About Dr.
Laurel A. Sills
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| Dr. Sills says she
was a "Psychologist" at the age of 15 years old………. |
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| "Early on, I recognized
the desire to really know people intimately…their deepest thoughts,
feelings, motivations, sadness, pain….who they really were.
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| As a teenager from
16-18 years old, I worked summers in my father's medical office
as a medical assistant trained on the job. I was around people in
need, people keeping healthy preventively, and people who were vulnerable.
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| In college, I was a
patient transporter for Sinai Hospital. I learned more about life,
pain, neediness, strength, courage, fear, dependency, and appreciation,
all concentrated in that one summer than anywhere else in life!
I wanted to understand how to gain the courage and bravery of amputees,
paraplegics, quadriplegics going on with life after having traumatic
accidents. I wanted to learn the coping skills of people with very
serious diseases or illnesses who were coping with life and not
getting down. |
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| I knew early that I
wanted to help people, but I wasn't sure in what way.
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| Struggling with the
hard sciences like Chemistry in high school pointed me in the direction
of the social sciences and psychology. |
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| I wanted to help the
depressed not feel depressed. I wanted to help the lonely not feel
lonely. I wanted to learn the courage of amputees coping with life
and not getting down. I wanted the bravery of quadriplegics going
on with life after having traumatic accidents. |
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| In l983, I began my
studies in graduate school at Wright State University School of
Professional Psychology in Dayton, Ohio. The program had a Doctor
of Psychology Degree, which was more focused on clinical application
of our studies than was the more traditional Ph.D. program's Doctor
of Philosophy Degree. |
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| I graduated in l987
with my Psy.D. (Sy-Dee) after completing my internship year at Henry
Ford Hospital. There, I worked with medically ill patients of all
kinds who were admitted to the medical floors. I worked with patients
who were anxious about having diseases, who had problems with their
thinking due to electrolyte imbalances that were correctable, I
worked with patients suffering from being prisoners to their body
with ALS Disease. I worked with patients who were dying and needed
help to say goodbye or to face death. |
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| After that, I worked
in clinics and on staff at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac
at the Fox Center. Here, I worked with people of all ages on the
outpatient unit and specialized in the treatment of substance abuse
and the effects on one's family. I co-led the Intensive Outpatient
Group Therapy there for 3 years until I left to go into my own private
practice in l992. |
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| I have been on my own
since, and am currently in W. Bloomfield, on the North side of Maple Road about 1-2 blocks east of Orchard Lake road in the Tanbark Office Complex. I do freelance writing for the Gazette Newspapers in Farmington Hills, Women's Health Style Magazine, Metro Parent Magazine, The Detroit Metro Times and other print media."
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