I am a dedicated mental health practitioner with a passion for supporting individuals from diverse backgrounds, particularly people of color, LGBTQ+ clients, and those living with disabilities. My work focuses on providing a culturally sensitive, inclusive space where clients can explore their identities, confront challenges, and work toward authentic personal growth. Through evidence-based techniques and a multicultural approach, I help clients develop resilience, self-compassion, and tools to overcome life’s obstacles, empowering them to lead lives that reflect their true values and strengths.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In the first session, clients can expect a welcoming, safe, and inclusive environment where they are encouraged to express themselves fully without fear of judgment. I’ll invite them to share about their cultural background, identities, and life experiences, as these are integral parts of the therapeutic process. We’ll discuss their reasons for seeking therapy, explore their hopes and goals, and address any immediate concerns. This session is also a chance for clients to ask questions about my approach, ensuring that they feel comfortable and empowered as we move forward together. My goal is for clients to leave our first session feeling understood, valued, and hopeful about the journey ahead.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
My greatest strengths as a provider lie in my deep commitment to cultural humility, inclusivity, and advocacy for underrepresented communities. I bring a strong multicultural perspective, recognizing that each client’s experiences are shaped by their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and abilities. My approach is tailored to each individual, drawing on evidence-based methods such as CBT, ACT, and Existential Therapy while integrating culturally adapted practices to best serve people of color, LGBTQ+ clients, and those with disabilities. I am passionate about creating a space where clients feel truly seen and valued, empowering them to confront challenges, embrace their identities, and build lives of purpose and resilience.
About Dr. Calvin E. Spinks
Specializes in
Serves ages
Accepts
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Multicultural
In my practice, multicultural theory plays a foundational role, guiding me to approach each client with cultural humility, openness, and respect for their unique backgrounds and experiences. I recognize that clients’ identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background, significantly shape their perspectives, challenges, and strengths. Multicultural theory encourages me to actively engage in understanding these diverse influences, while also being mindful of my own cultural biases and assumptions. With clients, I focus on creating a safe, inclusive environment where their cultural values are honored and integrated into the therapeutic process. This may involve adapting traditional techniques to be more culturally relevant or collaborating with clients to incorporate practices that align with their cultural worldview, ensuring they feel validated and empowered in their journey toward healing and growth.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
In my practice, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a powerful approach that I use to help clients develop psychological flexibility and live more authentically in alignment with their values. ACT emphasizes accepting difficult emotions instead of avoiding them, recognizing that discomfort is a natural part of life and growth. With clients, I encourage an exploration of their values and use mindfulness exercises to cultivate a present-focused awareness, which helps them observe their thoughts without being dominated by them. Together, we work to identify unhelpful patterns and shift their energy from controlling or suppressing their emotions to engaging fully with life’s experiences, no matter how challenging. This approach supports clients in making meaningful, values-driven changes, allowing them to build a life that reflects their true selves.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
In my practice, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an essential tool for helping clients understand and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to their distress. CBT is structured and goal-oriented, focusing on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and actions. With clients, I guide them in identifying negative or distorted thinking patterns and examining how these thoughts influence their emotions and behaviors. Through exercises, such as thought records and behavioral experiments, we work together to reframe these thoughts, develop healthier perspectives, and build more adaptive coping skills. By breaking down challenges into manageable parts and reinforcing positive changes, CBT empowers clients to regain control over their responses, enabling them to face life’s difficulties with greater resilience and confidence.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
In my practice, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is an impactful approach I use to help clients explore and transform their emotional experiences within their relationships. EFT is based on the understanding that secure emotional bonds are central to well-being, and it focuses on identifying and reshaping the emotional responses that drive patterns of interaction, particularly in couples or family therapy. With clients, I work to uncover core emotions and attachment needs, guiding them through a process of expressing and understanding these feelings in a safe and supportive space. By fostering emotional awareness and empathy, EFT helps clients develop deeper, more authentic connections with themselves and others. This approach enables clients to build secure, fulfilling relationships by addressing underlying emotional needs and creating new patterns of positive, supportive interaction.
Existential
In my practice, Existential Therapy is a transformative approach that encourages clients to explore the deeper questions of life, such as meaning, freedom, responsibility, and mortality. This approach is grounded in the belief that facing these fundamental aspects of existence can lead to a more authentic and fulfilling life. With clients, I help them examine their values, beliefs, and choices to better understand what truly matters to them. Existential Therapy encourages clients to confront and embrace life’s uncertainties, empowering them to live with greater intentionality and courage. By addressing feelings of isolation, anxiety, and a lack of purpose, this approach supports clients in finding personal meaning and in creating a life that reflects their unique identity and goals.