Morristown, NJ - Are you working hard at making your relationship with your partner better, only to feel like you’re having the same conversation again and again? Are there times that you begin to wonder if you’re the problem because your partner just doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of what you’re saying or how to help you? Or, has there been a trauma in your life leaving you feeling fearful and discouraged, but you’re not sure how to move forward?

At this point, you’ve likely read self-help books, and you know it’s time to step into either therapy or coaching, but who or what do you look for? How do you know when it’s time to work with a coach, or when to work with a therapist? What background would a professional have who would be skilled or experienced to work with you?

Dr. Geri Kerr is an experienced licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Certified Coach, and a professional with a treasured background in Pastoral Ministry. She has been working with individuals, couples, and families for over 25 years. With energy and gratitude for the position she’s in to help others, Geri welcomes clients into her practice with a goal of helping them grow into their true selves, versus who they may have been told or encouraged to be, to gain the approval of others. Through her work as a family systems therapist, Dr. Geri helps clients understand and learn more about their own life stories from a family of origin perspective, helping them to understand what shaped and molded them into who they are now, from their earliest beginnings. Since spouses grow up in different systems, understanding unique aspects that underlie each partner’s life, serves to help each partner better understand the other in rich and meaningful ways.

Working from a place of wholeness, Dr. Geri aspires to help each person become more of their true self. There are many times in life that relationships are not easy. In fact, there are so many times when walls are built up in relationships rather than bridges, shutting down meaningful conversations and resolution to problems. All too often these dynamics occur between people who truly love each other but lack relational skills to support and validate the position of the other. We are all different, and difference is not bad. We can disagree with each other’s viewpoints while also validating those different viewpoints. This is the way we learn more about each other. Sadly, those differences oftentimes become grounds for competition and a sense of one-upmanship. “I’m right/you’re wrong” is the default mode in relationships that can lead to relational exhaustion, sadly leading to relational endings. The truth is that everyone wants to be heard in a relationship! Listening skills are key to good relationships, and Dr. Geri has been helping clients learn these skills for over 25 years, skills that truly transform people and relationships into happier whole selves.

On another level, there are times in our lives when trauma, loss, and endings take the floor right out from under us. Times when we have no say, and our world falls apart. Times when we know exactly what we are doing and where we are going, the steps we will take to get there, either individually or as couples, but instead our dreams fall apart. The plan we see so clearly, just ends. Fear, helplessness, discouragement and loneliness take over and consume us. We feel numb and terrified, not really knowing what just happened. In reality, fear, terror, and discouragement are emotions that in themselves are not bad. Rather, what is threatening is the way we have been taught to fear and dread these emotions “as if” they will harm us if we acknowledge them or confront them to understand them better.

In part, we shut down in the face of these dark emotions because we do not know what is on the other side of them. Fearing the unknown, we resist getting to know these feelings, disconnecting from our inner selves at the time when we need our whole selves the most. In our disconnection we may feel isolated and terrified, pulling away from people when we need them the most. When we are most vulnerable after loss or trauma, it is often hard for us to feel God’s love for us. We freeze, forgetting that God is Love and that God is right inside of us grieving with us.

Although trauma can be an overwhelming experience, the only way to journey through vulnerability and loss is to move through it. Ultimately, we can become transformed by it. As we allow ourselves to face our fears, we understand more about who we are inside of our feelings. The more we understand who we are inside of our feelings, the more we understand what matters to us, where we’re trying to go, how to put one foot in front of the other to get there, how to transcend impediments along the way, and what it is that we value in ourselves and others. And although this growth journey does not take away the reality of our loss, growth occurs beyond our loss, allowing us to encounter more of our whole selves in an expanded way.

Our consciousness rises as we learn more about ourselves, and how to move forward in positive, whole ways for who we are. And the more we understand who we are, the more we understand our ability to transcend the past, to become more of who we are now because of the loss. Paradoxically, our ending becomes our new beginning.

As we remain open to – rather than shuttering our difficult emotions – we allow our Selves to become the fuller person God invites us to be.

We learn, trusting God’s steadfast, constant Love within us that facing emotions we have been taught to dread becomes a path toward wholeness, that leads us to hope, healing and more life.

Dr. Geri treasures the background she has in Pastoral Ministry, an educational endeavor she completed before ever gaining Degrees in mental health. In working with clients for many years, as well as in her own life story, Dr. Geri has grown to recognize, embrace, and truly value the bigger role that spirituality plays in our lives. Encompassed within spirituality there is an awareness and a longing for even greater purpose and meaning in life. There is an awareness or embodiment of Someone or some Source that is bigger or greater than our individual, ego-driven, rational selves.

When life goes sideways from what we anticipated it would be, putting one foot in front of the other to follow the path of purpose and meaning helps guide our journey forward. In the face of loss, knowing who we are and what we’re heading toward simply makes the journey less frightening and alone. A powerful sense of a God (or the Universe or the Great Spirit, or whatever name one gives the Divine) who loves us all so much, being joined with us in compassion, caring, and kindness provides peace, inner stillness, and centering at moments we need it the most.

While we often hear about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, we less frequently hear about Post Traumatic Growth (PTG). Research studies highlight key aspects of Post Traumatic Growth which include (1) an appreciation of life, (2) personal growth and strength, (3) relationships with others, (4) new possibilities in life, and (5) spiritual change.

In working with others who have experienced major life changes, Dr. Geri encourages and supports clients to recognize and value strengths that have developed through their losses. Once we have been transformed through life losses and transitions, our consciousness is raised in ways that allow us to evolve into more of who we really are.  This is the work of peace and wholeness that people increasingly reach out to Dr. Geri for help with.

Life is not static. Life is all about growth, change, and transitions. Life is about maturing into who we are now with all the prior experiences that helped us get here. In fact, Dr. Geri views growing into our more mature selves as a ripening process. Rather than dreading getting older, or aging, Geri sees ripening as a sacred time of drawing on our past life experiences that made us who we are today. What events fulfilled and rewarded us, what challenges did we surmount that taught us so much about who we are and what we are made of, how many times did we believe we couldn’t, only to find that in fact, we could, how many times did we almost say “no” to life, but instead said “yes”, thereby allowing life situations to unfold compassion, connection, and courageous love in ourselves and others? How do we celebrate now, the ripened person that we’ve become through all of these events and how will we give that love back to the world to make it a better place?

With a view toward increasingly helping people find purpose and meaning in their lives, Dr. Geri Kerr strongly believes that each encounter with therapy and coaching needs to be more than informative, it needs to be transformative. Dr Geri treasures her work as a therapist, transformational life coach, author, retreat leader, national and international conference professional speaker and workshop leader, guided from within a background in pastoral ministry.

If you are seeking to understand the story of your life and the many ways your story has brought you to where you are now, if you are looking for a Keynote workshop leader and presenter for workshops focusing on couples strengthening their relationships, helping clients understand the work and growth of trauma and loss, helping clients understand their life stories through a new lens, and all things related to making their lives and the world a better place, Dr. Geri Kerr is here to help you! Dr. Geri Kerr leads workshops for National Marriage Week and is a Certified instructor in Gottman’s Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

Hear more about Dr. Geri, her passion and energy for what she does and how she can help you find your way in her upcoming radio show with Jim Masters.



For more information about our guest, please visit https://www.gerikerr.com/ and https://spiritualawakeningbeyondtrauma.com/