FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions About Therapy and How I Can Help

What are some signs I need therapy or counseling?

Only you and a licensed professional can decide if therapy or counseling will potentially help you. Here are some things to consider:

Are patterns in your thinking, feeling, or behavior causing problems for you in important areas, such as interpersonal relationships, work, or home life?
Are you in emotional pain or experiencing extreme emotions? Or are you void of emotion?
Are you not living the fullness of life you had hoped for? Has this lack of fulfillment been increasing?
Do you know in your gut that something is wrong but are unsure of what it is? Have you spent energy denying something’s not right?
Are you isolated or experiencing little joy?
Is life very dry and difficult where it wasn’t before? Do you sense your mental health is “off,” strained, or unstable?
Has a tragedy, event, or loss hit you hard and you just can’t shake it? Do you feel you need support in coping and processing it?
The human body gives us signs when something is wrong. What is your body telling you? What cues is it sending?

More Questions

What are some of the misconceptions that may be keeping me from getting help?

Common misconceptions that prevent people from reaching out for counseling include:

I can fix this myself.
I am not comfortable accepting outside help — or even admitting I might need it.
A man doesn’t cry nor feel — he just sucks it up and moves forward with greater resolve and determination.
My worth is based on my production.
I don’t have the time.
It costs too much.
I need to be providing for my family and spending time with and money on them, not with a counselor.

Talk with me if any of these thoughts have crossed your mind. They shouldn't stand in the way of getting the help you need.

What is the difference between therapy/counseling and coaching?

In therapy, the driver is your psychology. I will ask you to examine your deep thoughts and feelings and consider how they drive your behaviors.

What comes to mind during the session will influence the process. For example, we might examine your anxiety and gain clarity on why it’s there. I will interpret your patterns and stories and, over time, help you to use your mind differently. It’s often a looking back process, but it very much translates into forming future patterns and establishing freer, more generative outcomes. It takes time and patience.

Coaching aids you in gaining effectiveness and leaving behind old strategies. It is forward-looking, striving to uncover more effective outcomes on the conscious level. Coach and coachee are equals, working toward reducing impediments and creating space to uncover better strategies and tactics.

As coach, I ask questions to reveal your limiting beliefs and blind spots, leading you to new awareness. I then help you come up with your own ways to execute more effectively in the key areas of your choosing — e.g., interacting with employees or developing more productive relationships with co-workers, bosses, or even family.

Admittedly, there are times when counseling and coaching processes look similar.

Will this work?

I can make no guarantees. However, talking about issues — vocalizing them and getting them out of your head — aids significantly in processing and gaining clarity. Therapy is called the “talking cure” for a reason. Hearing ourselves say the words to another person clarifies our views. It also helps loosen their power and grip on us. You talk until the truth slips out — AND — in the process, you hear yourself speak your own truth, maybe for the first time!

Talking begins the process of building a sound therapeutic relationship. Over time, it helps loosen your defenses, bringing some relief and shifts in perspective. It requires openness, time, commitment to show up for yourself, and patience. Unfortunately, there are very few quick fixes in our psyche. I believe the body’s resilience and the psyche’s natural tendency toward healing are powerful and critical to the process. The body’s natural wisdom is our best ally.

I only take on clients who I believe I can help. I am professionally and ethically bound to tell you if I do not feel I can help you. Also, I am required to end our work if I feel my ongoing services are not helping you toward your goals. I do not prescribe any drugs or medicines, nor am I qualified to do so.

What is happening to me?

If you are visiting my website and reading these FAQs, you are likely suffering from some type of issue. While mental changes and psychic difficulties can arise at any time during our lifespan, women usually experience upheavals in their mid to late twenties. Men typically experience these challenges in their thirties and forties.

I commit to helping you examine your psychological symptoms in the utmost professional setting. I will give you my professional assessment in terms you can understand and let you know if I can help. If I am unable or unqualified to help you, I will assist you in finding someone qualified to help.

I see that you went to the Seminary of the Southwest. Are you a primarily "Christian counselor"?

In therapy I strive to meet my clients in a very open setting and adapt my approach to their worldview. My own worldview incorporates many spiritual traditions, including Christianity. Several clergy members have served as clinical consultants, mentors, and advisors along my journey. I also identify deeply with symbolic communication and myth, but I am not especially dogmatic in my beliefs or philosophy.

While taken in my own context, this passage has always spoken to me about being open, expansive, and extremely flexible in accepting people’s beliefs and worldviews:

Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes (Isiah 54:2).

What makes you different and potentially a good fit?

I am glad you asked! For over a decade, I have built my expertise and competence by immersing myself in the teachings of mentors, supervisors, educational programs, and highly regarded clinical consultants well versed in psychotherapy and depth psychology. My commitment to excellence in the field is fierce and deepened through my considerable postgraduate work at the Assisi Institute. I anticipate becoming an Archetypal Pattern Analyst in 2026.

I am also a seasoned businessman, bringing 25 years of high-level consulting experience into a female-dominated-introverted profession. My approach is grounded in (but not dominated by) my healthy masculinity, bolstered by my feeling function. Other men have shown me the way! I wouldn’t be here if it didn’t work. As Carl Jung observed: You cannot take people further than you have gone yourself.

If you are a man who identifies with the world of work, I speak your language. I have faced many of the issues you encounter. I bring a unique combination of life experience, maleness, and compassion to the fold. How many other therapists have engaged in high-level business or dealt with C-suite issues for over a decade?

I want to help you to live the life you were meant to live. I am confident in my abilities to aid you in your emotional healing and mental health and wellness goals. You will find I am adept at speaking your language while helping you translate your symptoms and stories into meaning and healing.

Contact me to schedule an initial consultation to discuss your situation, symptoms, and issues. I will be transparent about whether I can help you.

What do I do if I need help right away?

I am available to set up an initial consultation via telehealth, usually a week from your initial inquiry.

However, if you are in crisis, that may not be the appropriate course of action. If you have a mental health-related emergency, please call 911 immediately.

Other resources for immediate care:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-SUICIDE (800-784-2433).
Veterans Crisis Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (800-273-8255).
Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741.
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (800-656-4673).

“The more that consciousness is influenced by prejudices, errors, fantasies, and infantile wishes, the more the already existing gap will widen into a neurotic dissociation and lead to a more or less artificial life, far removed from healthy instincts, nature, and truth.”

- Jung, C.G. (1964) -