Mary F. Spence, PhD

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Mary F. Spence is a Clinical and Educational Psychologist with extensive experience providing therapy for a wide array of presenting issues and developmental levels of all ages. Mary has provided therapy services for almost 40 years after receiving her Masters from Eastern Michigan University and Doctoral Degree from Wayne State University. She has most recently worked with Ann Arbor Public Schools and provided therapy at Livingston Psychological Services. She is happy to be able to offer therapy at Grove beginning in the Summer of 2022.

Mary’s experience has prepared her with the knowledge to provide short and long term supportive care and solution-focused coping strategies to work with clients of all ages experiencing life adjustments. She focuses on establishing a warm, friendly and trusting connection with her clients from the very first point of contact.

Mary’s practice is deeply committed to helping individuals identify storylines that can often complicate a sense of contentment in one’s life. She supports and encourages her clients to paint a new version of their own unique life story with the personal freedom and openness that can be reached from her therapeutic approaches.

Mary is known for her playful and creative spirit and the safe connection she establishes with others to share their challenges. Using evidence-based practices in the spirit of co-creation with each client, the framework Mary develops with her clients often gives them a sense of curiosity and self-awareness about how change can purposely unfold in a person’s life, through the intentions of the therapeutic work. While she is deeply dedicated to alleviating suffering, she believes that engaging the client in the development of their own agency is key. Much of her practice incorporates aspects of mindfulness to improve self-awareness and the regulation of thoughts and emotions.

She utilizes the fundamental concepts of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) after having been trained in numerous models developed from the classic MBSR approach. These concepts are key to the more cognitively based approaches Mary also incorporates into the work. She relies on Theory of Attachment models and Neuroscience to inform and shape her practices. A wide variety of evidence-based practices are used in session as they are relevant for client growth and receptivity. Concepts from Siegel’s Mindsight, psychodrama and play-based models, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Floortime, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), Polyvagal Theory (PVT) are often utilized with clients through her work, but it is far from manualized.

Mary is thrilled to bring her psychology experience and enthusiasm from her years in public education to private practice at Grove.