ABOUT
This work is about wellbeing, and specifically, the wellbeing that come from “letting you be you.” In other words, the wellbeing that comes from being authentic: authentic with yourself, authentic with others, and as an outgrowth of these two things, authentic with what you do in the world.
I was not always focused on authenticity as a direct path to happiness and wellbeing. For most of my twenty-five years as a practicing clinician I was a regular psychotherapist, dealing with regular psychotherapist things. But as I observed, researched, and explored, I came to an interesting conclusion in my work with clients. And it’s that much of what ails us can be relieved, and our wellbeing and joy restored, by simply acting in alignment with who we really are.
Sounds easy, but it’s not. Because when it comes down to it, who are we really? And how do we grow our understanding of who we are and our ability to protect who we are even as we attempt to act in keeping with who we are?
These questions are not simple ones. So, I decided to try and unravel them by writing a book. And in the process of writing I discovered a few answers and a new model of wellbeing, one I call Active Authenticity.
Practicing this model can draw you closer to who you really are and generate the ease, confidence, clarity, purpose, wellbeing, and impact that accompanies an authentic life. It’s a psychologically grounded model that also shares the core skills we all need to thrive in an increasingly complex world.
While I’m still a licensed therapist, these days I identify as a speaker, coach, and teacher. In these roles I share the concepts and skills that make up the model’s four zones of authenticity and demonstrate how mastering them can result in the happiness and wellbeing we all seek.
MY PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
The Two Directions of My Work With Clients
CLINICAL
As a licensed psychotherapist in the State of Washington, I’ve specialized in:
both brief and deep models of therapeutic engagement
brain science and interpersonal neurobiology
an integrative-medicine orientation and practice
clinical work and teaching
EXPERIENTIAL
As a curious human being with a life-long interest in wisdom traditions, I’ve conducted field research in Siberia and the Peruvian Amazon to:
study shamanic cultures to better understand this perspective on wellness and meaning-making,
participate in and learn from Non-Western models of engagement and healing,
and finally, to undertake deep studies in the energetic exchanges which allow me to see my clients for who they are, and to work with them where they are.
MY BACKGROUND IN PICTURES
Understanding human nature has been a life-long interest of mine.
This is me about the time I conducted my first “psychological experiment.” I was intrigued by the crying thing. Did we kids cry because we thought it was the “right” response, or did we cry because we couldn’t help but cry? – something along the nature vs. nurture question. The next time I went flying down the hill on my bike and crashed in front of Jody Simon’s house I was able to explore the question first-hand. Untangling myself from a fence I’d met along the way, I set out for home trying to “laugh my head off” with tears rolling uncontrollably down my face. I got my answer, but remembering it now, I can only wince imagining what the neighbors thought!
I trust the unbridled aliveness of life to meet you with its message and its gifts.
This is me in Siberia, 1997, where I lived and studied with several Tuvan shamans to observe the impact of cultural beliefs on health and wellbeing. That graduate school fieldwork positioned me to become the psychotherapist on the NIH team that won the first-ever IRB approval for the study of Ayahuasca, a traditional healing tea. Who could have predicted that the barren steppes of the Far East would come to seed some of the most meaningful elements of my life and work?
I approach problems from multiple perspectives to more quickly and effectively solve them.
This multidisciplinary approach has led me to team-treat with many types of clinicians over the course of my therapeutic career, as well as to seek out and work with less conventional forms of healing. That’s me with my guide in the Peruvian Amazon, continuing my studies with Ayahuasca. All of my many explorations have influenced my understanding of wellbeing and inform Chasing the Wild Authentic, A Field Guide to the Practices, Boundaries, and North Star of Living Your Truth. I look forward to sharing what I’ve discovered with you.
Chasing the Wild Authentic, now on Amazon
