Ken Walden

LCPC

I'm able to bring all that I have learned from a lifetime of experiences to my work, but I also bring my struggles and my mistakes. What I have learned gives me tools I can use to support you, but what I have struggled with gives me the ability to empathize and understand your pain and distress, though it differs from mine. I sit across from you as a fellow human who has screwed up and suffered, and for the time that we work together I can walk alongside you and lend you my help.

I suppose that one of the reasons I ended up in this profession was that all through my life, people would tell me that I had a calming effect on them, that they could talk to me and feel heard but not pitied. Every counselor brings their own personality to the work. Some are energizing, some are straight-shooters, My approach incorporates my personality in that I try to create a calm, safe environment for you that allows you to safely feel and express what is happening inside. I want you to have the opportunity to be seen and be heard, and to put what your experience into words. I believe that one of the requirements for that is knowing that you can bring all of you into our session, and that I can handle it.

In our first session, I try to quickly address the essentials before we talk, such as the informed consent. And as soon as possible I turn to you to find out how you would like to start. I find some people are eager to tell me what brings them here. Other people want to take the time to get to know me, and let me get to know them, as we begin. I don't follow a strict agenda for the first session--there is time to find out everything I need to know. The most important thing for me is to understand what you are looking for and to end the session with a sense of what I could do for you.