused EMDR helps you feel now what you couldn’t feel when you were overwhelmed so that you feel more like an adult in the present moment and the trauma of past experences no longer shapes your experience of the present.

If you’re like most of my clients, you’re not looking to spend another couple of years waiting to feel better. EMDR Intensives are an alternative to traditional weekly therapy so that you can get the results you want faster and more efficiently. 

I work well with clients who …

  • Are motivated and insightful

  • Are creative and curious about themselves and the world

  • Are open to new ways of doing therapy

  • Are looking for long-term change and embrace the idea that healing is a journey

  • Want to experience more joy and savor meaningful moments in life 

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive, and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”

—Maya Angelou

My approach is …

  • Shining light on and celebrating the strengths you have and what is already working.

  • Everyone is different. I work to create a therapy experience that is meaningful to you. We collaborate about what is going well in therapy and how we can change things to make it even better.

  • We have all had moments that overwhelmed our ability to cope - that is trauma. Trauma-informed means being aware of how these experiences impact us holistically and responding in a way that prevents further harm.

  • Meeting you where you are today and helping you journey to where you want to be. Everyone is welcome and everyone is worthy. I am a LGBTQ and neurodiversity affirming therapist and I strive to be anti-racist in and out of the therapy room

  • I believe that we are all doing the best we can in any given moment. I believe therapy should be a judgment free zone so you can feel safe to explore your story.

  • Being present in the moment. Checking in on how the session feels. What is happening in the room? What is happening in your emotions, thoughts, and body? Learning to listen inside. Let that guide us.

Trauma 

HELPING
PROFESSIONALS 

 ANXIETY

PERFORMANCE

Education & Licensure

Licensed Master of Social Work  (Michigan #6801080967)

  • Masters of Social Work, University of Michigan

  • Ph.D., English Literature, University of Michigan

  • MA, English, Georgetown University

  • BA, English & Psychology, Hamilton College, BA, English

Training & Certifications

EMDRIA Certified Therapist and Consultant-in-Training

  • Advanced EMDR Trainings

    • Early Intervention for Recent Critical Incidents: Recent Traumatic Episode Protocols (R-TEP) and Group Traumatic Episode Protocols (G-TEP). Presenter: Marlene Kenney, Root-2-Root Counseling, Consultation, Training

    • EMDR Beyond the Basics: Attachment and Preverbal Trauma. Presenter: Deb DelVecchio-Scully, NeuroPotential Academy

    • EMDR Therapy Protocols for Early Intervention & Ongoing Traumatic Stress (PRECI), EMDR Integrative Group Treatment Protocol for Ongoing Trauma (EMDR-IGTP), and Acute Stress Syndrome Stabilization (ASSYST). Presenter: Ignacio Jarero, Scaling Up

    • EMDR 2.0 Masterclass. Presenters: Ad de Jongh and Suzy Matthjissen, EMDR Advanced Training & Distance Learning

    • EMDR Beyond PTSD. Presenters: Ad de Jongh and Suzy Matthjissen, EMDR Advanced Training & Distance Learning

    • Simplifying Complex PTSD: New Treatment Approaches. Presenters: Ad de Jongh and Suzy Matthjissen, EMDR Advanced Training & Distance Learning

    • EMDR 2.0: An Enhanced Version of EMDR Therapy. Presenters: Ad de Jongh and Suzy Matthjissen, EMDR Advanced Training & Distance Learning

    • Integrating EMDR Therapy, Structural Dissociation, and Ego State Therapy. Presenters: Farnsworth Lobenstine and Paula Merucci

    • IFS-Informed EMDR. Presenter: Bruce Hersey, Syzergy Institute

    • When the Absence of a Negative Does Not Make a Positive: Processing Attachment Wounding in Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Trauma. Presenter: Lana Epstein, Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy Trauma Studies Center

    • Four Blinks Version of Flash: An Open Approach to Trauma Reprocessing. Presenter: Thomas Zimmerman, Institute for Creative Mindfulness

    • Advanced Memory Reconsolidation, the Flash Technique, and EMDR. Presenter: Philip Manfield, Virtual EMDRIA Summit

    • EMDR Therapy with Complex PTSD Clients Through the Lenses of Resiliency. Presenter: Arielle Schartz, Virtual EMDRIA Summit

    • Conceptualization - A Guide for EMDR Therapists. Presenter: Dolores Mosquera, Virtual EMDRIA Summit

    • EMDR Therapy: A Comprehensive Trauma-Focused Solution to Treat Addiction. Presenter: Stephen Dansiger, Virtual EMDRIA Summit

    • Utilization of EMDR Therapy with Grief and Mourning. Presenter: Roger Solomon, Virtual EMDRIA Summit

    • Somatic, Attachment-Focused (SAFE) EMDR: EMDRIA Approved Basic Training. Presenter: Deb Kennard, Personal Training Institute

  • EMDR Intensives Trainings

    • EMDR Intensives Course. Presenters: Kelly Dent and Sadie Smith, Scaling Up

    • How to Set up Your Own (C) PTSD Treatment Program. Presenter: Suzy Matthjissen, ETTI: Enhancing Trauma Treatment Institute

    • Zero Disturbance Curriculum and Resources. Trainer and Facilitator: Kambria Evans, Zero Disturbance

  • First Responders Specific Training

    • Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. Dennis Potter, International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc./Wayne State University.

    • Crossroads of Crisis: The Impact of Moral Injury and PTSD on First Responders and Why Leadership Matters, Rita Nakashima Brock Volunteers of America and Shay Moral Injury Center

    • Improving First Responder Resiliency with EMDR. Presenter: Sara Gilman, EMDRIA Virtual Summit

    • Together We Can Strengthen Disaster Response Capacity - Are You Ready?, Presenter: Regina Morrow Robinson, EMDRIA Virtual Summit

  • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing

    • Affect Dysregulation, Survival Defenses, and Traumatic Memory (SP Level 1). Presenters: Kelly Callahan and Anne Westcott, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute

    • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Developmental Injury (SP Level 2). Presenters: Jennifer Gardner and Kekuni Minton, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute

    • Integrating Treatment Models for Maximum Effectiveness: Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR, IFS and DBT. Presenter: Janina Fisher, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1. Presenters: Ralph Cohen and Dan Reed, IFS Institute

  • Mindful Self-Compassion Core Skills 1 & 2. Presenters: Kristin Neff and Chris Germer, Center for Mindful Self-Compassion

  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) - Foundations. Presenter: Jennifer Waltz, Behavioral Tech

Professional Associations & Affiliations

  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing International Association (EMDRIA)

  • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute Professional Association (SPIPA)

  • National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

  • LGBTQIA Affirming Therapists Network