About Therapy with Me
Can someone please provide an answer?
Where did I go wrong for this to be my reality?
Decisions, decisions, decisions – “How do I go forward and in which direction?
Your search for answers has been less than helpful.
Books seem to be too general to answer the questions you have.
Just the “luck” of the draw seems less than adequate.
You have the map to your answers, but someone or something tore off the corner where the legend should appear.
You have your answers – you need the legend.
A map without a legend is useless. Therapy is the legend for the unique map that is you.
In therapy, you will feel encouraged to discuss anything important to you. I will listen intently and take notice of even the seemingly small ideas you share. It is common for it to be difficult to share about things you have tried to forget or ignore. Opening the closet door to everything difficult in your past sometimes seems too much.
As the legend on a map, I will ask questions or point out things that seem related or curious – your eyes will widen, and answers will come forth that you had no idea were there.
You will go from reading the map to writing your path forward.
What do you gain?
In therapy, we will find the different waypoints your life has taken you. While you relate all this, as your therapist, I will ask questions about how the additional waypoints may connect.
This work we do together is the beginning of connecting the dots and figuring out how you got to where you are.
With this self-knowledge, you will figure out your values, which will be the points on the compass to the life you want for yourself.
Hey There, Alan Here.
How did a guy like you become a therapist?
Yes, life is just full of twists and turns. Like my clients, I, too, have been through the wringer a time or two. It is the many life experiences that allow me to have a high degree of empathy for my clients. I feel a deep sense of purpose in the work I do with clients. I also love to laugh, and in therapy, while there are serious and complex parts, there is plenty of levity in the lives we are living.
My educational background is interesting in itself. Before becoming a therapist, I had a career as a computer systems engineer, which required reading lots of books and teaching myself the ins and outs of software and computers.
To become a therapist, I started my academic journey at the age of 49, yes, 49 years old. (Never say you’re too old.) From 2010 to 2016, I received my Associate’s degree and Bachelor’s degree, and finally, in August 2016, I received my Master’s degree. I intend on going for my doctoral degree at some point, not sure when, but one day!
In therapy, there will be much to learn and incorporate into your daily life. As I am frequently telling clients, I eat my own dog food. I never ask a client to do something I would not do myself. I want the knowledge that, as your therapist, I am with you in the challenges which are part of therapy. You are not alone.
