About
HOW I HELP MY CLIENTS FIND “THE WAY BACK”
DIGGING DEEPER
You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been, or so the saying goes. It’s difficult to believe that at a young age anyone would aspire to be an addict. So, it’s essential to look back at the root causes of the problem, what triggers the behavior and how the situation got to this point without staying stuck in the past indefinitely.
DOING WHAT’S EFFECTIVE
“In this world you will have trouble.” Sage words from the Bible (John 16:33 NIV). When hurricanes come, people shelter in place or evacuate until the storm passes. Life’s emotional storms are just as sure as hurricanes in the summertime. That’s why I help my clients build an “emergency kit” made up of practical skills to address the problem when it arises.
RECONNECTING & RESTORING TRUST
Addiction frustrates the uniquely human ability and need to connect with those we care about, our communities, and the world at large. It causes people to turn inward or “hyperreflect.” Addressing this problem and restoring trust in important relationships is essential to sustained recovery.
BUILDING A MEANINGFUL LIFE
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl believed when there is a void of meaning in life that the empty space acts as a vacuum and will become filled with “depression, aggression, and addiction.” Are you living a life that has little meaning? Self-medicating with addictive behavior? Part of the solution is filling up that space with reasons to get up in the morning, getting motivated, and crowding out ineffective behavior.
ABOUT ME
“I liked going to therapy so much that I decided to go pro.”
Back in 2000, I went to therapy for a while to deal with some turmoil in my life. I enjoyed going so much that a seed was planted: someday I would leave my lucrative career in information systems to pursue my calling to be a therapist.
That day came in 2010. I was given what I call a “divine kick in the pants” when I was laid off for the first time in my life. Three months later I started graduate school. Two and a half years later I became licensed as a therapist and begin a new career that has become a passion for me.
Now I am in the fight to make a difference. I love helping individuals, couples and families find “the way back” from addiction and problematic behavior.
I live in Houston, Texas with my wife of 14 years. We are parents to a teenage daughter and an eight-year-old son. I am the son of an immigrant (Dad was born in Glasgow, Scotland) and a native Texan (Mom’s from Vernon, TX). I love playing golf with my son, watching my daughter play soccer, and taking in classic movies with the whole family.