ABOUT
Cat Hadley, MSW Intern

Cat Hadley works with individuals and couples navigating identity exploration, relationship transitions, sexual well-being, and significant life changes. As a clinician in training, she is developing her practice around LGBTQIA+-affirming care, consensual nonmonogamy and polyamory, and kink-affirming, sex-positive therapy. Her clinical interests also include supporting clients through new parenthood and perimenopause, exploring sexuality after childbirth or burnout, and helping high-achieving individuals recover from burnout and reconnect with their needs and priorities.

 

Cat’s approach is warm, direct, and affirming. She strives to create a therapeutic environment where clients feel respected and understood without having to justify their identities, relationship structures, or desires. Grounded in a commitment to queer liberation and client self-determination, her approach honors clients’ lived experiences and supports them in exploring relationships, identities, and choices that reflect their values.

 

Cat also welcomes neurodivergent children and their families, bringing a strengths-based approach that respects each child’s unique ways of thinking, learning, communicating, and experiencing the world. As part of her clinical training, she is developing her skills in supporting emotional regulation, self-expression, confidence, and meaningful connection through developmentally appropriate care. She values collaboration with caregivers to understand each child’s strengths, sensory needs, and daily challenges and to identify supportive strategies for home, school, and community settings. Her approach emphasizes helping children feel safe, understood, and valued while fostering self-advocacy and skill development that support their individual needs rather than pressuring them to conform to others’ expectations.

 

Before entering clinical training, Cat worked in community organizing and advocacy, with a focus on economic justice and maternal health equity. She founded BirthSafe, a platform designed to help expectant parents find culturally competent healthcare providers, and helped lead a statewide campaign that expanded food assistance to more than 1.35 million Michigan families. These experiences inform her understanding of the connection between individual well-being and the broader social conditions that shape people’s lives. She brings an awareness of systemic barriers to her developing clinical practice, recognizing the importance of both personal healing and collective change.

 

Cat is a second-year Master of Social Work student at the University of Michigan, pursuing the Interpersonal Pathway with an anticipated graduation date of April 2027. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan, where she was named a Truman Scholar.