My specialty & love are helping individuals at transition points of their lives, with a focus from Adolescence to Mid-life and beyond.
These are times of dealing with many changes in one’s life. These changes may include family, friends, and your role in community.
This is also a time when we are surrounded with “Transition Myths” i.e.; How we SHOULD be feeling, acting and thinking. Some of these are Memory Loss, Depression, Anxiety, Physical Fitness, Sexuality, and being Neurodivergent! My goals are to educate and separate myth from fact while helping YOU ease life’s transitions so YOU can continue YOUR life with new hopes and dreams, respect and dignity. Each person is UNIQUE! Issues are NOT AGE SPECIFIC and can impact ANYONE at ANY age!
With advanced education & experience, I offer Memory Loss & Cognitive functioning assessments. Not all memory loss is permanent. Let me help you down this journey. And I promise, while some professionals may hand you a diagnosis and walk away, I will provide you with all the research and resources I have to offer and will help you look for more answers. People should never have to go through life and hardships alone.
One of my newer areas of focus, which was a great unmet need, has been providing counseling for those who have lost a “4-legged” family member. This is an area that I receive referrals not only from veterinarians but also family doctors and OB/GYNs, “I am referring Mrs. Smith as she recently lost her only child…her child was her 20 year old cat, Roxie…”
I offer counseling for Pet Grief & Loss. Some individuals have family members with 4 legs vs 2. Those losses are devastating as well and rarely understood by the general public.
I have been providing counseling to individuals, couples and families from many races, religions, socioeconomic and educational backgrounds for over 30 years. I work with preteens to those over 100 years young. I have provided therapy in my office, in individual homes, in schools and in retirement communities, nursing homes and hospitals. I have provided instructional in-services on cultural awareness and aging issues. I have set up memory clinics and performed routine depression and anxiety assessments. For me, helping people live better lives has always been what I am about. It is a gift I share every moment of every day.
As an older, more “SEASONED” therapist, I have been where many of you are and survived. It has not been easy. I can tell you that with each action comes not one but many reactions and in many areas.
My father was the highlight of not only my life but all the lives he interacted with. He was a teacher and elementary school principal. He saw everyone with the same lens and stuck up for the kids picked on. After school, he would give no charge swim lessons to neighborhood kids who were in need. He had cancer in his 30’s and only had a 5% chance of beating it, back then, but he did. He lived till age 45 and died suddenly during a vacation with my mother and my little 7 year old brother. I was 25. Even though it was summer break and most teachers and principals were on vacation, the mortuary was standing room only, inside and out.
I have a little brother born when I was a senior in High School. Another highlight of my life. He was always athletic, going to the Hood River in Oregon, when he was a young teen, to compete in the Junior Windsurfing Olympics. He is now a full professor at a state college. He does research in cardiac and ultramarathons.
My sister, 18 months younger than I was born blue and had seizures all her life. She died suddenly of seizure and heart attack before the age of 50.
My mother was a highly educated strong woman who would never give up the fight. However after watching 2 husbands die, one suddenly in front of her, her youngest daughter die suddenly before she was 50 and then one by one, all of her other family members at home, Great Pyrenees and New Foundlands, died. After that, mom gave up the will to live and died within a few years of a broken heart (even though she would never admit it).
I divorced my husband after 50 years, I experienced many areas of stigma, prejudice, shame, loss of friends and family and many other areas of life we often take for granted.
Being married to 1 person for 50 years was not always easy, but we made it, just not to 51, good and not so good. I developed tools along the way to cope for me and us. Tools you may also need to develop for you and yours.
It was a journey that has been heart wrenching but I can guarantee you that this event(the divorce) like the other traumatic events in my life and other successes in life, they have been identified, dealt with. The constant, “ON THE JOB TRAINING” allows me to offer a more empathetic and knowledgeable therapist for my clients.
Not all relationships can be saved in the way we wish. Some need to be reevaluated and redefined. I am here to assist you in whatever way YOU CHOSE and support YOU IN YOUR DECISION.
And yes, I have gone to therapy to have a neu;tral third party to help me navigate my future courses. True, I have the formal education and life experiences as well as a “Dr’s Bag” full of information and skills, but sometimes all of us need someone on the outside to truly listen, validate and help us navigate through the storms.
Take care and Keep in touch.
Dr Michaela Hammer
