We are wounded healers.
We have both experienced suffering, pain, grief and loss, stricken
by great tragedy yet have journeyed on a path of self-discovery and healing. Now, we have a deep desire to walk alongside of others others on their healing journey. We understand that the wound is where the light enters. We are a collaborative team, a "dynamic-duo", or so we've been told!
Kim J. Desrosiers
Certified in Grief Recovery & Expressive Arts
Phone: 860-807-5308
Patti C. Dunne
MA., LPC, Founder & Director of The Healing Tree, LLC
Phone: 860-377-4064
Email: thehealingtree08@gmail.com
Kim's passion, plus a convergence of personal, professional and creative experiences have led her to this calling and life purpose. Kim is a gifted teacher and counselor, an empath and overall friendly creativity guide-ess! Kim knows personally "when words fail, art speaks".
A "wounded healer" Kim is familiar with deep loss and pain which has equipped her to walk beside others on their journeys through trauma, grief loss and recovery. Additionally, Kim's professional experiences as an inspiring Art Teacher (ages 5 - 90), compassionate Recreational Therapist to the elderly has further equipped her for this endeavor.
Kim founded Be Brave Art & Design Studio and works in affiliation with Patti Dunne at The Healing Tree LLC. She offers the private and group sessions in following healing modalities to clients at The Healing Tree:
• Certified Facilitator in The Grief Recovery Method®
• Expressive Art & Art SOZO Facilitator
• Art4Healing Workshops
• Private and Semi-Private Art Classes
KIM'S HEALING JOURNEY:
I found myself widowed when my 37-year-old husband of 13 years completed suicide. I was, as you’d expect, devastated. I did everything I knew to process my grief: I went to pastoral counseling, therapy and attended weekly grief loss and suicide support groups. Further, I read books about bereavement, journaled, and joined social media groups for widows. I found that these steps were all valuable, to some degree. However, I was unaware that the unresolved grief and anger caused me to seek comfort in ways which only hurt myself and others. My closest family and friends were left unaware, as I had deeply buried my pain and anger.
I found myself in a crisis of faith - my once deep Christian convictions compromised by poor choices, driven by the pain. Time does not heal wounds. It is WHAT WE DO with the time that matters. I was grateful to be partnered with a Certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist® who walked me through the journey of healing.
As a result, I became a Certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist®, an auth-entic guide, to walk beside my clients on their own path to recovery.
It is my honor and privilege to offer a safe, confidential space to process your losses.
Patti Dunne is a Connecticut Licensed Professional Counselor, Board
She has also received her training as both a Stephen Minister and Stephen Minister Leader. She is a member of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, The Association of Professional Chaplains and the Association of Christian Counselors. Patti has obtained her biblical counseling certification from the Association of Christian Counselors.
Patti obtained her Bachelor's of Science Degree in Health Education from Springfield College in 1972 and her Master's Degree in Pastoral Counseling from St. Joseph College in West Hartford, CT in 2005. She completed her internship requirements at the Waterbury Child Guidance Center and Saint Francis Hospital followed by two years of Clinical Pastoral Education at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut. As a community leader and former owner, director and teacher at the Patti Dunne’s School of Gymnastics in Hebron, Connecticut. Patti has over forty years of diverse experience in teaching, motivating and empowering children, youth and adults to accomplish physical, emotional and spiritual goals in a holistic and teamwork approach. Patti has been married for forty nine years. She and her husband, Kevin are the proud parents of four grown children and fourteen grandchildren.
In her second vocation as a Pastoral Counselor and Chaplain, Patti utilizes an existential and faith-based approach of counseling draws upon her personal experiences, skills acquired through her education, and clinical experiences of working for four years as a Chaplain.
She considers her vocation as a sacred calling from God and seeks to
bring restoration and healing to others according to the biblical mission as stated in Isaiah 61: 3- 4:
"To comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow upon them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated
for generations.”
“Converting a painful inheritance into something good requires all the discernment we can muster, both from within us and what we can glean from mentors. The worst of all curses that people inflict upon us, the real abuse and terror, can’t be forgotten or undone but they can be put to good use in the new life. But the past is not denied. We still are here with all our talents, gifts, abilities, failings and our weaknesses. Our baggage comes along, nothing wasted and nothing lost. Perhaps the greatest blessing that religious heritage can bestow is an open mind, one that can listen without judging. It is rare that we recognize it in another when we encounter it. It is often seen in people who have attained, what the monastic traditions terms “detachment” – an ability to live at peace with whatever happens. Such people do not have a closed-off air, nor a boastful demeanor. It is clear that their wounds have opened the way of compassion for others. Compassion is strength and soul of religion. A kind of death: the lid closes on what went on before."
- Kathleen Norris: Amazing Grace
Counseling Goal