AustinCounseling.info

I have wanted to be a therapist since I was 16 years old and read a book my father gave me called The Fifty Minute Hour, by psychoanalyst Robert Lindner. The book contained stories of people with very serious emotional problems who through the process of psychoanalysis were able to get to the root of what troubled them and move on to productive lives. I was very unhappy as a child and teenager but had no idea what was wrong. Growing up middle class I was not supposed to have any problems. My physical needs were being met. Whatever was bothering me was beneath the surface and even if felt, could not be talked about in my family. I wanted what the people in the book had – a way out of their (my) misery. I wanted it for myself and I thought that if I studied and learned how to do it for others I would be able to figure myself out in the process.

So I studied psychology in college in hopes of becoming a therapist. After graduating, instead of going to graduate school, I chose to do personal research in the area of drug and alcohol addiction - as a means, I thought, to numb my emotional pain. I took a break from my 22 year addiction to get an MBA, but I soon learned that business was not my passion, and I picked up my addiction where I'd left off. I was unhappy, depressed, isolated, and lonely. Through a series of suggestions from others I entered recovery and my life began to change. I started to connect with other people on a more than superficial level. I began the process of learning to love myself. I began to ask for and receive good things in my life rather than expect and accept less than I was worth.

After several years in recovery I returned to school and became a drug and alcohol counselor which I enjoyed a great deal. After several years doing drug counseling I knew that I wanted to go deeper, as Robert Lindner had. I wanted to learn to explore people’s problematic behaviors to learn what motivates them and how to help them change. So I returned to school again for a masters in counseling and became a marriage and family therapist. This is my calling. This is what I was meant to do. This is what I love to do. This is what I am good at. I have found my gift - helping people uncover their gift so they can live full, productive, happy lives, in the moment, as I am extremely grateful to say every day that I have.