Born and raised in Moore/South OKC, Oklahoma, John recently relocated to Stillwater with his wife and children. John started his professional life in the medical field as an EMT and then went on to become an RN/BSN. He attended Oklahoma State University OKC for all of his medical training and worked in the Emergency Room of several hospitals for a number of years. After experiencing the personal gift of recovery for himself, John eventually felt he was called to leave his nursing career and begin a new career assisting others who struggle with addiction. In 2018 John went back to college at Mid-America Christian University where he graduated magna cum lade with his M.S. in counseling with an emphasis in drug and alcohol counseling. He states, “I was lost and felt there was no hope for a person like me and I know that feeling of hopelessness is felt by the entire family. I want to categorically tell you, there is HOPE! God uses broken people like you and me to reach broken people like you and me.” John has seen the devastation addiction can bring to a family firsthand. His mother died at the age of 50 due to her substance use and he also lost his younger sister as a direct result of her substance use.
John is a Licensed Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health (LADC-MH) Counselor and is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and uses this modality to treat trauma, addiction, anxiety, and depression. John enjoys providing group therapy, individual therapy, psychoeducation lectures, and is trained in crisis management. Because of his own story, John works with his clients from a place of understanding and empathy.
John’s experiences of loss and recovery have birthed a burning passion to work clients that struggle with substance use as well as their families. He wants to be able to provide quality and empathetic care that restores hope and births grace. He also has an interest in working with medical professionals that struggle with substance use tied to trauma, stress, anxiety, and depression. John counsels his clients from a psychodynamic approach that looks at the life of the client from birth to present and seeks to answer the question “why do I do what I do?” John believes one of the toughest challenges for an individual that has struggled with substance abuse is to learn to love themselves again, to get past the deep-rooted shame and guilt. He prefers to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help with those thoughts and feelings and learn new behaviors and coping mechanisms. He wants his client to learn they have a choice, to find the strength they long for, and to find meaningful, long term, recovery.
John currently takes most major insurances.
