My Approach to Helping
Ben Clark currently holds a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) license in the Commonwealth of Virginia. With over 10 years of experience supporting adolescents and families as they are managing issues such as depression, anxiety, life transitions, individual, family and personal relationship issues. As an undergraduate, he felt it was important to combine his two passions of psychology and outdoor recreation by completing a specialty double major program in Psychology and Human Services and Recreation Management with an emphasis on Therapeutic Outdoor Recreation. This dynamic path of study served to reinforce his appreciation for people to cultivate an understanding of the importance of their basic needs, environmental needs, sense of security, relationship, emotional belongingness, feelings of esteem, and a sense of ability for growth. After achieving a M.S. in Professional Counseling, he went to earn a Post Graduate Trauma Certificate. Through this education, and work experience, he has come to appreciate the value in cultivating personal awareness for clients and empowering them to become their own agent of change toward their life mission. His focus is centered around the importance of the therapeutic alliance to ensure a collaborative setting is available for people to feel safe to identify personal problems that they are struggling with and to move forward by recognizing barriers, emotional attachments and challenges they uniquely face. His integrated approach focuses on the use of strength based, cognitive behavioral, mindfulness, solution focused and emotionally focused methods that provide a therapeutic space for creativity, flexibility and awareness that is necessary to best meet the needs of every unique individual and couple. Recognizing a client’s specific needs and fostering their own growth by recognizing their strengths and providing a forum to recognize how to create effective solutions to address issues in their life is the cornerstone to being able to not just manage, or cope, but to ultimately learn how to thrive. Ben is grateful for the opportunity to be able to sit, listen, support, challenge and encourage everyone to become an agent of change toward the life they know they need and want.