VIDEO COMING SOON
MATT'S STORY
Our founder and director, Heather Freeman, was motivated to start this program after watching her own loved ones struggle.
Meet Heather's brother-in-law, Matt. In 2018 he left us in a car accident on his way to bring others into a recovery center, but his life was full. His smile and laugh contagious. Matt was larger than life. He never did anything halfway and never knew a stranger. Matt had a charisma that was unmatched, but he also struggled with addiction during periods of his life. Being 13 years younger, seeing him as a big brother, Heather saw the impact it had on his life and relationships. When she was a teenager, there were a lot of "what if" questions she asked herself as he struggled.
What if someone had been able to see his need for help before it escalated to addiction? What if he had found help sooner? What type of man could he have been without these struggles. These questions motivated her through her middle school, high school, and grad school career, leading her to seek out a position working with high-risk clients as a licensed professional counselor.
Matt found sobriety and was an avid fighter to help bring others to find the freedom he had found. Matt's story may have ignited the fire that would become Awaken360, but the countless stories of struggling and hurting people since then have stoked the flames that keep the team at Awaken going strong.
Meet Our Team
Heather Freeman, M.A., LPC, CSTS, CCTP
Founder & Executive Director, Counselor
Accepting Medicaid, Healthy Blue, United Healthcare Community Plan, Home State Health, Most Commercial Insurances, and Self Pay with sliding fee scale.
Heather began her work with at-risk youth and their families at a residential treatment center where she worked for almost ten years treating clients with trauma and abuse backgrounds, self mutilating behaviors, depression, suicide, anxiety, aggression, hallucinations (audio and visual) and parent-child interactions. She coordinated with military personnel (NCIS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on sex trafficking cases, specialized in safety and reintegration assessments for sexual maladaptive behaviors and predatory behavior clients, facilitated anger management groups and de-escalation interventions training for direct-care staff, as well as implement a self-developed cognitive behavior therapy intervention. She holds a Master or Arts in Clinical Psychology and a Bachelor or Science in Clinical Psychology and Child and Family Development. She is a Certified Shame-Informed Treatment Specialist (CSTS), a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP) and is a Missouri Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). Her passion of helping people unlock their God-given gifts to find and seek the purpose interwoven in their lives began when she was just 12 years old witnessing the struggles of loved ones who battled life-controlling adversities with minimal community resources. It was then that she dedicated her life to meeting the needs of her neighbors so that together as a community we can restore hope and empower families.
She is also the author of Waging War: A Christian’s Cognitive Behavioral Health Workbook; the word of God forming the basis of a cognitive behavioral approach to victory in your life. She is also the co-author of 13 Reasons to Live, a book about the choice of life or death in a suicidal mind.
Sara Iverson, LPC
EMDR, DBT, CBT
Counselor
Accepting most major insurances, Missouri Medicaid, Self Pay, and offers sliding scale fees.
Sara has been a therapist and presenter for the past 18 years. She has worked in multiple settings including school based prevention programs, inpatient and outpatient substance abuse clinics, with individuals and groups. She has worked with children, adolescents, adults, and couples. Her past includes crisis training, first responder care and trauma, and individuals in full time ministry. She is EMDR trained. Areas of expertise include physical and sexual abuse, anxiety, depression, addiction, grief, ADHD, mental illness of a family member, adult children of alcoholics, stress management. As a LMHC (licensed mental health counselor) and LPC (licensed professional counselor), and a Certified Clinical Trauma Provider (CCTP), Sara’s heart is for people to work through the hard things that “keep them stuck,” and to find new life and hope they were always meant to have!
Accepting MO Medicaid, Health Blue, Home State Health, UHC Com. Plan, Self Pay, Most Major Insurances, and offering sliding scale fees.
Michaela is a Licensed Professional Counselor and has been working as a therapist for four years. She has experience working with people of all different backgrounds and stories in various professions and ministries. She values a holistic approach, emphasizing the importance of a well-rounded life. Michaela’s framework for counseling developed through her studies and experience as well as her own struggles and testimony. She believes that God has designed each person to live healed, free and whole in good, healthy relationships with themself, God, others and the world around us. She believes both the family system and attachment style play a big role in our mental health as well as the potential for gaining insight and healing. Michaela worked as a school-based therapist for several years, helping youth work through depression, anxiety, ADHD, peer issues, poverty, abuse and trauma while managing the stress of modern issues in public school. She has worked with adults navigating depression, anxiety, PTSD, addiction and interpersonal issues in a clinical Outpatient setting but believes in the action oriented and faith-based approach of Awaken360. She is EMDR trained, trauma informed and person-centered, pulling from different models and theories of therapy as well as Biblical principles, believing the client is the expert on their life and their story, psychology helps us understand our humanity and the brain and God is the expert on healing. She believes there is no better time than the present to seek healing, peace and freedom not only for our lives individually but for all the lives we touch.
Michaela DeGroat, LPC