Perhaps you struggle with depression or anxiety and are overwhelmed trying to manage the stress of daily living. You may find yourself resorting to substance use or other compulsive behaviors as a form of coping with daily stressors. You are committed to change and have tried to change, but lack the deeper awareness of what is driving the behaviors. It can be disheartening to acknowledge the unwanted impact on your life and on your valued relationships. My guiding principle as a therapist comes in the form of a question: what’s it like being you? My therapeutic skills involve exploring the way you view yourself, your relationships, and the way you interpret your lived experience. I draw from CBT, attachment theory, exploration of existential issues, motivational interviewing, and trauma-informed therapy. My goal is to facilitate meaningful, helpful, and transformative conversations that revolve around understanding you and helping you develop the useful tools for change. I will guide our sessions with this in mind as we work together, allowing you and helping you feel understood in specific ways that promote change.

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

As a therapist I have found that two very important goals, to understand you and for you to feel understood, to be most helpful and effective in fostering change.

What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?

I utilize different approaches such as psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, motivational and existential to fully understand you as a person. My initial goal as a therapist is to provide a safe and nurturing space within which you can help me understand and appreciate what it is like being you. Together we can move towards you understanding yourself in new and creative ways as you develop the insight and skills to create positive change.

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

My background includes the treatment of addiction, trauma and mental health disorders. I am a bicultural, bilingual Latino sensitive to the needs of communities of color. I work with adults and adolescents, and consider myself an ally to the LGBTQ community.

About James Ballester