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Attunigrate

  • Culturally Responsive Therapy in Michigan

    Attunigrate offers virtual therapy for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, and
    first-generation adults across Michigan. Our therapists are trained in
    trauma-informed, culturally responsive care, and several of us share the
    experiences our clients bring in. Sessions are online, most major insurance is
    accepted, and we offer bilingual Spanish care.

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Does this sound like you?

You've been the only person like you in the room so many times that you've stopped noticing you're doing it

You code-switch so automatically you're not sure which version is actually you

Your family's idea of what you owe them and your own idea of a life don't line up, and saying so out loud feels like betrayal

You've had therapists you had to educate about your own culture before you could get to your actual problem

You're the successful one, the one who made it, and you cannot tell anyone how much it costs you

You carry things your parents survived and never named

What's actually happening

Living between cultures asks your nervous system to run a constant background process. You are reading the room, adjusting your voice, predicting how you will be received, and deciding what to leave out. That is vigilance, and vigilance is expensive. Held long enough, it stops feeling like effort and starts feeling like personality.


This is why the usual advice does not land. You are not managing a thought distortion. You are carrying a load that was real, and often still is. The work is not convincing yourself the vigilance was unnecessary. It is building enough safety that your system can put some of it down, and grieving what it cost to carry it this long.

How we treat it

Culturally Responsive Care
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Your culture is context for the work, not a topic you have to explain first. Your therapist does the learning.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

The part of you that performs and the part that resents performing are both trying to protect you. IFS gets them talking instead of fighting.

EMDR
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Processes specific memories that still carry a physical charge, without needing to narrate them in detail.

If you've tried therapy before and it didn't help

A lot of our clients are not new to therapy. They are new to therapy that did not require them to translate first. If you spent your last round of sessions explaining your family, your culture, or your community before you could get todid not require them to translate first. If you spent your last round of sessions explaining your family, your culture, or your community before you could get to

what was actually wrong, the therapy was not the problem. The fit was. Tell us what happened last time in your first session. It is useful information, not a complaint.

What the first six sessions look like

Before you start

A free consult with the therapist you have been matched to. You are matched on what you are bringing, not on who has an opening, and you still have to feel safe with the person in front of you. We verify your insurance and tell  you your exact cost before session one.

Sessions 1 and 2

 History and what brought you here: the primary concern, and the life events that led to it. There is paperwork at this stage, and it can feel like a lot. No one is asking you to relive anything yet. By the end of session 2, you and your therapist set goals together, on a three- to six-month horizon.

Sessions 3 and 4

 You are both still getting acclimated, and you are deciding together how to approach the thing you came in for. Your therapist is mostly listening here rather than teaching. This is your time to talk and put things down.

Sessions 5 and 6

 If EMDR was part of the plan at intake, this is usually where it starts. If it was not, this is often where your therapist starts handing you language: words for patterns you have lived a long time without being able to name. By this point, the early doubts have been said out loud and dealt with, and it feels safe to work.

How long does this actually take?

Most clients notice something has shifted somewhere between three and six months in. Real, but not dramatic. The larger changes tend to arrive in year one and year two.


We would rather tell you that now than have you decide at month two that therapy does not work. Nishani, Shelby, and Desiree work psychodynamically, which starts from the position that people do not change quickly and there is no point pretending otherwise. Many of their clients stay for years because they want to. If you want something more contained, Dr. Leija works short-term, usually six to eight months.

Who you'd work with

Nishani Jayawardena

LPC, NCC, EMDR-T

Trauma, EMDR for childhood trauma, immigrant and first-generation identity

What clients say

"Shelby has been incredible to work with. I am getting to process so much. She is direct but effective. So glad I found her." (K.D.)(K.D.)

Book with Nishani

Dr. Silvia Leija

PhD, LMFT

Bilingual Spanish. Couples, chronic pain, complex trauma, immigration evaluations

What clients say

"I love love love Silvia. She helps me alot. I can see different points of views when I'm stuck. And I love that we align on so much."  (A.T.)

Book with Dr. Silvia

Shelby McCliggott

LPC, ACS, EMDR-T

Sexual assault and domestic violence recovery, PTSD, veterans, Black women's mental health

What clients say

"Shelby has been incredible to work with. I am getting to process so much. She is direct but effective. So glad I found her."  (K.D.)

Book with Shelby

Insurance & Payment Options for Therapy in Michigan

We accept most major insurance plans. Attunigrate is in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Blue Care Network, Aetna, Priority Health, and UnitedHealthcare.

Most clients using insurance pay a copay between $25 and $75 per session, depending on their plan. We verify your exact cost before your first session so there are no surprises.


Private pay is $150 per session with most of our therapists, $175 with Dr. Leija.
We do not accept Medicare or Medicaid.

Check your coverage
See full pricing

FAQ's

It means your culture is the context your therapist already works with, not a topic you have to teach them first. In practice: we do the learning about your background; we do not treat your family structure or your community as a curiosity, and we do not ask you to translate before we get to what is wrong.

Yes. Several of our therapists share the experiences our clients bring in, including first-generation and immigrant backgrounds. If it matters to you to work with someone who does not need that part explained, say so when you reach out and we will factor it into who you are matched with.

Yes. Dr. Silvia Leija, PhD, LMFT, provides therapy in Spanish and English, and also completes immigration evaluations. All sessions are virtual, so it does not matter where in Michigan you are. Her work is short term, usually six to eight months.

No, and it is more common here than you would guess. Many of our clients are the first in their family to do this, which means they arrive with no template for it and often some guilt about needing it. That is a normal place to start, not a complication.

Yes. Sessions are virtual, which for a lot of our clients is the practical answer to this question. And if part of the work turns out to be how to hold a family that disapproves of the work, that is worth session time too. Several of our therapists do exactly that.

No. What you bring to your sessions is confidential, and that is a legal obligation your therapist carries, not a courtesy. The exceptions are the standard ones every licensed clinician in Michigan works under: if you are at

risk of harming yourself or someone else, we are required to act.

Yes, and not by talking you out of what happened. The work is on what carrying it costs you: the vigilance, the second-guessing, the version of yourself you assemble to get through the day. Your therapist is not going to ask you to prove it happened first.

Yes. Affirming care is how we practise, not a specialty line we added. You will not spend your first sessions explaining your identity, your relationship structure, or your pronouns before you can get to what you actually came in for.

Largely, and where there is a gap your therapist does the reading rather than assigning it to you. A lot of our clients arrive having spent a previous round of therapy educating someone. Tell us what happened. It is useful information about fit, not a complaint.

Yes. We are licensed across Michigan and every session is virtual, so we see clients in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and everywhere in between. No commute, no waiting room, no run-in with someone you know in the lobby.

Usually. We are in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Blue Care Network, Aetna, Priority Health, and UnitedHealthcare. Most clients using insurance pay a copay between $25 and $75 per session. Private pay is $150, or $175 with Dr. Leija. We do not accept Medicare or Medicaid.