+ What is therapy, counseling, and psychotherapy? Is there a difference between them?
There isn’t much of a difference between therapy, counseling, and psychotherapy. It's mostly about how long you see your therapist from weeks to months to years. Most of the time, these terms are used interchangeably; like buffalo and bison. What happens in all of these types of therapy is that you go through a process with your therapist to help you understand your emotions better, improve your relationship with yourself and others, and attend to your mental health needs. There are so many ways that a therapist can guide you in this process so therapy can often seem different between different therapists.
+ What are your qualifications?
Yes, let's make sure you’re not wasting your time. I have a license in the state of Colorado that allows me to make a living by getting curious about your life, at a pace that is cool with you. My license number is LPC.0015000 if you would like to search for my license as you vet therapists. To get my license, I completed my masters in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Denver. Afterwards, I gained the necessary hours and supervision required by Colorado and became a Licenced Professional Counselor (LPC for short). Prior to opening this practice in 2020, I’ve worked in many different settings from community mental health agencies and intensive outpatient programs to residential treatment centers and wilderness therapy programs.
+ Do you see clients in person or virtually?
Both! I’ve structured my practice to be able to offer both in person or virtual sessions pretty seamlessly. Some of my clients exclusively want to meet in one or the other while many choose to have a mix. If you would like to be seen in person, my office is in the Congress Park neighborhood in Denver.
+ What are your hours? Do you have night or weekend availability?
I see clients Monday through Thursday. My first session of the day starts at 10am and the last session starts at 5pm. Unfortunately, this does mean that I do not have evening or weekend availability.
+ How will I know that you’re the right therapist for me?
Ultimately, that will be up to you to decide. It might be me or it might be someone else. No hard feelings if it turns out to be someone else. In the first few sessions, determining if your therapist is right for you is one of the top considerations. To help with this, ask if you can see yourself trusting your therapist within a reasonable time frame. For a medium trusting person, this could be 3 to 5 sessions.
+ What about you, Bryce? How do you know that you’re the right therapist for your client? I might be asking for a friend.
I’d say if you made it this far into my website, chances are good. In my career I’ve worked with a variety of clients from across the lifespan, different gender identities, races and ethnicities, and economic status. I specialize in men’s mental health as I see a growing need and willingness for men to connect with their mental and emotional selves. I tend to connect well with fellow nerds, people who can appreciate humor, overanalyzers, gamers, sports fans, and those who feel awkward at times. I will likely determine that we’re not a right fit if there is active psychosis, acute suicidal or homicidal ideation, or if the primary issue is far outside my scope of expertise like disordered eating or dementia for example.
+ Someone is making me go to therapy, will it be worth my time?
I mean, you’re asking someone who decided to make therapy his career. What kind of answer do you think you’re going to get? ...I don’t like feeling forced into things either. I’ll make sure sessions are tolerable yet worthwhile for you.
+ How often will I need to go to therapy?
At the start, you can expect to have a session once a week for 4 weeks. On the 4th session, I like to have a check in about our therapeutic process thus far and what we would like going forward. This is a time where we can set a session frequency that makes the most sense for your needs.
+ What should I expect in my first session? Will I be lying down on a couch talking about my parents while you don't say s**t?
I mean, that’s pretty old school. Therapy has updated in a lot of ways. Although I do have a comfy couch... Jokes aside, most of the time in our first session, I try to get an understanding of your life, what your situation is, and how you think and feel about it. While I’ll certainly be curious about your history and early childhood experiences, we may not get to that in our first session. This session is also where you get to know my vibe and therapeutic style beyond what can be experienced from a website. If you want me to give you my thoughts on a diagnosis, that is something I can provide.
+ Do you do couples or family therapy?
I do not see couples for therapy. I have experience with family therapy and, at this time, I largely focus on counseling individuals. There are instances where I will conduct a family session with an individual client’s family if there is a clinical need. These family sessions are not a regular occurrence at my practice and are always discussed with the individual client prior to happening.
+ What do you think of medication?
You’re going to get an “it depends” answer to this question. When starting therapy, I like to ask if you’re currently on any medications that are intended to help with your mental health needs and what you think of them. Medication can be helpful at times and, during the course of therapy, I may suggest that we set up an appointment with a psychiatrist. If you’re coming in to learn to manage your mental health without medication or to prevent the need for medication, I can help with that too. I will likely want to work with your psychiatrist or doctor if that’s your goal.
+ Do you have any kids?
I surprisingly get asked this a lot in consultations and initial sessions so I thought I’d put it on my website. Yes! I have a young son who was born in the winter of 2022.
+ What is your dog’s name?
That’s Tito! He was adopted when he was 2 years old. I think he’s a terrier mixed with great pyrenees but I’m not 100% sure. I have plans for him to become a therapy dog in the future. We’ve got to work on a few things before that happens. He likes to eat books. We’ve all got our quirks, don’t we?
