Who Am I as a Therapist?

I am a real person, warm and human in our work together.  You tell me what your objective is, we’ll discuss the underlying issues and teach the skills to work toward your goal. I see the relationship similar to myself as a coach, and you the player in the game of your life. You are responsible for your participation. Therapy is not something I do to you.

I think my main job as your counselor is to help you have choices; to continue to do things the way you are doing or to do them differently, to discover what is most effective for you. As the coach, I am compassionate and non judgmental, and I’ll also tell you what you need to hear, whether it’s what you want to hear or not. I tend not to talk with people much about what is right or wrong, but about what works and what doesn’t work.

I have many different types of training (see therapeutic techniques) and I am continually honing my skills by taking workshops and reading about advances in the field to incorporate into our work together. There are some basic common things I do in a therapeutic approach, and I am creative in matching the needs and personality of the clients to my tool box of techniques and theories.

I believe in taking a wholistic approach to counseling and to the best of my ability incorporate mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, behavioral, vocational and social aspects. I believe that spirituality is an important component of therapy. Whether as part of an organized religion or very private; from belief in God, in Jesus as the Savior, other organized belief system or more simply “what goes around comes around” or in the balance of the universe. Belief in something bigger than ourselves is often an important component in finding/creating peace and our place in the order of things.

I do refer to other professionals and resources to meet identified needs for which I do not have a specialty.