Andrew Merritt, Licensed Professional Counselor

My background is fairly broad having lived in a number of states in the United States and abroad. I have a positive regard for many cultures having lived abroad as well, recognizing that diversity is a part of the world we live in now and our many cultures create a mosaic of life. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed in the state of Oklahoma and Colorado. I have a Masters degree in Counseling. My career has included work with families and youth, individuals and couples along with those struggling with serious mental health issues as well as leading organizations and dealing in this capacity with personnel and ways to lead staff and motivate leadership in these settings always striving for positive outcomes. I have had training in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy, and have been a counselor for 20 plus years. I am typically eclectic when working with individuals and families, as well as couples and youth. It is my belief that you can use a Socratic approach of questioning and exploring, and challenging gently when working with survivors of trauma, when exploring misconceptions, as well as challenging belief patterns that may be challenging to the day to day coping that we need to have. I believe that we can also explore our patterns of functioning and adapt adding new skills and patterns, traditions and celebrations for example, to place ourselves in a better place to thrive, not only survive in this experience we call life. We have the honor as counselors to travel with you and those you care about on your journey briefly, and this we do with the utmost respect for who you are and for how you wish to see yourself and your family and loved ones succeed and overcome the current challenges you are facing. I work with clients in a collaborative manner in an effort to effect a sense of control on the clients part, functioning as a guide providing education as well as therapy, utilizing initially cognitive behavioral therapy but adapting based on clients need and what may be a good fit. I believe in teaching some critical skills in self-regulation around stress reduction as critical in many cases and educating about the health benefit of working on the whole of the individual.