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Undergraduate Studies
I was granted a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Youth Ministry by
Freed-Hardeman University
in May 1993.
Graduate Studies
In 1995 I completed my Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy at
Harding University
, a Christian University, with a two year program of 60 hours of course work and 500 hours of supervised clinical work that is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Marriage and Family Therapy Education.
My Professional Credentials
In 1998 I was first duly licensed to engage in the private practice of marriage and family therapy and use the title of Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of Alabama by the
ABEMFT
. I am also a member in good standing of the AACC (American Association of Christian Counselors).
Present Work
After practicing with a group at the Calhoun-Cleburne Mental Health Center for three years, I began serving in my dream job. I am presently serving as a Counseling and Involvement Minister with the
Westgate Church of Christ
. Here I serve the church and the community and am able to provide my services as a ministry.
Working in a church setting has afforded me the unique opportunity to access the most powerful and genuine support system in the world, THE BODY OF CHRIST. This church family is a greenhouse for accomplishing the Biblical directive found in Ephesians 4:12-13, "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." I also am an author, speaker, and owner of ChristianTherapyNet.com.
Work History
Before getting serious with my formal education, I served in the United States Marine Corps. I was deployed to the Gulf during Operation Dessert Storm where I saw combat with my unit, "Mike" Battery 4th Battalion 14th Marines. I am well acquainted with the stressors placed upon those serving in the armed forces today and their families. My experiences have taught me the realities of life and death, separation, and peace in the midst of a storm.
After returning from Kuwait in 1991, I became engaged to Traci (who is now my wife of 13 years). I began work shortly after this as a Youth Minister with the Cabot Church of Christ in Cabot, AR. I served as a full-time minister with the church in Cabot from 1992 until 1995 while I completed my education. It was during this time that I felt called to work with troubled adolescents on a more intense level.
My first therapeutic work was as program manager of the Adventure Based Prevention Program and Camp 180 at
The Bridge Inc.
in Gadsden, AL beginning in 1995. These are both innovative treatment and prevention programs for adolescent males. I continued my work with The Bridge as the Clinical Manager and Program Manager of the Crisis Residential Program and became the first manager of the highly successful Recovery Center for teens in Ashville, AL before leaving to start a private practice in 1999.
Personal Biography
I was born and raised in the mountains of East Tennessee just north of Chattanooga. While I was fortunate to have godly parents and grandparents with both strong work ethics and solid core values, I did not bother to adopt these values in my own life. Beginning with an experience of childhood sexual abuse I chose a path of self-destruction that included alcohol dependence and an immoral lifestyle. My bitterness and insecurities were expressed as anger in self-directed abuse. In short, my solution to alleviate pain was to take the gun and shoot myself.
Directionless, I turned to the United States Marine Corps for
a place to call home. There I found a sense of worth and though
it was at first superficial, it was not long before I found my
true aim. While temporarily stationed at an Army Base, Ft. Sill,
OK, I was led to Christ by Captain Tony Smith, USA. Acceptance
of Christ into my life that year eventually led me to college.
I decided upon Biblical Studies and chose Freed-Hardeman University.
However, I was called away from school in the later part of 1990
to return to active duty with the Marines and serve in Operation
Desert Storm. One of the greatest tests of my faith to date was
the challenge of the battlefield. Here I learned true dependence
upon God and others instead of self.
Returning from Desert Storm,
I re-entered Freed-Hardeman University to complete my Bachelor’s
Degree and subsequently married my wartime sweetheart, Traci.
Her love and faith have been a key component in my healing process
over the years. I continued my education at Harding University
in the area of Marriage and Family Therapy while Traci kept us
fed and clothed working as a nurse in the Arkansas Children’s
Hospital Burn Unit. Over the several years since my completion
of studies at Harding, I have developed a strong interest in working
with those struggling with addictions and their families. Couples
work and addictions counseling have become my areas of greatest
interest and study.
Together, Traci and I are raising two beautiful
daughters, Melanie and Rachel. Of course, we have found ourselves
without the answers to many parenting concerns and have sought
to learn and grow as parents. God continues to bless us as we
learn in grow with our relationships with one another and our
children. I believe my life experiences, my healing journey, and
educational training have uniquely prepared me for the ministry
of counseling. The apostle Paul expressed my sentiments well:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts
us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves have received from God…We do not
want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered…We
were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so
that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt
the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely
on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered
us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we
have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us... (2nd
Corinthians 1:3-10).
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