I am psychodynamic therapist. This is a mid-life career change for me after a meandering adventure in vocational discovery. Along the way, I’ve been a writer, a nonprofit board member, a web product manager and a staff member at a large church. Did I say “meandering”?

This is my personal blog. It is focused on transformation and freedom in society, culture, politics and religion. This is NOT a sectarian place, or a politically ideological place, though my eclectic theology, unique therapeutic perspective and libertarian leanings will surely shine through my words here. My mission here is to inspire thought and dialogue and, thus freedom and transformation through creative communication. So then, I will write about theology, psychology, politics, culture, and lifestyle design (entrepreneurship, missional living, etc.). Of course, given my penchant for distractions, you’ll read some random stuff in between. If I find it interesting, I will post it.

Ugh, a Bio!

I am a therapist in a community mental health system. I work with acutely and persistently mentally ill clients. It is exhausting and fulfilling.

I began my second (third maybe… or perhaps fifth) career as clinical intern at Meier Clinics (previously Minirth Meier Clinics). Here, I provided psycho-education, group therapy and individual therapy to a variety of clients, including married couples and pastors, in a intensive 3-week outpatient program. Henry Cloud’s book Changes That Heal: How to Understand Your Past to Ensure a Healthier Future formed the basis of my teaching and therapy during this time.

Prior to my sweeping career change, I was a freelance copywriter for various organizations, including World Vision. This work tied in well given previous experiences in nonprofit leadership, church marketing and nonprofit strategic fundraising.

My dark, and (usually) hidden experience is in web product management and technology marketing. I know more about web technology than I probably want to. While I am no Sergei Brin, I have found that my technical expertise has served me well in the unlikeliest of arenas. A significant stint as a technical producer in the corporate trade show world also added some fine experience in media production on a large scale.

My Theoretical Underpinnings

Theology
Lapsed cultural Lutheran, neo-Wesleyan, quasi-Orthodox, post-Evangelical trinitarian. I have studied various monastic traditions and am considering becoming a Benedictine Oblate. My particular vibe is what I call populist theology (theology, devoid of ivory tower elitism, that real, everyday people actually care about) with a strong bent towards spiritual formation. My current desire is to cultivate what it means to actually have a relationship with Jesus as a real and present person vs. cognitively knowing a bunch of doctrinal and generally ethereal words about him.

Ecclesial
My cynicism and PTSD inform my views on the church as an institution. I am highly intrigued about what it means to be part of the Body of Christ. I am interested in the culturally-contextualized recalibration of today’s church with the dynamics found in Acts.

Therapeutic
Object relations, attachment-based pyschodynamic, narrative therapy with some DBT and Buberian I-Thou dynamics thrown in for good measure. Also, I consistently resonate with the didactic teachings found in Changes That Heal: How to Understand Your Past to Ensure a Healthier Future by Henry Cloud. I studied under mentors like Dan Allender and Roy Barsness.

Political
Ughhh. If I have to label myself, biblical, objectively moral, libertarian. Specifically, I am interested in how the reality that Christ claims to have come to set us free actually plays out in our political lives.

Lifestyle
I am interested in the application of the principles of Tim Ferriss to the traditional Christian idea of tentmaking, or living bi-vocationally to support a life of works and service in the name of Christ. In other words, how can we set up scalable means of creating income that provides us the utmost of flexibility in freely living out our goals, whether they be to travel the world, or be available to give our lives in the name of Christian human justice?

Micro CV
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications – Pacific Lutheran University
Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology – The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology
Master of Arts in Christian Studies (personal emphasis on ecclesiology, Eastern Orthodox Theology, and spiritual formation) – The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology

Colophon
2007 MacBook Pro 15″. WordPress, Spotify, King Burrito, hoppy beverages.