John is a member of the Secular Therapy Project, which is committed to meeting the mental health needs of members of the growing secular community.
He does not “push” any particular religion or philosophy. He will neither start sessions with prayer; nor will he scoff at you if you do. He is open to all faith traditions, including those who are questioning, or describe themselves as “atheist” or “agnostic.”
He has never talked anyone into becoming an atheist, but he has helped some who thought they were to discover that they were actually believers with doubts. He agrees with Socrates that “The unexamined life is not worth living,” and applies that philosophy to all aspects of his life, including counseling.
John uses only evidence-based practices. This refers to approaches that are backed by scientific evidence. That is, studies have been conducted and extensive research has been documented on a particular treatment, and it has proven to be successful. The goal is to encourage the use of safe and effective treatments likely to achieve results and lessen the use of unproven, potentially unsafe treatments. That doesn’t mean that he treats his patients like lab-rats; to the contrary, he is well aware of the research findings that relationship is one of the most important aspects of successful treatment. He does everything in his power to foster positive, collaborative, respectful relationships with each of his clients and their families.