Hillarey Poffinbarger, LLMSW, received her master’s degree of Social Work Degree from the Grand Rapids campus of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in human services from Baker College in Muskegon, MI.
Hillarey’s work experience began as a crisis aide for a domestic violence shelter. While in this role of assisting women with their basic needs, she learned a lot about domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and how it impacted families. She continued in this field and implemented behavioral support plans and taught skills in how to live independently. These roles increased her knowledge about mental health and the justice system. Hillarey contributes her experience in conducting assessments with the elderly to assess dementia and team efforts in coordinating end-of-life care while at LifeCircles, for developing her passion to become a therapist. Hillarey wanted to become a therapist in high school because “I wanted to be there for others because I felt like nobody was there for me…be the person you needed when you were younger”. Then she realized adults need help/support, too, and the lack of knowledge/validation learned generationally as a society is heartbreaking, so she hopes to help as much as she can. Hillarey come to HCC from HealthWest where she worked as a therapist.
Her practice specialty includes cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy, as well as certified trauma spec professional.
When Hillarey is not treating her patients, she enjoys traveling, watching movies and baking.
Specializing In:
- Ages 10 – 21 years
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Social Skills
- Mindfulness
- CBT
- Self-Esteem
- Trauma Certification