About

I would like to provide you with some information about me and my practice. I have a licensed professional counselor with over 20 years of mental health experience. Along with being in private practice I have worked as the team lead for an Assertive Community Treatment Team (ACTT) for the past two years. I also have experience as a therapist at Old Vineyard Behavioral Health Hospital in Winston Salem, NC. In my career in mental health I have worked with individuals with a wide range of issues including psychosis, anxiety, depression, stress management, family and relationship problems, as well other mental health issues including phobias and PTSD.

My brand of therapy is talk therapy which is dialogue between two human beings. In my view, primary to the art and outcome of counseling are the attitudes and personal characteristics of the therapist and the (high) quality of the client/therapist relationship. My therapeutic qualities include (and are not limited to) mutual respect, authenticity, genuineness, ability to empathize, acceptance, and unconditional positive regard for you and the clients I work with. I will work very hard at cultivating and nurturing a strong, healthy, working relationship with you, if for no other reason than to role-model for you the capacity for successfully participating in just such a relationship. Therefore, the therapeutic process is relationship-centered rather than theory/technique-centered. During the exploration to understanding stage, I also will work hard at making you feel understood through active listening, reflection of feeling, and accurate empathic understanding. My level of interaction and assertiveness tends to increase during the action stage, within which I will strive to encourage and motivate you to take action on the prevailing issues of mutual understanding.

The session times are generally 45 to 50 minutes long and can be altered to meet the needs your needs. I am readily available to talk at most times but will have office hours that I can make available to you. Most clients that I have worked with in the past have found our sessions to be very helpful in addressing they have come in needing to be addressed. I value and welcome your feedback in regards to your therapy experience so let me know what works best for you and if something is not working well at all.

I look forward to working with you,

Michael Slate, LPC, MS, QMHP