As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this site, I believe it is important for patients to have a sense that they can know the person sitting across from them.

So, with that being said - I grew up in West Virginia, in a family of nine, and although my family was poor and lived off the small farm we owned, I never felt poor. We owned dairy goats and chickens and also toiled, and I do mean toiled, at a yearly one acre garden. I was also homeschooled. It sounds kind of idyllic, and the hard thing that I’ve had to work through on my own is that some trauma hit my family like a truck in my adolescence. Although that trauma was hard, and elements of it continue to ripple in my family’s lives, it is connected to how I eventually ended up becoming a therapist.

During that time, part of how I “made it” or came to integrate that trauma into my own story was that I had people that were deeply there for me during those hard times. Part of my belief when it comes to helping people through trauma relates to my overall philosophy of therapy. We heal as we feel understood. Trauma is difficult and nothing really takes that a way. The impact it leaves on a person’s life, however, revolves around whether the story of that trauma finds a place to be heard, felt and born by and with people who care. It leaves its darkest marks when it is born in isolation.

The road to me becoming a therapist may have started there, but I didn’t initially start out in life as a therapist. I initially attended Marshall University and studied counseling with the intent of being a pastor. I went on to seminary to study for my Master of Divinity at Azusa Pacific University, and although I pastored part-time for a few years, I soon realized that this path didn’t quite fit, that I wanted to focus almost exclusively on connecting with people one-on-one to help them heal. I also went through some religious deconstruction that made pastoring…a bit difficult.

So, after a few years in ministry, I decided to go back to university and study to become a therapist. There were some middle years between those decisions and during that time, I worked in public safety as an event planner coordinating traffic and safety for large events before transitioning to an additional role as a crime analyst. These were stepping stones on my journey, but I mention them because I think it can be important for clients to know I have experience in the modern workplace.

Those two roles also helped me put myself through my second masters degree and it was during my study to become a therapist that I also clarified how I view therapy and how I strive to help my clients. It was almost around this time, about 8 years ago, that I met and soon married my wife Jackie, who continues to be the best friend that I sometimes can’t believe I get to share life with.

Fast forward to today, and now six years into this work as a therapist, I’ve come to clarify what I believe heals in therapy. If what I’ve said here, or at other places on this site clicks with you, then please feel free to reach out.