A counselor, and a Richardson local.

I grew up right down the road in Richardson and, after a few years away, somehow ended up right back where I started. I went to Texas A&M University, where I earned a B.S. in Organizational Development, and then returned to Dallas to complete my Master’s in Biblical Counseling at Dallas Theological Seminary. These days, I’m grateful to be raising my own family in the same community where I grew up.

I didn’t always know I wanted to be a counselor. I took a few different career paths along the way, but counseling kept pulling me back. A big part of that came from my own experience with counselors and mentors when I was younger. Having people in my life who could listen, challenge me, help me make sense of things, and occasionally tell me what I probably didn’t want to hear made a lasting impact on me. Eventually, I realized I wanted to do the same kind of work with other people.

I’ve now spent the past fifteen years in private practice, and founding Magnolia Counseling Group with four of my friends and business partners has easily been one of the most rewarding parts of my career. I serve as a managing partner there. This site is a place to learn about working with me directly, and my connections with colleagues give me a broad network of referral resources when someone needs a different kind of support. My own counseling practice is focused on adults; for adolescents, I can help point families toward a colleague who works with that age group.

I work with all kinds of people and concerns, but much of my practice focuses on anxiety, depression, OCD, and relationships. My approach is primarily based in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In simple terms, that means we spend time figuring out what is actually happening in your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors—and then, when something isn’t working, finding practical ways to do something about it.

I’m a Christian, and my faith shapes the way I understand people and the work I do. At the same time, I work with clients from all kinds of backgrounds and belief systems. If faith is an important part of your life, there is plenty of room for it in counseling. If it isn’t, that’s okay too.

More than anything, I want counseling to feel like a place where you can be yourself. You don’t need to have the right words, know exactly what’s wrong, or show up with a perfectly organized list of things you want to work on. We can figure that out together.

I take the work seriously, but I don’t think counseling has to feel serious all the time. There is room for honesty, difficult conversations, encouragement, humor, and probably the occasional bad analogy. My goal is to create a relationship where you feel comfortable enough to be honest about what’s really going on—and where we can actually do something useful with that honesty.

When I’m not counseling, I spend most of my time with my wife and son. I also love running, getting outside when the Texas weather cooperates, and finding a good way to slow down at the end of the day. Most of the things I enjoy are pretty simple, and I’m happiest when I have time with my family and nowhere in particular I need to be.