Mission, Vision & Values
Mission
The mission of Odyssey Psychotherapy and Counseling is to provide psychotherapy and counseling to promote resilience, integration and positive transformation after traumatic experiences. Odyssey Psychotherapy and Counseling also educates others about how to effectively respond to, prevent, or lessen the impact of trauma.
Vision
Odyssey Psychotherapy and Counseling is dedicated to personal journeys of trauma healing and focuses on the development of a compassionately aware culture to support those who have experienced trauma.
Values and Guiding Principles
Navigating through trauma without solid underlying treatment principles is like exploring uncharted wilderness without a compass. Here are the guiding values and principles that are infused throughout the Odyssey Psychotherapy experience.
Resilience
Should the goal of therapy simply be symptom reduction? NO! While that relief is certainly important, internalizing lessons learned and living from a place of resilience should be more the end game of treatment.
Bad things will happen in life and, unfortunately, sometimes trauma will occur. The question is – have we developed sufficient skills and internal resources to adapt meaningfully to the next challenge? When we arrive at that point, we both generally know we’ve ended the journey successfully.
Developing resilience is central to the mission of Odyssey Psychotherapy.
Curiosity / “Beginner’s Mind”
Minds are like parachutes – they only function when open -Thomas Dewar
We need to be open to possibilities of change or we will rigidly resist them at every turn, dismissing any alternative or suggestion as unworkable. And then we’ll keep doing what we’ve always done. Only by approaching life with what Zen masters might call “Beginner’s Mind” can we see beyond our own limited view. We get out of our own way.
As much as I have come to know and understand psychology and relationships, I am humble enough to approach therapy and people with a curious beginner’s mind. When I approach client lives with curiosity (rather than assumptions), they feel more understood and their journey validated. So, paradoxically, we must give up the presumption of knowing in order to attain the most accurate understanding and deeper empathy.
Integration / Wholeness
Do you struggle with positive emotions like joy, believing that somehow you are unworthy of such pleasure? Often, we disown parts of ourselves to protect against future hurt and disappointment. Perhaps your parents scolded you when you expressed displeasure and consequently you discount the possibility of being angry or act as if it isn’t safe to express it. We ignore it, suppress it, or criticize it when it appears because it doesn’t seem to “fit” who we think we are.
Very often, it is precisely these fragmented aspects of ourselves that need our compassion and acceptance. That doesn’t mean you have to like those parts of yourself but rather that you accept ‘what is’. The thoughts and emotions about those experiences happen not just in the past but in real-time. The journey to wholeness, therefore, includes visiting with and integrating these lost parts of ourselves.
Commitment to You
While each journey in therapy is unique, you can depend upon me to act professionally and with integrity, practice from the values stated above, and to serve faithfully in your best interests to the best of my ability.
While you’re here, consider taking one more courageous step by reaching out and contacting me to let me know where you are on your journey and where you’d like to go next. Or, if you know others who need assistance, click the share icons on this screen to share this page and website with them.