John Hodges

My career started as an activity therapist at a residential facility in San Jose California. This is where my love of recreation merged with a desire to serve others. At this time I was also beginning to seriously pursue my spiritual faith and so I chose a marriage and family therapy program at Western Seminary which I completed with honors. At that time my wife and I were building a family. When we decided we wanted 5 kids, we returned to Michigan to be closer to our support system.

My family of origin was not a healthy unit, we were isolated and plagued by fear. I have experienced my own mental health problems as a result of this. I have learned that healing and growth require active commitment and willingness to endure difficult experiences. Healing also requires mercy, care, and understanding from others and ourselves. It is so important to go out into this scary world and connect to others while pursuing goals we value. My mission is to connect with my clients and support them as they navigate their own journey towards building a dynamic and vibrant life.

I believe the foundation of talk therapy is an authentic therapeutic relationship in which both parties contribute to the collaboration. Human beings need to be valued and need to value others. Most relationships in our culture do not meet our basic emotional needs and a good therapeutic relationship is often a good place to start.

I often time helping my clients build an awareness of how their past relationships and experiences have influenced their development. Often times clients feel stuck in the behavior patterns they developed as a result of these experiences. It is my job to help them break free of ineffective patterns of behaviors, thoughts and emotions. This is often a complex process that takes a lot of time and I believe it is important to go at my clients chosen pace.

Dealing with fear is an important skill and often times we learn to utilize avoidance too much. Our culture teaches us to find quick fixes and avoid difficult experiences. Over time avoidance becomes our primary coping mechanism and we grow stale as we miss out on valuable experiences. I truly believe this world is often a scary place but there is great value in facing our fears and growing through difficulty. Again this exercise should move at an appropriate pace for each client. The client should be in charge of all aspects of therapy. The therapist needs creative license but the client is ultimately in charge of, and responsible for the results of therapy.

In order for me to be an effective therapist I need to gather a lot of information, so the first few sessions are generally focused around answering questions about life experiences. More importantly the therapeutic relationship is my primary focus so I do not mind addressing concerns before assessment and treatment planning. I encourage my clients to be flexible and one of the best ways to do this is for me to demonstrate flexibility in sessions.

For me it is important to identify the reasons for counseling. One of my first questions is "what brings you into my office." It helps to be descriptive and specific but it is OK if you can not verbalize details. There is no pressure to share more than what is comfortable. Over time it is my hope that the client feels more comfortable and is willing to share more. There is no need to rush the counseling process and often it is beneficial to progress slowly.