LPC, 11 years of experience
Hi, I'm Jay. I'm a cognitive-behavioral therapist with over 10 years of experience in the mental health field. I excel at helping people with mood-, relationship-, and trauma-related issues. I have advanced training from the Feeling Good Institute and continue to train in CBT and other approaches. I provide data-driven care. We'll track your mood before and after each session. We'll also track your satisfaction with our therapy sessions so we can make adjustments to make it as optimal as possible. This is also the primary way that I improve as a therapist - with your immediate feedback. We'll use Google Drive as our hub for your therapeutic growth. You'll have your homework and session tracker, data tracker, and all of our customized work together in one place to take with you after we complete therapy together. I see people weekly, or biweekly, for hour long sessions. The vast majority of people will experience significant improvement in their areas of concern in just 3-4 sessions.
During our first session, we'll explore the reasons you're reaching out for help. I'll collect a broad history from you and formulate a diagnosis. We'll begin charting our path forward, making a plan for how we'll resolve the reasons for which you've reached out for help.
My greatest strength is the use of technology, homework, and data to supercharge your therapeutic progress. My goal is to train you to be your own therapist. In other words, I want you to be 80% as good as I am when it comes to providing therapy to yourself. Once you've met that goal, you've likely completed your course of therapy. I also enjoy being flexible and creative through adjusting to your unique needs and personality. This could mean, among other things, different types of homework assignments or different psychotherapeutic perspectives and techniques.
My ideal clients are those who are seeking deep, foundational change - even if that change is specific (e.g., improving communication with your partner) - and are willing to put in the work to achieve that change. I require that you complete homework in between sessions, so an openness to self-directed growth is key. I view it much like physical therapy. You may go to physical therapy once a week and be assigned at-home exercises to do in between appointments. If you don't complete those at-home exercises, you'll make little to no progress, but if you do, you'll make significant progress!
Jay Varela offers therapy covered by UnitedHealthcare/Optum - Medicaid in Virginia.
This is the primary approach. You'll develop a solid foundation in CBT with tools and techniques you can use to meet most of your life's challenges. I have advanced training in CBT from the Feeling Good Institute and Beck Institute.
I bring in psychodynamic tools, techniques, and concepts to cover for CBT's weak points.