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About Hannah

Safety comes before anything else

I am Hannah Sharp, a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) in Livonia, Michigan. I work with people from age 6 through adulthood on trauma, anxiety, and life transitions.

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A wooden boardwalk climbing through dense green woods

My story

I earned my Master of Social Work at the University of Michigan and have spent the last five years working with people carrying things they never got to put down. Trauma, sexual abuse, anxiety, hard transitions, and the exhaustion of moving through a world that was not built for how your brain works.

What I learned early is that people do not open up because a therapist is credentialed. They open up when the room feels safe. So I am intentional about building that first, every time, whether the person across from me is a child, a teenager, or an adult who has already tried therapy and left disappointed. I am licensed in Michigan and Illinois, and see clients in person in Livonia and online in both states.

I also work with a colleague named Ada. She is my therapy dog, she joins many of my sessions, and she is often the reason a first session gets easier faster than it otherwise would.

My colleague has four legs

Ada is my therapy dog, and she joins many of my sessions. She is not a gimmick or a mascot. Animal Assisted Intervention is a real part of how I work, especially with children, teens, and anyone whose body braces before a first session even starts.

What she does is hard to overstate. A nervous system that will not settle for a stranger will often settle for a dog. Kids who have no interest in talking to an adult will talk to her, and then to me. Adults who have rehearsed their story a hundred times sometimes find it comes out differently with a hand on her back. She gives people something to do with their hands and their attention while the hard part gets said.

If dogs are not for you, whether that is allergies, fear, or simple preference, that is completely fine. Just say so and we will meet without her. She has plenty to do.

Ada, a black therapy dog in a coral bandana, looking up at the camera

My approach

I do not use one method for everyone. Depending on what you need, we may work with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic and Polyvagal-informed work, play therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), attachment-based work, or Animal Assisted Intervention.

What stays constant is the order of things. We build stability and trust before we go anywhere difficult, we move at the pace your nervous system can hold, and you stay in control of what we touch and when. If faith is part of how you make sense of your life, Christian-centered therapy makes room for it. If it is not, we will not bring it up.

My values

  • Safety

    A space built on trust before anything hard is asked of you, at whatever pace that takes.

  • Attunement

    I meet you where you actually are, not where a treatment manual says you should be by now.

  • Effectiveness

    Real methods with real evidence behind them, aimed at relief you can feel, not just insight you can explain.

The practical details

License
Licensed Master Social Worker. Licensed in Michigan and Illinois. Master of Social Work. University of Michigan.
Sessions
In person in Livonia or online.
Focus areas
Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Sexual abuse, Anxiety, Life transitions, Self-esteem and emotional regulation, Family and peer relationships and Neurodivergence, including ADHD and autism.
Fees
On each service's page. Refuge Counseling Center offers a sliding scale. Ask about it on the consult call.
Insurance
In network with Aetna, Blue Care Network, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Complete, Cigna, Meritain Health, Priority Health, United Medical Resources (UMR) and UnitedHealthcare. Weekly sessions can be billed through insurance. Medicare is coming soon. Out of network welcome. We check your benefits before the first session, so you know what you will owe.

Ready to put it behind you

You do not have to carry this alone or explain all of it to get started. Book a free consultation and we will see if we are a fit.

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