Services

I specialize in working with individuals who have been impacted by traumatic experiences, or who have experienced loss and grief. Trauma can include a wide variety of experiences including childhood abuse and neglect, accidents and injuries, criminal victimization, relationship violence, critical incidents, first responder stress, military service, and other situations. Trauma can have long-term emotional, mental and physiological impacts. Additionally, many forms of trauma can cause a “soul wound” which involves feelings of guilt, shame, despair and hopelessness. Although I employ a wide range of therapeutic approaches, my thirty years of experience as a police officer, firefighter and paramedic have uniquely prepared me to work with those who suffer from trauma.

First responders and military personnel are dedicated to serving others. This service can take a toll on individuals who often face highly stressful situations involving personal danger and risk, as well as tragic situations involving human suffering. These individuals typically deal with two types of traumatic stress in their service: Critical incident stress associated with single traumatic events and cumulative stress which builds up over time. This stress can have negative impacts on the individual, their relationships, and their families. The trauma-focused and person-centered approach to counseling I use is very effective in helping first responders, military personnel and care givers cope with the stress of their service and to build resilience.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based treatment methodology that is highly effective in treating post traumatic stress as well as a wide range of other conditions such as anxiety, complicated grief, panic attacks, performance anxiety, disturbing memories, stress reduction and others. EMDR uses the brain’s natural abilities of healing to process disturbing memories in a way that the memories become less disturbing, resulting in significantly reduced emotional and physiological distress. I received my EMDR training through the EMDR Institute, Inc. Click here for more information on EMDR.

Anxiety and depression have been described as “the common cold” of mental health. Anxiety and depression are common mental health issues in modern society and are often symptoms of an underlying issue or problem. I believe my role, as a counselor, is to help the client identify the underlying causes of these symptoms and to deal with them in an effective manner.

Life is a continuing journey of change and challenge. Most of the time we face these challenges and move on. Sometimes, however, we get stuck. Sometimes life events present a seemingly insurmountable challenge that we just can’t seem to navigate our way through. This is one of my favorite aspects of counseling. I consider it a deep honor and privilege to be able to walk through these challenges and transitions with another. This is also an area where I feel my life experience greatly enhances my professional counseling training.

I enjoy working with couples and families. I am a trained facilitator for, and utilize, the Prepare and Enrich system for marriage, pre-marriage and parenting counseling.  I also use a range of additional resources for communication, conflict resolution, boundaries, and relationship enhancement. I work with adolescents and teens ages 12 and up. Click here for more information on Prepare and Enrich.

I have found, both in my practice and in my personal experience, that those who provide spiritual support and care for others sometimes suffer from compassion fatigue and job-related stress. These individuals may have difficulty finding support for themselves when they are faced with challenges and crisis in their lives. As an ordained and licensed pastoral counselor, I am able to provide professional counseling support to clergy in a Christ-centered, safe and comfortable environment.

I offer a variety of classes and training options for groups and organizations. 

• Assisting Individuals in Crisis and Group Crisis Intervention through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF).  As a certified ICISF instructor, I offer both of these courses in either a faith-based or non-faith-based version. Click here for more information on ICISF.

• Stress Management for Law Enforcement is a two-hour training session I developed to teach first responders about the impacts, and management, of job-related stress. This course has been approved by the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy (SCCJA) for continuing education credit for South Carolina law enforcement officers. 

• Compassion Fatigue and Self-Care is a two to four-hour training course I developed for clergy and other care givers. This course can be adapted to a broad range of groups or organizations.

• I can develop customized training upon request for stress, stress management, posttraumatic stress, compassion fatigue, resilience and other related topics.