Planting the Seeds of Healing and Growth--Living Grateful

By Kristina Warner

Upon stepping into the Living Grateful Behavioral Health Services’ soothingly sun-drenched office, you find yourself met with an array of beautifully assorted plants as if they have been waiting for you. Owner Bill Mure explains, “They create a sense of the peace and calm I feel.” He goes on to say, “I also use them as a metaphor for your healing. I tell my clients ‘In session is where we plant the seed of growth. Out in the world is where the seeds go to be nurtured. When you grow a garden, you have to water it, tend to it, and nurture it. Sometimes we must trim off the pieces that no longer serve us, so we can facilitate more growth.” Bill goes on to detail how his two-part method aids in the therapy with his clients. “The planting of the seeds represents changing thoughts and perspectives. Nurturing is part of our own growth and healing, as well. If we don’t nurture ourselves, we don’t grow nearly as good as we can be. But we must do it with patience—we don’t eat the fruit the day we plant the seed.” Mure often uses the statement, “You can’t just go to therapy, you have to work therapy.”

Bill Mure, a Jackson local and devoted father known for his Grateful Dead T-Shirts and Birkenstocks, also displays various artwork and promotes full-body wellness. He received his Bachelor of Social Work from Ferris State University, and along with being fully licensed, he is also a Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CAADC). Mure began his career as a social worker in 1995 and worked as a counselor for the Jackson County Youth Center for 12 years. In 2007 he began working in the CMH arena as a Community Social Worker and received his Master’s in 2017 from Spring Arbor University. He worked as a therapist at Henry Ford Allegiance Substance Abuse Clinic in 2018 and transferred to the Emergency Room Mental Health Clinician during the beginning of the pandemic. He began a mental health division at a local family medical practice before he opened his doors in 2021 to Living Grateful Behavioral Health Services.

Kristina Warner: Has opening your own clinic always been your goal?

Bill Mure: No, but as my philosophies developed, it became clear that having the opportunity for a practice that I could devote to my belief system would allow my clients the most benefit.

Kristina Warner: What is your overall focus with your clients?

Bill Mure: I think it’s my belief in healing the soul versus just learning coping skills and challenging perspectives. My angle is figuring out what is hurting and what is healing the soul. If you don’t heal what’s hurting you, you are going to bleed on those that didn’t cut you. 

Kristina Warner: How has your background in substance abuse benefited your focus?

Bill Mure: Addiction is a symptom of a deeper hurt that needs healing. It is important for the soul to feel fulfilled. If we are empty, it is because we lost so much of our soul.

KW: How does the soul become lost, and can it be reformed?

BM: The soul may get lost through our response to trauma and other experiences. When exposed to abuses or painful events, you lose a piece of your soul and it gets replaced with a “brick” which eventually builds a wall over time. The more pieces of your soul that get replaced with these “bricks,” the higher the wall is built, like a jigsaw puzzle. Everyone’s wall is built differently, which is why responses to traumatic events can vary from person to person. Finding and healing those “bricks” allows the lost pieces of the soul to rebuild.

KW: How does the process of finding the “bricks” work?

BM: During session and through conversation, I can identify the clues of where there could be triggers due to any level of emotional pain. I can work from that energy and get a sense of where the client is sitting with a lot of issues. I take a very gentle approach because I don’t want to open some wounds too quickly. Once some of the “bricks” are taken down, the empty space that remains must be filled. These are the places that the seeds of growth, that need to be nurtured, can be planted. I take this opportunity to help clients find their strength through empowerment and teach them to fan their flame, filling that space with positivity and self-love. I believe in the importance of living life intentionally and alignment with the flow of our own existence to bring contentment and peace. 

KW: How do you handle situations where the client is dealing with multiple negative life experiences, abuses, or traumas that cause soul loss?

BM: A lot of the “bricks” are connected to one another—similar to the game Jenga. You don’t want to bulldoze the whole wall down at once. Instead, you need to deal with some wounds simultaneously to get to the deeper, more buried “bricks.”

Bill Mure and Living Grateful are located in the Commonwealth Commerce Center at 209 East Washington Avenue, Suite 180-B, in Jackson, MI. Mure can be reached at (517) 748-7075 or email him at bill.livinggrateful@gmail.com.

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