About

Hi I'm Scotty, a 40 year old white male in the Southwestern part of America. I'm a father of 3 boys, a friend to many dogs, and I've been married for 18 great years so far. I love movies, comedy, art, podcasts, music, video games and newly into disc golf.

How my brain works & my views of therapy:

***Therapy is scary and embarrassing and certainly uncomfortable for a lot of people. We’ve been told only “the crazies” go to therapy or it's for “weak” people. Realistic therapy is identifying and unlearning destructive beliefs/patterns while building coping skills and emotional intelligence to take control of your life. Its like going to the gym. At first you feel like you’ve made the wrong choice, it’s hard, you don’t know if you’re doing it right and want to give up. But you keep trying and then you realize that things are improving and getting easier to manage.

***Therapy is about feeling comfortable and honest. I want you to be comfortable and not feel like you have to act any certain way. The more “you” you can be, the more you will be able to address underlying issues successfully. You can curse, yell, cry, have a smoke, pet your animals (my dogs are gonna make a guest appearance), talk about how you don’t like your mother/kids, or what you really want to say to your jerk boss. Ultimately, therapy should be a place to be uncensored without fear of judgment/embarrassment/retaliation/telling others. I have more “undignified” moments in my life than I can remember so I am not about to judge you. I don’t believe in making you feel worse about what happened in your life. My job is helping you take those situations and repurpose them for motivation to do better, make peace with yourself and stop it from continuing to wreck your life. I believe in using humor when possible and not being uptight at all. I prefer to be honest with you and not beat around the bush. Dealing with heavy emotional and behavioral issues isn't about an always positive attitude. It's about recognizing what changes you need in life and working on realistic ways to address them. At the same time, you need support and someone who will not judge you. Someone to be in your corner during what is most likely one of the harder decisions in your life.

* Learn to think rationally, flexibly and be open to change. Most of life is about having a healthy balance. Start asking if ____ is productive or destructive instead of right/wrong or fair/unfair. Realize everything is contradicting, complicated and ever-changing. If you start to think in these ways you will improve your overall happiness, daily stress, self esteem and relationships.

* I believe in client centered therapy where you are in control of what you work on in treatment. Nothing is set in stone and we can make changes as needed. We will take small, realistic steps towards your goals at a speed you are comfortable with. I will obviously encourage you to step outside your comfort zone but never throw you in the deep end and never make you discuss anything you don't want to. If you start talking about something and its too much, lets talk about tacos for a minute.

Career:

I've worked in the counseling field for 13 years in outpatient, inpatient acute care, and residential settings (A.K.A. standard office counseling, mental health hospitals, substance abuse rehabs). I received my Bachelor's degree in Psychology in 2010 and my Master's degree in Human Relations at the University of Oklahoma in 2015. I became a Licensed Professional Counselor in 2020. I only work in private practice now and I'm working to release an educational Youtube channel, podcasts, website, and books.