John Viola

In January 1969, my career began as a substance abuse counselor/educator in public schools. While completing my Social Work education, I developed community counseling centers in Glen Cove & Port Washington on Long Island and a multimodal substance abuse program for Long Island Jewish Hospital in the NYC hospital system. At Adelphi University School of Social Work, while teaching, I secured NIMH grants to convert NYC SRO hotels into treatment centers for aging alcoholics, doubling as field placement sites for graduate social work students, and created off-campus sites for MSW students in NYC hospitals. In 1980, I moved to California and became licensed in 1982 while serving as a Child Abuse Investigator in San Bernardino County. In 1984, I opened my private practice, and in 1992, co-founded the Desert Psychotherapy Institute. The Greek word "psykhe" translates to "psycho," meaning "of the mind," referring to the processor of consciousness. Feelings, arousal, and gut-level emotion are preconscious neurobiological energy. Psychosocial consciousness, a ten times slower process, enables behavior, attitudes, moods, skills, and strategies that seek to fulfill needs and desires.

My foundation is psychoanalytic-psychodynamic identity & personality development. I believe "I" is an abbreviation for identity, and personality is a system of self-portraits. Gestalt Therapy, Buddhist Psychology, and Interpersonal Neurobiology richly seasoned my analytic & developmental base. I practice neurobiopsychosocial analytical psychotherapy in purposeful conversation. Listening empathically and responding compassionately creates a secure base for one's mind to practice wiser consciousness of self, others, and situations, enabling the development of skilled habits such as self-soothing, positive attitudes, stable content mood, and the elimination of self-doubt and pathogenic labels, ensuring the mentally healthy self-confidence you deserve.

The most important thing is assessing whether I'm the right therapist for your introspective work. I'll be demonstrating to give you a sense of how I work: Simple Interpretations (here-and-now processes) and Complex Interpretations (how here-and-now processes are related to past patterns) of consciousness and habits I'll also be gathering information about why you're seeking therapy, as well as pertinent details about your identity and personality development within your family and communities of origin.