I received an MA in Humanistic Psychology in 2007 from the University of West Georgia. I use a client-centered, humanistic approach focusing on aspects of Mindfulness, Existentialism, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I have experience working with anxiety, depression, and trauma-related diagnoses as well as other life experiences. My learning and healing journey has been full of the unexpected and the changes have come in a variety of forms. Some I have savored, leaving me filled with a sense of wonder. Others have left me picking up the broken pieces, wondering in what possible way I might ever come back together again. I have been lucky, I think, to have the lens of Psychology to help me along the way. Along our way together I will offer this lens to you.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
Our first appointment together will be an open and honest discussion about where you are. An easy going get-to-know type thing. I'll also be open to any questions you might have.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
In 2002, before my formal education in Psychology, I traveled with two close friends to southern France where for a brief time I stayed at Plum Village, a little Buddhist monastery. Over the years it has been a joy to watch mindfulness work its way into the vernacular of psychology and counseling and it will give us direction in the work we do together.
About Jeffrey Overdorff
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
After graduate school and full licensure I studied under a seasoned psychologist and several other practitioners for five years. These wonderful teachers taught and utilized a CBT method with an emphasis on pattern recognition. CBT is a way of examining thought patterns and how they generate emotional experiences, then driving our patterned response/behaviors. If necessary we will use this tool to examine the meaning/decisions made during these difficult experiences. This meaning and past decision making oftentimes drive the avoidant thoughts that keep getting in your way. Together we will aim to process through these experiences through a different set of eyes, making more healthy and constructive meaning/decisions. New meaning = new thought patterns = different emotional content = different behavior patterns.
Humanistic
My graduate degree was in Humanistic Psychology. This way of practicing psychology is the origin of client centered therapy and unconditional positive regard. A humanistic approach adheres to a belief that we, as humans, tend to grow in a positive direction when obstacles are removed. In the above section I spoke of avoidant thought patterns, their generated emotional content, and the resulting avoidant behavior patterns. These would be considered obstacles to a humanistic psychologist and gotta go.
Existential
Existential meaning is a big topic to a student of humanistic psychology. Accepting that these are short little lives we live and the meaning and decisions we make as well as the meaning we project onto the world are fundamental in how we experience our lives and relate to others. In other words it's in the repression of these truths, most prominently our mortality, that our lived experiences are dimmed, so to speak. A goal of existential therapy is to understand it's in the embracing of these things that the very dear value of our lives comes into sharper focus. This approach will be threaded into our work together as it presents itself.