I have lived my professional life as an artist and minister. A few years ago, in a volunteer capacity, I found myself providing crisis counseling, for no other reason than a crisis had hit and there was no one there more qualified (qualified at all) to do it. To my surprise, I found I loved the work, and thought I owed it to others, and to myself, to figure out what I was doing. And so I got a degree and here I am. I have found I absolutely love this work. I love being along for the ride of human growth.
Who I am as a human–in recovery from grief at the sudden loss of my mother to alcoholism, in recovery from systems of abuse in my own life, in conversation with what human and creative thriving looks like as an artist, husband and father in Los Angeles–is how I come to the therapeutic process. I position myself as a partner in the life journey, not as an expert, not as cold, removed, or unknowable presence.
The work of Brene Browne and Kristin Neff have meant a great deal to my approach. Therapeutically, I use Neff’s emphasis on self-compassion to inform my work, especially as a system for combatting self-criticism, which I see as shame’s greatest symptom. Watching clients transform from humans who practiced self-hate to humans who breathed self-compassion has been one of the great joys of my life.