John Lee

A lot of people arrive at a first therapy appointment braced for something solemn, as though they are about to be studied. That is not what happens here. I'm John, a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master's in Clinical Counseling Psychology from Valdosta State University, and I've spent more than twenty years doing this work across a variety of settings.

I work with adults dealing with depression, anxiety, stress, anger, grief and loss, and end-of-life concerns, as well as trauma, PTSD, substance use, sleep problems, and the strain of living with a chronic health condition. I also have a lot of experience with men's issues - especially men who have spent years keeping it all together and are tired of doing that alone.

What I bring is genuineness, humor, and real presence with whoever is in front of me. Not performed warmth, and not someone taking notes on you from behind a clipboard. Humor matters more in this work than people expect. Not to make light of what is hard, but because being able to laugh at something is often the first sign it has loosened its grip on you. Twenty years in, very little you bring will be unfamiliar to me, and none of it will make me think less of you.

My approach is collaborative, and that is not a throwaway word for me. You are the one who knows your life, and I am not going to sit across from you issuing conclusions about it. What we do together is look at the experiences causing you distress, in a setting where it is actually safe to look at them, and pay attention to the emotional weight they are carrying. A lot of people arrive able to describe what happened but not what it cost them, and that gap is usually where the work is. From there we build coping that is both meaningful to you and workable in your actual life, because a strategy you will not use is not a strategy. Depending on what fits, I draw on CBT, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing. I will also be honest with you when I think something is getting in your way, and I will do it without making you feel foolish for not having seen it yourself.

Our first session is mostly about getting to know each other. I will ask what brought you in now, what has been hardest lately, and what you are hoping will be different, and I will ask some background questions so that I understand the shape of your life rather than only the problem. We will also sort out the practical part: what you want out of this, how we will know whether it is working, and what you can expect from me. There is no expectation that you arrive organized, or that you share everything in the first hour. You set that pace. Mostly I want you to leave feeling safe and heard, because nothing useful happens in the sessions after this one if that part does not land first.