Mark Salyers

The one question I get most often by clients and peers is: Why did you go into the counseling profession? My response is always the same. First, I have always had a desire to help people in a time of need or distress. I have felt this way as far back as I can remember. Secondly, I went through a debilitating anxiety disorder in my mid-twenties. I know first-hand the helplessness and desperation mental and emotional pain causes. I have never forgotten the insignificance and lack of self-worth I felt during those years. I never condone a therapist to share with a client, they know how the client feels unless they themselves have experienced a similar type of pain. Lastly, I believe in the power of counseling and the benefits it can offer. Counseling and medication can be a wonderful combination to help you achieve your goals. However, counseling requires the client to be actively involved in the process of healing and growth rather than taking medication and waiting for it to work. Counseling empowers a client to by allowing by allowing them to actively see their progress. I believe the combination of my life experience, professional experience, and my education will help you find me to be a counselor who can empathize and walk with you regardless of where you are on your journey.

What you will find that stands out most in my approach to counseling is the simplicity of my techniques. I use your strengths and weaknesses to combat your obstacles. For instance, if you are an obsessive thinker, I would you teach how to use obsessive thinking to benefit you. "What if" thinking is a common issue with catastrophic thing in people with anxiety. However, what if you were to learn to "what if" about positive possibilities instead of dwelling on negative outcomes that leave you feeling hopeless and scared? Most people believe weakness is something to be shamed and hidden from sight. But I believe perceived weaknesses can be just as valuable as your strengths when used correctly. Many of my clients have discovered what they thought were the weaknesses that held them captive actually were used to set them free. My desire is to help clients learn to face their challenges head on based in reality. It is my belief from both personal, educational, and professional experiences that we tend to exaggerate the unrealistic and minimize realistic aspects of life. If we can learn to reverse that way of thinking, the challenges of life will appear much less of an overwhelming. I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as my baseline style or technique. Regardless of where you are on your journey, I am confident in my ability to help you look at your life and circumstances from a point of view that will provide lasting change that will greatly improve your overall quality of life.

Our first session will be spent getting to know each other and allowing you to express your hopes, fears, reasons you chose to seek out therapy service, and your expectations from therapy. I will be explaining how therapy works and hopefully helping you to begin to feel safe in talking with me. I will be gathering information to find out where your strengths and weaknesses lie and begin to work with you to develop a plan of action. Some questions may be difficult to answer and other you may not know how to answer. That is perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about. I will be giving you links to take assessments to find out the severity of anxiety and depression if needed. I may ask for you to take Briggs-Meyers Personality Inventory, so we find how you naturally respond to the different circumstance's life presents us. We will look at your support system whether it be family or friends to find out ways they can be beneficial to you reaching your goals. I know all of this may sound overwhelming. However, I want to set your mind at ease. These things I mentioned are just things we may get to in our first session. Fact is, I have had clients that spent our first session crying and barely being able to speak and that was perfectly okay. I want to meet you wherever you are. I want you to feel safe enough to allow me to walk with you through your pain for a while. I would like you to learn to be open to the unique possibilities of what life can be. And finally, I want to encourage you that you have the ability to create the life you desire if you are willing to do the work. I would like you to remember this one phrase and commit it to memory. "It's the direction, not the speed".