To my past, present and future clients,

The first thing that I want to say is that I see you and that I am proud of you. I am proud of you for the steps that you have taken towards growth and healing because entering therapy is an incredibly vulnerable, brave and courageous step to take. I want you to know that I genuinely see it as a privilege to be able to help you hold your pain and to be a witness to your healing.

I am going to ask you a lot of questions. I inherently am a very curious person, and I use that to my advantage to help you explore more about yourself and the reasons why you are and how you make choices and think the way that you do. Remember that all behaviors we engage in serve a function for us, even if it feels that it shouldn’t be that way; our brains are always seeking a way to survive and keep going and is incredibly adaptive.  When we approach our thoughts and feelings and behaviors with a curious mindset without judgement to understand them, then we can move into acceptance and then create changes that stick.

You are going to learn how to sit with your emotions, those that are comfortable and uncomfortable; we are going to sit with them together. Emotions have so much information that is necessary for us to create healthy changes and we need to attend to them. Doing so can be difficult especially if you haven’t been taught how or know how, and I promise to help guide you through that process, so you know how to hold and respond to your emotions.

There are going to be times where we are working through things that are uncomfortable to feel, to hear and to say; it is a part of the process. And on the other side of that discomfort is growth and healing; there are times where the only way out is through. It’s okay to cry, to feel mad, to feel hopeful and hopeless; all parts of you are valid and worthy of finding healing and are welcome in therapy.

I will always provide you with as much information as I can about mental health conditions, diagnoses, skills, strategies and information needed so that you have an arsenal armed and ready when you need it. I am a transparent human and a transparent therapist, so the information and expertise that I have is freely given and I want you to know that and feel the freedom to ask whatever questions you need to. Therapy requires us both to be fully active participants for you to be successful, and I will always show up and give you my 100% of what I have.

Lastly, it is of the utmost importance that you remember to give yourself grace; you are human and will make mistakes. It’s okay to be imperfect. Part of growing and healing is making mistakes and learning from them so that you know what to do differently next time to honor yourself. Please please please remember to be kind and compassionate towards yourself as we are digging and doing the hard work of therapy (and I will remind you of this, of course!).

Take care,

Nick