Our Interns
Phil Quinn
Phil Quinn is a clinical mental health counseling student in the Master’s program at Northwestern University, a CACREP-accredited program and is a member of the American Counseling Association. Phil received his Master of Divinity from Western Theological Seminary and is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America. Phil’s experiences in the church, in human resources, and in social justice work have made him especially passionate about supporting people that have experienced trauma in the workplace, in the church, and in their communities – especially around issues of exclusion and discrimination related to sexuality, gender identity, and neurodiversity. Phil comes to the counseling relationship from an integrated psychodynamic, person-centered, and systems lens, recognizing that every person and every context is unique. Phil is dedicated to creating and facilitating safe spaces where people can explore their identities, emotions, fears, and longings – where people know that they matter and belong, where space is made for healing and growth from which a person is able to live more fully and freely into their own sense of self and their place in their community.
Joyce Zaagman
Joyce comes to Alliance Cares as a student intern in the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health
Counseling program of Cornerstone University and Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. She works at
the Alliance Cares offices of The Other Way and Byron Community Ministries with women, men, and
adolescents, finding joy in helping people toward emotional, interpersonal, and relational wholeness.
Previous experience as a hospice chaplain, hospice bereavement coordinator, pastoral care minister
have given Joyce experience in coming along side people in their grief, pain, and transitions. Her own
personal experience of depression as a college student opened to Joyce the awareness of how suffering
can impact our lives and form us for serving others. She considers it an honor and privilege to be
entrusted with the opportunity to journey with those who meet with her. Joyce uses Cognitive
Behavioral and Compassion-Focused Therapies to help clients create needed change. In addition to her
counseling degree, Joyce has a Master of Divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary in Holland,
Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Communication Arts from Aquinas College in Grand
Rapids. She is married to her husband of 44 years, Richard, is the mother of four adult offspring
(embracing two “offspring-in-law”), and a grandmother of three. She loves Pure Michigan in the
summers and enjoys escaping it to the Southwestern United States for at least part of our long winters.
Allison Wood
Allison Wood is a marriage and family therapist intern currently pursuing her Master’s degree at Kairos University. She will be providing services at the Alliance Cares office located at Byron Community Ministries for families, couples, men, women and teens. Allison is passionate about creating a safe and secure atmosphere for people to bring their burdens and struggles, and to sit with them as they find a path to healing. As a marriage and family therapist, Allison believes that change and healing happens through the lens of relationships, and that who we are surrounded by impacts our health and growth. She feels honored and humbled that people allow her to step into their story and choose to show her the raw and vulnerable aspects of themselves
Nick Saarela
