First and foremost, I’m married to a beautiful, God-fearing woman, with whom the Lord has greatly blessed me. God has used my wife to make me the man I am today and to continue to help me grow. My wife and I are what you may call foodies. We love cooking and experimenting with new dishes. A relaxing evening for us entails cooking a good meal together.

I was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. My parents have been married for 50 years, and I am the youngest of four boys as well as an identical twin. I was raised in a Christian household and attended church regularly growing up, but didn’t become a Christian until my mid-20s. I attended the University of South Carolina for my undergraduate degree in psychology (2001) and, after working for two years for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, decided to pursue advanced degrees in counseling. I hold a master’s degree from Auburn University (2007) and a doctor’s degree from the University of Virginia (2010), both in counseling. I’m also a licensed professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

What is my Philosophy?
My philosophy in counseling is to make myself irrelevant to those who seek my counseling services. I have a mantra of “my job is to work myself out of a job.” I am not seeking to make people dependent upon me but rather to learn to press into and utilize their support system around them. For some, that means learning to build a support system. I also seek to help people learn to draw from their faith as a strength to help them grow. I believe the success of counseling is built on what is transpiring between sessions, meaning what work are people doing between sessions. I partner with the people I work with to create interventions to implement outside of counseling sessions. This is done to help people gain the necessary tools to grow and heal. My hope for everyone I work with is to eventually become obsolete because individuals have become equipped and are supported by those around them. I see my role in people’s lives as a tiny blip on their timeline in life. I consider it a great honor to be granted the opportunity to help people move toward growth and healing.

Who do I work with?
My counseling is focused on working with men. In working with men, I have noticed, and the research supports it, that men severely underutilize counseling services. I desire to break the stigma many men have of counseling and offer them a safe environment to receive support. I have advance training in working with men and wrote a dissertation on men and mental health, and have provided varying types of services to men (e.g., outpatient men’s substance abuse group, men on parole, men of all ages ranging from adolescents to older adults).