I go beyond the “medical model”: The traditional medical model narrowly focuses on diagnosis only. While I have diagnosed and treated a full spectrum of conditions related to emotional, learning, and behavioral problems, my goal is to go beyond treating someone merely based on their diagnosis. A diagnosis often does not tell us very much about the unique way a person is experiecing or expressing their problem. In fact, what I focus on is truly getting a feel for the unique motivations, goals, and personality of each person I work with. This is not part of the diagnostic process, but it is a vital part of my process.
When professionals like myself are at their best, they are seeing a client’s challenges/problems from within that person’s unique personality. By pinpointing what factors are derailing people from reaching their potential, I help people develop a spacious toolbox of new skills they can use to reach their goals. Rather than making people feel they are being over-simplified via a diagnostic label, my commitment is to help them expand their own sense of what they can accomlish, regardless of their challenges.
I am a “hybrid” who can give you “better mileage”: Hybrid cars as we all know give better gas mileage. “Hybrid practioners” can offer the same benefit, except the “better mileage” comes in the form of a more sustainable solution to the learning, emotional, or behavioral challenges you bring. A hybrid practitioner is someone who works “in the trenches” with clients as well as conducting research behind the scenes. It is much easier to only work in one area, but the best scientisits work in many. This can give better mileage because I use my scientific skills to discern which treatments/assessment tools actually have validity or more analytical power, versus being commonly used because they are heavily marketed.