Leah Parnes

Vegan Counselor in Michigan

Leah Parnes, LPC, CAADC completed her graduate degree at Eastern Michigan University and has experience working in a variety of university, nonprofit, and healthcare settings. Prior to joining the team at Lotus, Leah spent several years developing critical skills as a clinician by providing therapy for individuals struggling with addiction and mental health disorders. She specializes in depression and mood, anxiety disorders, substance abuse and co-occurring disorders, student mental health as well as working with healthcare providers and compassion fatigue (STS).

Utilizing a person-centered approach and strengths-based focus, Leah works to foster safe, open, non-judgmental space of growth and healing for those she works with. As part of her efforts to cultivate this type of environment, Leah strives to create a practice guided by collaboration with her clients, their needs and goals for therapy, focusing on critical dialogue and an equitable relationship of mutual respect where counselor and client act as partners in healing and growth. She incorporates evidence-based interventions such as CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), mindfulness based approaches such as ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy), MI (motivational interviewing).

Additionally, Leah enjoys assisting clients with life transitions including college mental health and other life stages, career and guidance counseling as well relationship concerns. Leah is passionate about advocacy and social justice issues.

What We Do

While searching for relief and clarity, you have noticed that some areas of your life are more of a struggle than others.

It has become obvious that the pressure you’re facing is impacting your life.

The things you worry about consume so much of your attention and energy. Yet, the outcome you are looking for is not any closer.

You have tried different strategies and believed that the more effort and energy you put in, the closer you’re going to get to your goals.

You are struggling to keep everything under control. You feel frustrated and stuck.

On your worst days, it seems life is starting to spiral. It is easy to get caught up in the quicksand of more and more effort while sinking deeper. It is how it works.

You are not alone. We understand, and we are here to help.

Our professional team at Lotus is here to help you break that vicious cycle, lean into rather than fight the discomfort of “quicksand” in order to “get out”. It’s easy to lose perspective and no longer see how we contribute to our struggle. We are here to help you regain clarity and perspective.

You can feel focused and confident again.

Connect with us. Get professional support and learn effective skills to manage your concerns and improve your relationships. Tapping into your potential is possible. Even though the pressure you face has led you to feel lost or discouraged, it doesn’t mean you can’t start feeling joy, contentment, and satisfaction again.

At Lotus Consulting

We offer a safe and judgment-free environment and a deeply caring, compassionate and highly trained professional, multidisciplinary team. You can begin to recover while feeling heard. We offer emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness skills, mindfulness and acceptance training. We help you expand your psychological flexibility and pursue valued living.

Live the life that is meaningful to you

Our team of licensed therapists will help you refocus on what you value in life by cutting through the noise and distractions, leaning into discomfort, integrating effective tools.

When you seek help at Lotus

• You will stop fighting the past and predicting the future
• You will stop fighting your thoughts, memories, and emotions
• You will embark on your journey of more effectiveness, focus, joy, and satisfaction
• You will get back on the path to living a life that is meaningful to you

Our mission

Our mission is to provide a deeply caring, compassionate care, safe and judgment-free environment coupled with evidence-based therapies to help you live a richer, fuller and more satisfying life.

Through the use of mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapies we help you and all clients manage painful emotions, increase tolerance of distress, let go of struggle, living mindfully and getting clear on what really matters to you. We help you to navigate feelings and experiences effectively.

You can feel confident, hopeful and connected again.

We are dedicated to a high standard of ethical and effective care.

We are deeply passionate about mental health and wellness as well as social justice issues.

The clinical approaches of our team members vary within the spectrum of evidence-based treatments ranging from mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapies such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Prolonged Exposure treatment. All of us at Lotus believe in and conduct our work from a place of empowerment and inclusion, drawing from multicultural competence.

We help clients address the following concerns and more

• Trauma
• Stress and anxiety
• Depression and mood disorders
• Eating and body image issues
• Alcohol and other drugs and addictions
• Performance enhancement

Our Mission

Lotus Consulting can help you capitalize on your strengths, assisting your journey in a meaningful direction within the context of your life.

Like the “Lotus Effect”, described by Barthlott and Neinhuis as “repelling water, mud and debris, emerging pristine despite muddy terrain”, Lotus Consulting provides a variety of mindfulness based wellness and mental health services to help you explore and navigate your “muddy terrain” – be it personal concerns and coping or external barriers.

Services range from mental health assessment and treatment to consulting, training and education delivered to individuals, relationships, groups and organizations undergoing or desiring personal or professional growth and change, healing and recovery. Helping individuals and groups capitalize on their strengths, Lotus Consulting has had many years’ privilege of witnessing client growth, change and healing, frequently leaving behind unhelpful thinking and behaviors, lack of focus, clarity and motivation.