I am a cisgender, gay male therapist. I received my Masters in Social Work from the University of South Carolina College of Social Work in 2002. I worked in a hospital setting for 16 years, providing assessments and referrals, discharge planning, and individual and group therapy for patients throughout the hospital and in their outpatient program. I started transitioning to private practice in 2017 and have been doing that exclusively since January 2019.

My private practice is exclusively Telehealth. I see patients for a variety of issues, including: Depression, Anxiety and Panic Disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other traumas, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, along with issues related to sexual and gender identity. I have a lot of experience working with patients from the LGBTQ+ community. I have many transgender patients and have written letters they need for parts of their transition.

I was raised here in South Carolina, brought up in a mostly conservative family that were members of the local Southern Baptist Church. I have experienced the wounds those of us who are members of the LGBTQ+ community suffered in settings like that, and use that experience to help others going through similar pains. I do not have a religious focus to the therapy I provide, but am able to incorporate patients’ spiritual beliefs into their sessions.

I use a variety of different therapeutic models in sessions. My foundation would be Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), because I believe it helps teach us how to become our own therapist. Patients will spend far more time outside of the office than they will in sessions, so it’s important that they learn skills to both help manage their symptoms and better understand where their behaviors are coming from. I also use aspects of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and have been trained in the use of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to help with trauma. I do a great deal of education with patients as I feel it helps them understand where their feelings and behaviors are coming from and allows them to release some of the shame they’ve been holding onto. I also focus heavily on coping skills so they have specific tools they can use to help them facilitate change.