Hi, it’s John Paul Younes here.
I wanted to take a minute and introduce myself, and answer the question you are probably asking: “Who is John?”
I’m actually a pretty regular guy, who went through a point where I decided that I needed to get this broken part of my life called depression handled.
More than once, I’ve had times when I was sure my pain made life not worth it.
I had zero hope anyone would ever really notice that maybe, just maybe I wasn’t okay.
I was convinced I didn’t live, I just existed, and I got to the stage where I didn’t see the point of even trying to improve things.
Most painful of all…
I genuinely believed nothing was ever going to change for me… that this lonely, sad, dark existence was all life would ever be.
I won’t bore you with the details, but I had depressive symptoms in childhood and adolescence… family died… friends self-harmed, or worse… and I had no idea how to cope with depression at all for any of us.
So after I finished college, I told my Dad: “I am going to learn as much as I can about psychology.”
I found it wasn’t exactly easy to “learn.” I spent the next few years going to graduate school at Columbia University to study clinical psychology, reading a lot of books, working at a methadone clinic, and generally talking to as many professionals and clients as I could about depression.
The real “break” came when I started working on a psychology research team at Columbia. We looked at meaningful coincidences (synchronicity) in a group of 13 volunteers.
As I worked in the lab, I learned how this high level concept could help a therapist understand clients who need depression treatment. From the many beneficial effects we found, people said they felt less anxious, less depressed, and less lonely. You can read the published study for free here.
After that, life changed for me. A friend got me a job working at a law firm. I did pretty well, and I eventually went to law school. After I graduated, I worked for a hospital corporation.
But, in reality, life still wasn’t happy.
I lost a good friend to heroin overdose. I lost another to a motorcycle accident. I had a family member get sick with cancer. I tried 3 different antidepressants over 5 years. I was going to be father to twin girls… and then miscarriage took them.
That’s just a few things.
And the whole time, I had that empty, “something’s missing” feeling…
I had depression, and (no matter how hard I tried) it never felt like anything was getting better in my life… that is, until something happened that changed everything:
I got depression therapy from an amazing counselor… and instantly felt something that went far beyond healing.
Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t get enough of depression counseling.
To help someone with pain and sadness… something I always dreamed about doing… was what I simply had to do with my life. It was a huge realization.
All I wanted to do professionally was help those with depression, anxiety and sadness.
Most of all, I felt happy when I thought about it.
So I made a career change and moved with my lovely wife to Denver, Colorado (where we live with our son). I got my counseling degree and training from Regis University. I cut my teeth working as a trained counselor in addiction and recovery.
Right now, I’m a licensed professional counselor candidate (LPCC) working to become a fully licensed professional counselor (LPC).
And as a counselor who’s also a former attorney, I know how to protect your confidentiality and I work hard to deliver all results with proficiency and competence.
To make a long story short, I made rapid progress by learning from these opportunities… and I took the things I learned from them… tested and refined the ideas into a system of depression treatment and a system of anxiety treatment… and put it all together for you.
Whether it’s 12 depression counseling sessions or 12 anxiety counseling sessions, you’re not only getting the best treatment concepts and techniques I’ve found… you’re getting them delivered to you in a way that makes it incredibly easy to internalize them and make them a part of you.
I call it compassion… which I define as “pro-active empathy.”
Where empathy is the ability to feel what it’s like to be someone else… an essential skill for all counselors… I think of compassion as empathy that’s become pro-active about helping to alleviate a depressed or anxious client’s suffering and pain.
This is why and how I will go to work to help you.
I have now come to believe something that I think is very important…
If you don’t know how to live with your anxiety or depression, then you’re probably going to walk through life feeling hopeless.
It’s not an easy thing to explain to someone who doesn’t “get it,” but I’ll bet you know exactly what I’m talking about.
On the other hand, if you do know how to live with depression or anxiety and how to cope with it, you’re going to have a small amount of inner peace and calm that comes just from knowing that.
Why Should You Believe That I Can Help You?
As I’m sure you’re aware, there are a lot of people out there trying to tell you they have all the answers.
Speaking for myself, I don’t have all the answers.
But I do have some ways to help you get to the answers within depression treatment and anxiety treatment (and I think the ones I have are pretty valuable).
The question you may be asking is: “Why should I believe what John says?”
And my reply to you is please do not just immediately believe me.
Actually, I would recommend you approach our work with a cautious optimism.
I want us to take apart why you need depression treatment or anxiety treatment… and use this to come up with realistic, attainable goals. Then I want you to try what you learn from me.
I’m a person, and as a person I have my flaws. But I also think my depression counseling and anxiety counseling methods are helpful, and I stand behind them.
I honestly hope you get a ton of value from them!
Your Friend,
Let’s find out if we’re a good fit. I offer individual counseling, online counseling, and phone calls in Denver, CO. Learn more about the HIPAA compliant online therapy I offer HERE. Please reach out soon!