Tarah Groettum

Hello, my name is Tarah Groettum. I have a LONG story as many do, but mine brings some light to my professional career and why I connect so well with clients, families and those I serve. They say to best connect with those you serve is to have experience walking in their shoes. Well, I have not walked in your shoes, but I may have some life experiences more similar to yours than you think... As a young teen I struggled to find an adult I could trust enough to tell my story to. I struggled to find the guidance, support, and insight from those around me, which lead me to believe that I could only do things on my own, trust and depend on myself. This now supports me in meeting children and adolescents where they are; in addition to making the connection needed to properly support and understand them. Life then threw me a curve ball when I gave birth to my daughter in 2000, 3 days before I graduated high school, which is when I found the love and purpose for my life that I had been longing for. At this time, I experienced single parenting, working three part time jobs, attending college full time; all while trying to understand my daughter's reasons for big reactions and meltdowns. During this time there were also years of ongoing medical appointments, numerous sets of ear tubes, hearing aids (off and on), and etc. trying to find the answers or reasons for my daughter’s discomfort being displayed in several ways. It was not until my daughter turned 9 years old that she was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at that time, which was a “forever" changing experience for everyone involved. Now take a step back to 2007 for a moment. I graduated with my bachelor’s in psychology, 2 weeks later married my high school sweetheart, followed by the birth of our son in 2008. Our son was non-verbal for the first four and a half years of his life. Our son was also diagnosed with autism when he was 4 years old. However, this experience (similar to my daughter’s) required MANY hours of medical exams, assessments, phone calls and emails on my part to advocate for him across settings. Professionals at that time referred to his situation as “learned behaviors” or learned helplessness” due to having an older sibling with autism. After MANY hours and sessions of therapy (speech, occupational, behavioral); enrollment in the birth to three program, ECSE program and finally implementation of my own “personalized” homemade programing at the time (based on my research and knowledge of ABA; our son was able to communicate verbally by the age of 4 and a half. After years of experience and therapies with autism at this point and a bachelor's in psychology; I decided that it only made sense to obtain my master's in counseling, specialization in autism and the rest has led me to today. I have over 10 years professional experience in the field of mental health. My experience ranges from outpatient mental health day treatment (consisting of ages 5 through 18); ABA therapy (in a private school setting), and outpatient therapy (family, individual, and group therapy). Group therapy experience ranges from parent support groups, psychoeducation groups, social skills groups, healthy relationship groups, PEERS and etc. I have extensive training in autism, trauma therapy (TFCBT), and adoption permanency, which includes kinship, foster care and permanency placement (PACC). I have a vast majority of skill sets; however, autism, groups, foster, kinship, adoption, trauma and families are my specialty areas and focus. I am a certified autism specialist (CAS), permanency adoption competent certified (PACC) and expected to be trauma focused cognitive behavior therapy certified (TF-CBT) in March 2024.