GENUINE CARING: Genuine Way Family Therapy
Karah Gonstead of Genuine Way Family Therapy focuses on mental health for mothers, tweens, teens, and young adults
“Keep going, keep growing” reads the slogan painted on the wall inside Genuine Way Family Therapy in Eau Claire. It’s a fitting summary of the approach Karah Gonstead takes to providing therapy: positive, supportive, and practical.
“I really find myself loving working with life transitions,” explains Gonstead, a licensed clinical social worker. These may be the transitions tweens, teens, and young adults may have into middle school, high school, college, or the adult world, as well as the transitions women make into motherhood and family life.
Gonstead wants her clients, no matter who they are, to feel comfortable and communicative when they sit down to talk.
“I am always in my office with my socks,” she says with a smile while perched on a couch. “I always try to run my practice in a way that feels very casual but very professional. … I want you to grab the blanket and cuddle up. I want you just to be in a safe space when you’re here.”
Gonstead opened Genuine Way Family Therapy in 2018 and moved to her current location, 1813 Brackett Ave., in 2022.
An Elk Mound native, Gonstead holds bachelor’s degrees in psychology and human development from UW-Green Bay and a master’s degree in social work from UW-Milwaukee. She is Perinatal Mental Health Certified (PMH-C), which means she’s received advanced training on evidence-based ways to care for the mental health of women who are pregnant or postpartum.
As a mother of two young children, Gonstead has personally experienced many of the challenges women may face during and after pregnancy – including depression, pregnancy loss, traumatic births, and a maternal near miss – and this informs how she provides therapy. She knows that because of “mom guilt,” many women are reluctant to express the difficulties they may have with pregnancy and motherhood. “We don’t have to act like it’s just rainbows and butterflies,” she said of pregnancy. “You still get to be human. You still get to have your feelings.”
And often those feelings may quickly veer toward resentment and anger as couples struggle to adapt to the reality of having small children. “Especially early on, with all the hormonal fluctuations and all the sleep deprivation, the resentment just boils really fast when we feel like our partner is not being a partner to us,” she said.
Gonstead works with clients on how to communicate better so they are prepared for the tough conversations that may happen between partners. She also advises that couples expecting children proactively plan for the postpartum stage, even going so far as divvying out daily tasks ahead of time to lighten the mental load. And, once the baby has arrived, Gonstead works with moms to determine their core values and how they can still be met in the life they now lead.
“What I see a lot of with moms – once we get over some of that initial clinical framework – it’s really just figuring out a plan,” she said. “You are the default parent, you have all the stuff on your plate. How do we delegate?”
Gonstead wants to be bring attention to mental health issues beyond her practice, too. In fact, she’s helping bring an awareness-raising walk for maternal mental health, The Climb, to Eau Claire on June 22. (To learn more about the event, find Genuine Way on Facebook and Instagram.)
Working with young clients – from teens navigating adolescence to college grads living on their own for the first time – is also a passion for Gonstead. “I think navigating the teen years specifically is very different even from when I grew up,” she said. “There is more perceived pressure from teens about how to look, how to speak,” largely because of social media.
As with maternal mental health, Gonstead’s affinity for working with young clients is connected to her own life: As a teen, working with a therapist was a “saving grace” who helped her navigate the challenges of life.
Afterward, she said, “I just knew this was a path I was going to take, because I knew how much she impacted me, and I wanted to be able to do that for someone else.”
GENUINE WAY FAMILY THERAPY
Phone: (715) 737-9222
Address: 1813 Brackett Ave., Suite D, Eau Claire
Online: genuinewayfamilytherapy.com Facebook: Genuine Way Family Therapy Instagram: @genuinewayfamilytherapy
