I grew up and went to college in Great Falls, MT. I received my bachelor’s degree in English Literature in 2008. My first career after college was working on political campaigns which lead to employment as a political staffer for a US Senator. It was not a good professional fit, and to be honest- I was not good at it. I worked in politics for about 18 months. My desire was to influence a more fair world. Since learning about Social Justice as an undergraduate, I had always been very interested in doing what I can to help make the world a better place. Yes, that is super cheesy. Yes, that is super true.
I left Montana in 2010, and it was not easy to find a job, given the economy at the time and the lack of marketability of a Literature degree :) - (The literature degree was still worth it.) Eventually, my luck changed, and I got a job as a manager of a collectibles store in Coeur d’ Alene, ID. I found that I loved learning about people’s individual interests in collectibles. For instance, I really enjoyed talking to customers about the comics they liked and why. I never could get into reading the comics, but to hear people’s stories about comics or other collectibles was an extreme joy of mine.
Unfortunately, the collectibles business closed. I guess I was not a very good businessperson (yet- always add ‘yet’ to statements about areas you want to improve in). As both a hobby and for the owner of the collectibles store, I continued to sell collectibles online for over 10 years.
After the collectibles store closed, I became a receptionist for two years for a business in Spokane Valley. During this time, I met my wife, got married, and moved to Taiwan where my wife found a job teaching Kindergarten.
A lifelong interest of mine, driven by an interest in hearing people’s stories and an awareness of the pervasiveness of mental illness, was to become a talk therapist. In January 2014, I began a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling program at Adams State University. The program was online, with a few in person responsibilities. So, I spent 18 months infrequently traveling between Taipei, Taiwan and Alamosa, Colorado.
In August 2014, I was hired to teach literature and debate at a private prep high school in Taiwan. All the students spoke English fluently, and I enjoyed discussing literature, teaching writing, and helping students critically think. The students at this expensive private school were extremely well behaved and made teaching easy.
In the spring of 2015, I was able to do supervised practicum as a school counselor at the prep school in Taiwan. That summer, I opted to change my specialization from mental health counseling to school counseling, which was only a difference of two courses. The courses I did not take involved formal diagnosis. I had a great year in that private school. My wife was a teacher, and therefore- I saw a future in myself as a school counselor.
In 2015, during my last year as a master’s student I got provisional licensure as a school counselor in Montana. I was hired as a K-8 school counselor with a distance supervisor, in a small school district in a town of 500 people in an isolated part of Montana. I made it to the end of the year and was offered rehire in my role as a school counselor, but I decided that school counseling was not a good professional fit.
Public school work was very stressful to me. I felt very dismayed and disappointed at the fact that school counseling was not for me. It had seemed like such a great fit, until the time that it came to actually do it.
I will note that as a school counselor, I helped form district policy for helping suicidal students after working with students with suicidal ideation. Helping people with suicidal thoughts became an area of interest which I completed further education on.
After my year as a school counselor in Montana, my wife and I moved to back to Spokane. I worked at a non-profit for two years helping people with disabilities find success in employment. This involved working closely with families, caregivers, government agencies, and employers. I enjoyed helping disabled adults find their place in employment.
For a short while, after my first child was born, I was working at the disabilities agency by day and delivering pizza in the evenings and on the weekends. After being violently yelled at in the pizza kitchen for asking a simple question, I quit on the spot. It was far from the first time I was yelled at during that time delivering pizza, but I decided then to find a different night job.
I found a night job working with children with Autism. I worked nights and was a stay at parent during the day after leaving the disability agency. I worked with children with Autism for one year. My wife went to work during the day. I stayed home with the baby during the day, driving her to my wife’s workplace at lunch to feed, and working at night.
During this time, I decided to apply for the Mental Health Counselor Associate License from the State of Washington. This involved sitting for a comprehensive exam, which I passed. Was I nervous? Yes. Did I study excessively? Yes. Did I pass on the first try? Yes.
Once I had my license in 2018, I subcontracted for an agency providing free family therapy to clients who were being monitored by Child Protection Services. The state of Washington paid for the therapy, and it was at no cost to families. During my three years doing CPS work, I attended several therapy training programs across the state of WA. This included weekly consultation on clinical techniques for a year.
