Paul Ellingsen, LMFT - Therapist at Grow Therapy

Paul Ellingsen

Paul Ellingsen

(he/him)

LMFT
30 years of experience
Authentic
Solution oriented
Virtual

I am a licensed psychotherapist and hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology. I have over 30 years experience and have performed thousands of hours of counseling. I have worked across a broad spectrum of mental health settings including private practice, CPS, Residential Treatment Centers, substance abuse facilities, psychiatric hospitals, and conducted psychiatric evaluations in a hospital ER. I've seen it all and dealt with it all. My life’s work has been dedicated to assisting people overcoming problems, and living happier, more rewarding and fulfilling lives.

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

In our first session, we will discuss what brings you to therapy; what you wish to address. I look beyond the symptoms and focus on the root cause of issues. This typically involves exploring the underlying thoughts, beliefs, fears, emotions and experiences contributing to your current challenges. We will develop a framework for reaching your counseling goals in a supportive, collaborative environment.

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

People and their behavior can be complex and not easy to understand. My greatest strength is likely my ability to understand a client, to troubleshoot the difficulties they are experiencing, and identify the root cause. If the root cause is not identified, then you risk treating the symptoms and not the cause. Once the root cause is identified, that is the area to intervene. One of my favorite treatment modalities is called strategic intervention. And this is a simple description of strategic intervention.

Appointments

Virtual

My treatment methods

Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)

I am a licensed psychotherapist and hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology. I have over 30 years experience and have performed thousands of hours of counseling. I have worked across a broad spectrum of mental health settings including private practice, CPS, Residential Treatment Centers, substance abuse facilities, psychiatric hospitals, and conducted psychiatric evaluations in a hospital ER. I've seen it all and dealt with it all. My life’s work has been dedicated to assisting people overcoming problems, and living happier, more rewarding and fulfilling lives. I am understanding, thoughtful, intuitive, sensitive, and emphatic. I prioritize assisting each client in reaching their goals in counseling. My role is to help you sort thru concerns, issues, problems; and to gain clarity, gain understanding, increase your resolve, and develop tools that will enable you to dismantle and break free from problems, negative patterns, limiting beliefs, low self-esteem, depression, fear, past trauma–whatever it is.

Supportive

Every client is different. Some clients just want to gain clarity and insight or to air out some issues. Some are having a difficult time coping with past trauma. Some might be in crisis. Some suffer from low self-esteem or fear or depression. Some feel stuck in a negative pattern and don’t know how to get out of it. I tailor my approach to suit the needs of each individual client, and some clients just need supportive therapy. The supportive approach is based more exploration, understanding, insights, and reflection.

Solution Focused Brief Treatment

Finding Your Path to Lasting Change Understanding yourself and making changes can be challenging. It can be difficult to understand our emotions or why we do certain things. But there is always a reason. My expertise lies in unraveling the complexities of human behavior and emotions and help you gain insight and understanding. And to identify the underlying cause. That is important since otherwise you risk just treating the symptoms. My goal is to help you uncover the hidden drivers of your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors (which are all interrelated). Once you gain these crucial insights, you'll be equipped to make new decisions, respond in new ways, and overcome the difficulties that have been holding you back. That is how meaningful and lasting change can be attained. We can work together to unlock your potential for growth and well-being.

Paul Ellingsen, LMFT