Why the Rivers Journey

“No [person] ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and [they] are not the same [person]” Heraclitus (philosopher of change)

Vision Statement

The Rivers Journey: Counseling & Wellness Services aims to center our shared humanity through the support of individual and collective mental health and well-being. We believe we have the capacity to be a more empathic and compassionate society when healing and personal growth is a community priority; when we care for, affirm, and value each other; and when we commit to identifying, challenging, and uprooting the oppression of historically marginalized groups.

Mission Statement

To contribute to the mental health and wellness of individuals and groups in our community through empathic and compassionate partnership, support, and healing processes.

Core Values

Our core values inform and guide our individual and collective practice. Our values undergird our thoughts, decision-making, actions, and interactions. We believe everyone is worthy of care and compassion and by virtue of their existence are wholly valued.

Catherine:

I have always loved rivers. I am calmed by their sound and their beauty fills me with inspiration. I appreciate how they take many forms, like phases in our lives. They can babble and be filled with lighthearted joy, they can be still while strong currents flow beneath their surface, and they sometimes roar with energy and fierceness over jagged rocks. They are always moving - often quickly and at times slowly toward their destination. Yet, they are on a definite journey life-giving to its borders while cutting through obstacles, powerful, persistent, and peaceful.

Aliah:

As a published poet, my first poem as a youth was about the water. It spoke to the beauty of nature, the interconnectedness of all living creatures, and the changing of the seasons which come with both joy and loss. I knew I wanted to be business partners with Catherine when she and I were talking about rivers and she said, “You can’t push a river.” Everything has a place and a time and that also goes for our healing journey. I believe that sometimes we have to know when to let the water run over us and soothe us, whereas other times, we have to identify that we are replaying trauma cycles and when it’s time to climb out of the river of cruelty that we have been subjected to. Other times, we give our pain and troubles back to mother earth, and allow the river to carry it downstream so that we can develop new ways to live and love ourselves and others. Water is connected to all living things and with it, new life and transformation emerge.