During Covid, my family therapy practice was moved to online services. Prior to covid, I had never done a single telehealth session. Suddenly, this was all I was doing. In late 2020 I met the requirements for full licensure as an independent Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Washington.
In the Summer of 2020, I applied, interviewed, and was accepted admission to a PhD program for the field of Counseling Supervision and Education at a CACREP accredited online program via the University of the Cumberlands. I completed 30 Doctorate level credits on counseling related subjects with a 3.9 GPA. I also completed an Advanced Practicum where I honed my skills in CBT and Existential Therapy. Furthermore, I petitioned the dean to allow me to take the diagnosis class I missed in my masters, which I did, and passed.
In the Spring of 2021, inspired by professors in my doctorate program, I started seeing individuals and couples online. After time off due to my second child being born, I informed the family therapy agency that I would not be coming back and thanked them for everything they had done for me. I received encouragement to start my own practice, and I was warmly reassured that I could come back to the family therapy agency any time I wanted.
Some of the highlights of my PhD experience involved extensive research into: couples, families, existentialism, ethics, and diversity and inclusion. One of my favorite subjects, Social Justice, was frequently discussed in my PhD program. I also learned about CBT/ Mindfulness in the program, and that has influenced my practice greatly.
In the summer of 2022, after being very stressed out trying to balance my private practice, young children, and the PhD program- I looked at my wife and told her I was going to drop out of the PhD program. I was standing up eating a slice of pizza. I did not have time to sit and eat. I was tired. She asked if, I was sure. I said yes. My decision was simple, I could either try to be a PhD or I could try to be a great dad. Both were not going to happen, and I would be lying to myself to believe that I could do both well while running a private practice. I decided to try to be great dad. Sometimes knowing when to step back for the right reasons is very important.
In the Spring of 2023, I completed training and consultation to become EMDR trained. I was very surprised with the changes in clients I was seeing with EMDR. I knew the research greatly indicated that EMDR was a great technique, but watching it work for most clients (nothing works for everyone) has been a great joy.
In May 2023, I opened an in person office in Spokane. I had enjoyed two years of online practice, wearing sweatpants, and doing the online therapy thing. A plus to moving my office out of the home was that my children got their very own bedroom. I still provide online therapy to several clients who prefer that. I spent a small fortune on furniture and non-sweatpants-pants, and started going in to the office.
One of my personal/professional bragging points is that once people start seeing me for therapy, I have a very low dropout rate. It is a joy to be a small part of people improving their lives. Therapy is not supposed to last forever, and I enjoy when a client graduates instead of drops out.
Life lessons that influence my practice:
Sometimes I found that what I thought was the right path for me, was indeed a terrible fit in practice. It can seem like a terrible thing to have things not work out, but really it can be an opportunity to change and live better in a different fashion. This is not to say it does not suck when things do not work out (and it sucks very badly), but there is a lot of hope a new and better way can be found.
Education and growth are a lifelong experience. You do not need to be involved in formal education to learn and grow and to be educated. I developed soft skills that helped in my practice today from running a collectibles store- listening to people, researching issues, and trying to balance a business’s budget.
Being Busy Beyond Belief (I call this ‘quad Bs’) is no way to live. Sometimes we need to simplify our life, and this can be an incredibly tough journey. But we do not need to drive ourselves crazy with stress. There is a way out, and it may take some time, but we can usually do it.
People’s stories matter. We are not our story, but our stories are very important. Perhaps this is why I wanted to share my professional story with you here. I enjoyed learning about people’s stories, and that is one of the joys of my jobs is to hear people’s stories and help them shape happier new chapters.
Social Justice issues are extremely important. I hope you notice that I always capitalize Social Justice. That concept is definitely a proper-noun in my opinion (I would capitalize all the letters if I could, but I do not want to shout at people.) We are not all dealt an equal hand in life, and this is important to keep in mind. I believe that a lot of people face oppressions, traumas, and mistreatments through out their life. I wish I had a pithy and clever statement about how I can make it all better, but I can not. We need to recognize that it can be hard to make it in this world, and I want to recognize that with everyone I work with using empathy. I can say the following pithy statement: I have seen a lot of people greatly improve their life.
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