LCSW, 20 years of experience
Hi! My name is Ross Manning and I am a seasoned licensed therapist and addictions counselor. I have been providing therapy throughout South-Central Indiana for the past 20 years. I enjoy working with a wide range of individuals, couples, families and groups. My primary areas of training and expertise are addictions, anger management, and co-occurring disorders including anxiety and depression. As a general practitioner, I also enjoy working with people on life adjustment and changes, coming of age and aging issues, men's issues, and grief and loss.
Oftentimes, therapy can be stressful as individuals are facing personal challenges and working in a space of cognitive and emotional discomfort. Recognizing the importance of trust and feeling secure to make change, I try to make initial sessions more relaxed, inviting, and non-judging. Individuals can expect for a first session to be mostly information gathering and getting to know each other: low stakes. As we progress through the stages of therapy and establish a trust-based working relationship, therapy can become more challenging as old patterns of thinking and behavior are identified and explored for change.
As a seasoned clinician, team leader, and academic, I am confident in my therapeutic approach and clinical skills sets. More importantly, I value relationship, perspective-taking, and objectivity. Rather than playing the wise sage on the mountain top, I prefer to be the helpful guide from the side, who works with each person to realize the best versions of themselves.
I generally work best with individuals who are clear on their reasons for seeking therapy and motivated for making change. I generally view therapy as a process for making personal changes, whereby individuals challenge assumptions, gain insights, and develop new ways of thinking and relating with self and world.
I take an integrated approach to therapy using a solutions focused therapy framework for action-oriented work with a range of therapeutic methods including CBT, DBT, ACT, Behavior Activation/Modification, Exposure, and Cognitive Processing.