Greer launches counseling practice

Living in a beautiful place like Sisters is no protection against life's traumas. We all experience pain and loss, families hit rough going. Sometimes it's all too much to handle on our own.

Cindy Greer, a licensed social worker specializing in counseling for adolescents and families, can help.

Greer has established her practice in Sisters at 392 E. Main Ave., Ste. 3B.

"I enjoy working with a diverse population including adolescents, adults and families," Greer said. "I specialize in treating adjustment issues, individuals in crisis, depression, anxiety, stress, trauma/abuse, grief and loss, parenting, personal growth, self-esteem issues and aging and life transitions."

While she works with many different kinds of people, it's the adolescents and families that lie at the heart of her work. Greer moved from Central Oregon to Alaska with her husband Dr. Steven Greer a couple of years ago. While in Juneau, she worked with a youth-oriented agency and found herself most drawn to that area of her practice.

It's a story familiar to many folks: the bubbly, affectionate child becomes the sullen and withdrawn teen. Perhaps she's hanging out with a questionable peer group; maybe he's experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Perhaps its as simple - and as frustrating - as every communication becoming an argument.

Mom and dad are at their wit's end.

Greer notes that tensions of all kinds and degrees are part and parcel of a major transition stage in life. Adolescents must pull away and establish their own identity, and parents must let go while simultaneously remaining responsible for a teen who is still a child.

"Both are 'doing their job' developmentally," Greer says. "But sometimes they don't understand that piece of it - how normal that conflict can be."

Greer's approach is a positive one.

"My approach is both client-centered and strength-based," she said.

That means relating to clients, not maintaining an "all-knowing" distance. And it means focusing on what is right about a person and a situation, what strengths can be nurtured in people in order to build stronger and healthier relationships.

Greer comes by her skills academically and "in the trenches."

"I received my undergraduate education through University of Oregon and my masters in social work through Portland State University," she said. "My experience includes adult and adolescent in-patient residential and school and community out-patient mental health, where I provided individual, group and family therapies with culturally diverse populations."

But perhaps most importantly, "also what I bring to my practice (is) my experience as a parent" raising four children in Central Oregon.

Greer worked in the business field for years, but has always recognized a calling to her current career.

"I really do bring myself to the therapeutic relationship, so it's very authentic," she said. "And I am very passionate. This is where I'm supposed to be. This is everything I knew it would be."

Greer has worked on referral from the Sisters School District and from health-care professionals.

Greer works with insurance companies and offers a sliding scale in some cases. For more information call 541-420-7671.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

• Email: editor@nuggetnews.com
• Phone: 5415499941