The information below is my introduction to you, to let you know a little more about me and how I approach counseling. Hi, my name is Jerry, I have over 30 years counseling experience in the mental health field, I specialize in working with adults who have problems with depression and anxiety and general everyday life concerns and PTSD. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Oklahoma. I believe that counseling is a process that helps you become the person you want to be, not by giving advice but by working together to help you solve your concerns. I also use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as my preferred choice of treatment. CBT for shorts offers a variety of tools that be can be used to speed up your progress. I usually recommend a book called “Understanding, subtitled, Finding Peace and Serenity in Life and Relationships, this is to help you better understand the principles of CBT If you would like to check this book out it can be found on Amazon.com, it is a very old book but a good book. Please let me know at anytime if you have any questions or concerns about this or anything else. FYI – Symptoms of depression include: feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness, angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters, loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports, sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much, tiredness and lack of energy, so even small tasks take extra effort, reduced appetite and weight loss or increased cravings for food and weight gain, anxiety, agitation or restlessness, slowed thinking, speaking or body movements, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or self-blame, trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things, frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide. Symptoms of anxiety include: common anxiety signs and symptoms include: feeling nervous, restless or tense, having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom, having an increased heart rate, breathing rapidly, experiencing, having difficulty controlling worry, having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety. I also work with trauma victims who suffer from symptoms of PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event – either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Most people who go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or even years, and interfere with your day-to-day functioning, you may have PTSD. Symptoms can include all of the following: Symptoms of negative changes in thinking and mood may include: negative thoughts about yourself, other people or the world, hopelessness about the future. Memory problems, including not remembering important aspects of the traumatic event, difficulty maintaining close relationships, feeling detached from family and friend, lack of interest in activities you once enjoyed, difficulty experiencing positive emotions, feeling emotionally numb. Changes in physical and emotional reactions. Symptoms of changes in physical and emotional reactions (also called arousal symptoms) may include: being easily startled or frightened, always being on guard for danger, self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much or driving too fast, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, irritability, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior and overwhelming guilt or shame. Getting effective treatment after PTSD symptoms develop can be critical to reduce symptoms and improve function. Symptoms can include, Avoidance Symptoms of avoidance may include: trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event, avoiding places, activities or people that remind you of the traumatic even. I use a thoroughly researched and proven method of therapy for PTSD that is called Written Exposure Therapy or WET for short. WET can be completed in as little as 5 sessions but may require more session for some people. If you have any of these symptoms and you want to get better faster, WET is one of the recommend treatment methods. I believe that it is a relationship between two people. It takes courage to seek a more happy and fulfilling life to take the first steps to change. Counseling is about making changes that you want to make. If you are interested in a person that cares about your needs, is respectful and will listen to your needs then I am the counselor that can help you. I look forward to meeting and working with you. I find some people like to chat, some like to do phone calls and some people like to do video sessions. In order to better understand your needs, could you please let me know how you would like to proceed. If you would like to schedule a session, please check my calendar and pick an available time slot that works for you, if nothing is available that works for you, let me know as I am flexible will do my best to meet your needs. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to meeting you soon. Some people like to start off with just chatting others feel more comfortable using the phone or video sessions. I just wanted to let you know, that I will never judge you and that I am here for your needs only, please let me know how I can assist you. When you do decide to take the next step, the following are instructions to help you have a better session. Here is some useful information. When you come online for your video or phone session and or chat, I will see you and initiate the call all you have to do is to accept it. Better help states that the videos and phone calls work best with Google Chrome, please do a video test before your session to make sure your video and microphone are working correctly. It should be in the help section. If you have any questions just send me a message. This is to ensure a problem free and productive session for you. FYI, chats can either be completed on your page, and I have 24 hours to respond to each message or you can actually schedule a chat session, just like you would a phone or video session. Other important information, one important piece of information about this website, I am required to respond to any of your messages within 24 hours, except for weekends and holiday, but as you can see I am also up early in the morning as that is when I tend to answer my messages. Sometimes if it is early and not busy I even answer messages on weekends and sometime on holidays. I also wanted to let you know that I do schedule some evening sessions, I schedule them Monday through Wednesday. I do not put them on my calendar as I want to save them for people who need them. I currently have open session on Monday through Wednesday at 5:30 and 6:30 EST. Please let me know if you need one of these early evening sessions. Please let me know also what kind of session you would like, either chat, phone of video and I will be happy to schedule it for you. Please let me know if you have any questions.