John Tobias

I've spent 27 years doing this work — in outpatient offices, wilderness programs, and psychiatric hospitals — and what's held my attention the whole time is people in transition. Sometimes it's a clear break: a job, a marriage, a move, a loss. Sometimes it's quieter — the sense that the way you've been living has stopped working. I'm a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, and I know reaching out is often the hardest part. My work is curious and warm, but it doesn't stop there: the point is to help you get clear on what actually matters to you and start taking real steps toward it.

My primary framework is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Rather than working to eliminate difficult thoughts and feelings, we'll work on changing your relationship to them — so they take up less room and have less say in what you do. Alongside that, I also think in terms of family systems. Most of what we struggle with individually took shape in relationships, and it helps to see the patterns you learned rather than treating them as personal failings.

In practice, sessions tend to be curious and collaborative. I'll ask questions, we'll try things, and I'll check whether what we're doing is actually making a difference in your life outside the session.

The first session is mostly me getting to know you. I'll ask what brought you here now, what you've already tried, and what your life looks like around the problem — the people in it, the pressures, what's working and what isn't.

You don't need to have it figured out beforehand. Plenty of people arrive able to say only that something's off, and that's a fine place to start.

Toward the end, we'll talk about what you'd want to be different — not a finished plan, just a first sense of direction. We'll build on it over the next few sessions rather than settling everything on day one.