Aleena Hellebuyck, MA, CAADC-DP

Limited license professional counselor

Aleena has over 10 years of experience with children, adolescents, and families. She is skilled at play therapy with young children, and therapy for teens and families dealing with trauma, anxiety, identity exploration and addiction. She is also trained in the Gottman method and specializes in helping couples navigate all phases of relationships, providing premarital counseling, crisis management and therapy for distress and communication breakdown. She also provides discernment counseling to spouses who don’t share the same commitment to the relationship, and need help figuring out whether to remain in the marriage or seek divorce. Aleena’s clinical style is warm, curious, and collaborative, honoring each client’s unique story and capacity for growth. She is especially passionate about helping people reconnect with themselves, build stronger relationships, and live in alignment with their values.

Clinical Specializations

• Couples therapy
• Play therapy for young children
• Child & adolescent therapy
• Addiction
• Family conflict & divorce

Additional Expertise

• Expert in child abuse & neglect (testified in foster care cases for the State of Michigan)
• Juvenile drug court
• Adoption
• Stress management
• Criminality and re-entry

Education & Background

• Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Central Michigan University
• Limited Licensed Professional Counselor (LLPC), State of Michigan
• Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor – Development Plan (CAADC-DP)
• Former foster care case manager, State of Michigan
• Facilitator for IOP and juvenile drug court groups, Emmet & Charlevoix counties

Favorite therapeutic books

The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.

This book illustrates how trauma reshapes both the mind and body, and why lasting recovery depends on more than just talking, it requires rebuilding safety, connection, and trust. It deepened my understanding of PTSD and reinforced my belief that healing happens through reconnection to one’s own body.

The Molecule of More, Daniel Z. Lieberman & Michael E. Long

I love how this book makes neuroscience feel relatable. It explains how dopamine drives our desire for more, more achievement, more novelty, more stimulation and how that drive can inspire, and yet overwhelm us. It gave me a deeper framework for helping clients navigate the tension between striving for growth and staying grounded in the present.

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  Express Yourself with Confidence: Practical Steps to Build Assertiveness and Stronger Communication

  Confident self-expression means saying what you need and think with clarity, calm, and respect—while protecting relationships and your integrity. This guide lays out why assertiveness matters at home and at work, how to strengthen communication skills, and which evidence-based therapies and coaching approaches speed real progress. Many people struggle with fear of speaking up, social anxiety, perfectionism, or people-pleasing patterns that undermine negotiation, leadership, and connection; the strategies here address those core drivers. You’ll find step-by-step assertiveness practices, daily routines to build self-efficacy, therapeutic and coaching pathways for social anxiety and high-stakes conversations, and practical boundary-setting scripts you can rehearse. The article also includes comparison tables, anonymized case vignettes showing outcomes, and focused tips for executives, adolescents, and couples to...

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  Releasing Tension Through Muscle Relaxation: Practical, Evidence-Informed Techniques for Stress and Anxiety Relief

  Muscle relaxation describes intentional practices that reduce skeletal muscle tension and interrupt the body’s stress response. Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is one of the most extensively studied methods for doing this. Emerging research shows targeted relaxation lowers sympathetic arousal, strengthens parasympathetic tone, and produces measurable reductions in anxiety, tension headaches, and sleep disruption. This article explains why muscle tension develops, how PMR works both physiologically and psychologically, and how to combine PMR with breathwork, mindfulness, and trauma-informed somatic approaches for more durable relief. You’ll find clear, evidence-informed how-to steps, comparisons of complementary methods, clinical applications (including CBT and somatic models), and practical resources to begin a daily practice. Sections move from causes and mechanisms to step-by-step technique, clinical integration, and...

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