Welcome to MY INKED SHRINK Counseling and Life Coaching
I am really excited to offer a radically different type of counseling/life coaching experience...This site is created specifically for freaks like you!!! Would you feel more comfortable talking to someone that doesn't dress like a corporate HO?, has a lot of tattoos, plugz and listens to everything from Motorhead to PJ Harvey? I have 10 yrs professional training and have counseled 100's of adults from very diverse professional backgrounds...I offer both traditional counseling and goal focused life coaching. I provide my services over the phone, so you don't have to leave your house. I also offer rockstar treatment for couples, I will provide couples counseling at your house. Come on in!!!...hope you enjoy the site.
The Tattoo counseling connection
I may be the only counselor you meet that may recommend getting a tattoo as part of the counseling! I feel there is a definite parallel between marking the skin permanently and taking bold steps to change your life. I did two “walk-ins” in one day in Santa Cruz about 5 years ago. What I learned from the 2nd tattoo I feel was important. The tattoo artist, Flip,from True Art Tattoo was going to do a Japanese Congi symbol on the back of my neck. I was having some back problems at the time and thought getting a courage/strength Congi on the top of my spine might be a good thing. I originally didn’t visualize going bigger, but Flip said, “If we’re going to do this, we should ‘go big.’ ” While he was tattooing, I was looking at a painting he had of a skull with wings. On the painting it said boldly, “FUCK HARD.” What I took from that experience was to go for it, and if you’re going for it, go big! I realized I was afraid to “go big” on many levels in my life at the time.
A lot of people I have talked to about their tattoos describe the experience of getting a tattoo to mark a triumph or tragedy, to recharge their lives or to be unique. I think counseling can have similar effects. Tattoos and counseling can both give people a “glow” of new energy. That energy can propel you and help you grow. I do think there are many nexus points between ink and shrink!
Sometimes I look at tattoos as all the colors of your soul/dreams/life passions, coming alive on your skin. If your heart soars is getting tattooed not therapeutic? Or then again, it could just be ink? I think back to reading Ray Bradbury’s Illustrated Man . One character’s tattoos move, but only at night... The images change-- “shape shift.” Extrapolating from that story to counseling,I connect the dots to this point... You don’t have to be fixed to “one story” one life direction. Making small steps and adjustments can have a dramatic effect. Whether that means getting out of an unhealthy relationship, changing your lifestyle, starting yoga, or taking a hard look at why the fuck you’re still doing a job that is literally making you sick! It could mean getting Big Bird and The Cookie Monster tattooed on your toes to help you laugh more at yourself. There is no reason that you can’t adjust your life at any point!, however young or old!
I am offering phone counseling/life coaching...My style of counseling blends traditional talk therapy, infused with more goal focused, life coaching style, as appropriate.
I believe the purpose of counseling/coaching, is to get people moving in the direction that is most exciting for them. I also believe counseling can help unchain "that 8-ball" you've dragging around for too long.
I feel people can easily become "way off course" in their lives. I think it is very important to try and see ahead...and ask yourself am I going in the wrong direction?
The important part I feel is not waiting 7 years to ask that question! Why wait? Give me a call! I also do "house calls" for couples counseling, if requested.
CONFIDENTIALITY/AIN'T NOBODY'S BUSINESS!:
There are very specific circumstances that I would release your clinical records to a third party. Here they are: If you are imminently suicidal or homicidal. If there are issues of child abuse/or child neglect. Additionally, if there is neglect/or abuse of a "vulnerable" adult. ( I am a mandated child abuse reporter) The last issue is if a court subpoenas your records.
PROTECTING YOUR INFORMATION
I believe in very strict "protection" of your clinical records.
I keep all clinical records in a locked metal cabinet only accessible by me.
I do not share your clinical information with anyone else.
If you choose to contact me via email, please just le ave your contact information and no clinical information. If you contact me by phone, you only need to leave a contact phone #, if it's ok to leave a message, and the best time to call you.
I got an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Colorado at Denver. This experience taught me that I preferred working with people than reading about them. I did several internships, including one working with hardcore drug addicts, I was hooked.... I also worked/volunteered for 2 years with homeless youth in Denver, which I loved. Doing outreach work on the streets of Denver was a major eye-opening experience. My education drifted away from insular academics to social work. I got a Master's in Social Work(MSW) from the University of Denver(1999). My focus was on crisis mental health work. I have 7 years post master's clinical training. I got me some good training!.
Talking to people all over the world ain't easy!
One experience that really helped me develop my counseling "chops" was working for an agency that provided counseling services to 135 behavioral healthcare organizations nationwide and internationally. I counseled tons of people from all walks of life, every socio-economic group, cultural group, etc. Part of the job was providing a type of counseling called "teledefusings" to trauma victims, mainly armed robbery victims. I did this job for approximately four years, and the training was invaluable.
Due to the huge diversity and volume of calls, I learned to "get people" quickly and problem solve with them very effectively. I used a strengths-based/ solutions-focused approach. I listened actively with empathy infused with humor. I also began to understand that situations perceived as tragic, as a crisis, could be pivotal life moments. I was shocked that sometimes individuals who have started the call as suicidal were 15 minutes later, refocused in a positive direction. I also learned that trying to understand a woman from Belfast Ireland, ain't no walk in the park!
The Chinese have a saying, "Danger equals opportunity", I came to understand this phrase via my work. That tragedy and crisis can propel you forward. If you're backed into a corner, it can be a good thing... It depends on how you perceive it and how you react. Massive positive change can happen...
B-SIDE BIO/ A Delinquent is Born:
I was born in Virginia and grew up in the 70's. Fond memories include: taking the emergency brake off my dad's 1960 Chevy Impala and running it down a hill! Throwing a frog in my grandmother's bath, fireflies in the summer... good times. I loved skateboarding in elementary school when I lived in the city. I saved up 26 dollars worth of pennies in a jar and bought my first midnight blue fiberglass skateboard from K-Mart. On weekends, I would sneak into the local high school with friends and skateboard through the halls. You could go so fast through the halls you felt like you were flying!
As a kid, I had a blast watching the old school wrestlers, Rick "Nature boy" Flair, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Andre "The Giant." My brother and I would replicate "figure fours" and leaps from the turnbuckle. Generally, the neighborhood youth were a "bad bunch." We would smash garden gnomes, drill car tires, collect soda pop bottles in a shopping cart and throw them against a wall for entertainment. We all blamed our parents! Tragically, we moved into the boondocks and skateboarding gave way to gravel roads. Move forward many years, skip drug/booze years, more car wrecks, etc ... to stuff you actually give a shit about.
Before I get to my training I would like to describe a pivotal "moment of clarity." in my life. I was driving for Dominos in the 30 minutes or less days... I was taking a short cut, down an old dirt fire road, through a field to get back to the store in record time. ...and my brain spoke slowly, loudly and clearly: Make a move Dumbass! I realized that my career options were that I could qualify for DeathRace 2000! or go back to school.