(he/him)
New to Grow
Hello!!! I'm John Ely--formally, John N. Ely, Ph.D., LPC--informally, "John" or "Doc". I'm an old man--76 years old--with a doctorate in counseling from Marquette University granted in 1980 and somewhat over forty years of experience as a therapy provider, supervisor, trainer and director. I retired from same about ten years ago but have continued since in a small, limited telepractice (I live in a very remote small community in Mammoth, AZ, a former mining town for what was then Phelps-Dodge and is now Freeport-McMorAn) which remains the main source of employment of its residents). I would best describe myself as a general practitioner but with somewhat of a specialty in assisting fellow human beings who are in distress, desire help reducing it and desire a collaborative partnership in doing so.
Our first session will be very different from anything we will do after: I will be doing a full, formal assessment of the presenting problem, its history, its impact and the potential interventions available for its resolution. The typical reaction is "Hey, I signed up for John the therapist; how did I end up with John the doc?". It will only happen once, promise.
As I enumerated before, I hold an earned doctorate in counseling and have somewhat over forty years of experience as a therapy provider, supervisor, trainer and director. I approach therapy as a collaborative partnership--your needs are the driver, my skills the vehicle to get you to the destination you want.
My ideal client is one who is experiencing distress, desires assistance reducing it , recognizing that there probably will not be a "quick fix" that instantly makes it all go away and is willing to explore and pursue either or both of the two modes for its resolution: either reducing the external/situational sources of the distress and/or changing the actions and self-dialogue which are perpetuating and producing it.
Eclectic
The best analogy I can draw to explain my approach to therapy is a well-equipped mechanic's toolkit. I am primarily a cognitive therapist--what we think determines but is also determined by what we feel and what we do--but I also draw from the basics of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a very modified Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Ellis' Rational Emotive Therapy, with a tack drawn from the latter of a focus on our own internal self-dialogue--we talk to ourselves, and what we say to ourselves profoundly effects our emotions and actions. I additionally am trained in Ericksonian hypnosis and, particularly, its application in reducing the impact of trauma. What is most important is what the client needs; my responsibility is to find and use the right tools to respond to it.