Steady North Counseling & Wellness now offering therapy services in McGregor
Steady North Counseling & Wellness owner Lisa Broussard recently began offering therapy services out of her office in McGregor. She is excited to use her extensive background in mental health care and resources to benefit the local community through in person and telehealth appointments.
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
Lisa Broussard brings an extensive background in mental health care to her new venture, Steady North Counseling & Wellness. She recently began offering therapy services out of her office at 326 Main St., in McGregor, and also offers telehealth appointments.
Broussard grew up in the area and earned a bachelor of arts in psychology at Coe College. She began work in youth corrections, but a drive to help youth before they reached that point brought her into child welfare, or CPS, while living in Colorado and Washington.
“I worked for some government entities like the state or the county. I got to work with some Native American tribes on reservations. Just really figuring out families’ strengths and then taking a look at those safety worries and trying to match them together. I got to help foster families become certified to take foster kids as well,” she shared. “It was rewarding.”
Broussard later earned a master of social work degree from Eastern Washington University, gaining more education and resources to help families. The COVID-19 pandemic began around that time and she met with clients virtually. Today, she’s fully licensed, credentialed and insured in multiple states—Wisconsin, Iowa and Colorado.
Now, while she continues to work for Crawford County Health and Human Services in Wisconsin, Broussard wants to support northeast Iowa communities too.
“I’d gathered all of these resources and tools and education and I wanted to then be able to help and support people here,” she said.
The name Steady North felt right.
“It’s about meeting people where they are with the struggles they have and then helping support them to get to where they’d like to be,” she explained.
Broussard sees and hears about the need for additional mental health services in the area.
“I’ve heard so many stories about barriers getting in to see someone. Sometimes it’s feeling scared to bring it up to medical providers or to others—even to your support systems—and then not feeling heard. Then there’s the wait list or financial barriers to get into services,” she said. “While I do offer telehealth services, so I can do virtual appointments, I think that, sometimes, face-to-face and sitting down with someone is really helpful.”
Broussard offers individual therapy sessions for a range of needs and works with couples and families too.
“Sometimes I think people feel like therapy is for people who have these huge struggles. While, yes, I do support people with some significant mental health challenges, it also could be the new mom that’s struggling after coming home from the hospital. Or someone that just lost someone really close and is having a hard time with grief. Or a kiddo that has some diagnoses with autism or ADHD and they don’t know how to quiet their body and need some support building some skills. It can really be anything across all of those areas,” she said.
Broussard has been an instructor and completed various trainings. One is for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, which she said helps people process trauma in a way that makes some of the physical symptoms less powerful. That, in turn, makes those memories a little less powerful as well.
“It’s data driven, evidence based, and it shows that people find relief more quickly from their symptoms,” she noted.
Broussard has also completed a trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy training. That’s focused on kids who have had trauma, helping them process it in a way to limit symptoms from manifesting or growing bigger.
As a social worker with experience supporting different populations, from schools to hospitals, Broussard hopes to identify—then bridge—gaps for services.
“Part of me being back in this community and being in this role is trying to hear from people what are those gaps and what is needed,” she stressed. While much of her work is with individuals, “strengthening individuals within our community strengthens the community.”
The “Steady North” Facebook page and website, steadynorthwellness.com, offer more information about Broussard and the services she offers. She invites people to schedule appointments however they feel most comfortable: phone call or texting, email, even Facebook Messenger.
“I want people to do whatever they need to do. If they see the door open, stop in,” she said. The office is ADA accessible.
She also understands that, sometimes, virtual appointments are necessary too.
“If getting into here is overwhelming or you’re unable to, reach out. I can make it work,” Broussard assured.
So far, she’s been humbled by the community support for Steady North and the services it offers.
“It lets me know there are people in the area that see the benefit and understand that the stigma [around mental health] isn’t needed,” Broussard said.
Ultimately, she wants to flip the script on mental health.
“Instead of thinking about labels like ‘I’m broken, I’m weak’—I don’t want those used at all—it’s about being healthy, taking care of yourself, resiliency,” she shared.
