My name is Mike Gibbs and I've been doing therapy for almost 5 years now. I'm a 42 year old African American Male and I really enjoy doing therapy. To me, there is not a greater gift than being able to help someone improve their quality of life and helping others is what drives me. I have a strong passion and desire to help others and this passion and desire is what ultimately led me to the therapy profession. My therapeutic background consists of working with clients who have had issues with anxiety, depression, ADHD, relationship issues, substance abuse, and conflict resolution. I'm currently doing therapy for a non-profit organization in Austin Texas and I have seen individuals with a variety of concerns which include the issues listed above and I've also worked with clients who have other issues and concerns as well. In addition I've also worked with clients from a wide variety of different backgrounds and I feel that one of my strengths is working with diverse groups of individuals. I'm a firm believer that therapy is a collaborative process and a journey that both the therapist and the client take together. In my opinion, the client is the expert on themselves and as the therapist I serve as a guide to help them navigate the best path forward that they want for themselves. Although I might help a client figure out a path for themselves, it's ultimately up to the client to walk that path and I want to do everything within my abilities to help clients walk the paths that they choose, assuming that the path they choose is not harmful to them.

What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?

Clients can expect to leave my sessions with a sense of comfort and trust. I feel that my biggest strength is my ability to build rapport with clients and clients will leave my sessions feeling like they have a therapist who hears them and listens to them. In regards to trust, clients will hopefully leave my sessions feeling that they can trust me to act in their best interests at all times, even if that means having tough and crucial conversations that might seem uncomfortable.

What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?

I try to meet the client where they're at but the techniques that I use the most would be Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Existential therapy, anger management, conflict resolution, reframing, and solutions focused therapy techniques.

Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.

I feel that I'm a pretty well rounded therapist but the areas that I feel like I'm strong in are Anger Management, conflict resolution, self-esteem building, relationship issues, anxiety, and depression. I taught Anger Management classes for a few years and I still incorporate the tools and techniques that I learned from the curriculum with clients that I meet with today.

About Mike Gibbs