Mr. Michael Hamerly

LPC

Many of my clients choose to work with me because of my life experience in military, business and raising a family. Although I always base my therapeutic interventions upon my clinical education, I draw a lot of perspectives and wisdom from my struggles in those parts of life. This creates a richer and more practical experience of therapy.

Often when I work with couples, I find that one partner suffers from a mental health disorder or addiction that complicates the relational work. This is because, as therapist I need to remain neutral between the partners. But if one partner presents these challenges then my focus can become imbalanced. So collaborating with an individual therapist that specializes in that area, then the therapeutic experience can be super-charged. The couples work can actually be enriched by the individual work and the collaboration between myself and the other therapist.

I am grounded in the idea of unconditional positive regard, which means that I create a haven of acceptance and valuing of a client without judgment or conditions, fostering a safe and supportive environment for growth. I am highly attuned to the emotional relationship that emerges in the therapeutic work. This attunement helps us to go deeper into the roots of problems and understand the interconnections between past, present, and relational aspects of my client's life. At the same time I am highly goals-oriented. Although many clients cannot articulate goals at the first session, the unconditional relationship and emotional attunement helps to draw out areas of concern that can be translated into high level goal statements, which in turn can be expressed as specific objectives that we can measure and follow up with as therapy progresses.