Q and A with Joshua Dotter, LMSW
Joshua Dotter, LMSW of Forward Counseling, believes that we all experience this world in different ways. With this, therapy can improve mental health, communication, and relationships. He uses various techniques to help clients understand themselves and their experiences. A non-judgmental approach builds trust and safety, allowing clients to explore challenges and find solutions. He also empowers clients by recognizing their strengths and helping them set goals. Joshua also mentioned common challenges affecting mental health that include negative self-talk, but he can help clients develop self-compassion and authenticity. By focusing on strengths and goals, therapy can increase fulfillment and help navigate life changes.
Join us as we delve into the impressive capabilities of Joshua. Don't miss out on this opportunity to discover all that he has to offer.
1. What are the top benefits of seeing a therapist or counselor?
Therapy helps manage and alleviate the symptoms of mental health conditions by providing individuals with various therapeutic techniques for better control over their mental health. It offers a safe, non-judgmental space for expressing thoughts and feelings while teaching practical strategies for coping with stress, anxiety, and other challenges. Therapy enhances communication and conflict-resolution skills, leading to healthier relationships, and fosters personal growth and better decision-making by offering deeper insights into behaviors and emotions. It supports clients in setting and achieving personal goals, improves overall health by reducing stress and healing trauma, and provides guidance during major life changes. Additionally, therapy addresses mental health issues early, enhances critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and promotes better physical health, including improved sleep, lower blood pressure, and a stronger immune system.
2. What made you choose to work in the mental health field?
The field of mental health is a second career for me. I struggled well into my 30s trying to determine what I would like to be when I grew up. I would say my purpose became clearer through a combination of my own mental health experiences, desires for meaningful work in alignment with my own values, and what could be a calling that is based on my own strong senses of empathy and compassion.
3. How do you help clients gain awareness of how internal and external interactions shape their experiences?
I use a variety of techniques to assist clients in gaining a comprehensive awareness of how their internal experiences and external interactions shape their overall life experiences. I believe this awareness is a crucial step towards personal growth and healthier relationships. Everyone finds this awareness at their own pace. Working with the client and their self-determination, I utilize a combination of Socratic questioning, cognitive behavioral techniques, psychoeducation, exploring and processing past experiences, and mindfulness exercises.
4. Can you explain more about your nonjudgmental and compassionate approach to counseling and how it fosters trust and safety for clients?
Studies show one of the biggest factors in client success is measured in the therapeutic alliance between therapist and client. A nonjudgmental and compassionate approach to counseling is crucial for establishing a therapeutic space where clients feel safe, understood, and supported. When meeting the clients where they are, I actively listen, validate emotions, create a safe environment, set collaborative goals, incorporate mindfulness, and empower clients. The benefits of this approach include building trust, enhancing safety, facilitating healing and growth, and encouraging self-compassion. Overall, it fosters open communication, emotional expression, and empowerment, leading to more effective therapy outcomes.
5. What techniques or modalities do you use to encourage insight and different perspectives during sessions? How can EMDR help patients?
Depending on the client's needs, my practice largely employs aspects of mindfulness for creating greater awareness within the client and CBT for understanding the cognitive distortions and biases that the client is experiencing. The results of those processes are supported through additional exploration and processing, along with experiential therapies dependent on client preferences.
6. How do you balance supporting clients while also challenging them to make desired changes in their lives?
This balance requires me to be flexible and adaptable across my entire client population; therapy is not a one-size-fits-all approach. I have to be willing to listen for proper assessment in readiness for client change, empower the client through a strengths-based approach, and continue checking in with the client regarding their perceptions of progress and satisfaction with the therapeutic process. What I do with one client might not work with the next, nor at the same pace. I’m very upfront with my clients in this being a journey for us both, with their ability for constant feedback throughout our relationship.
7. What does empowerment mean to you in the context of counseling, and how do you facilitate it for your clients?
I view empowerment as guiding clients to recognize their strengths and abilities, empowering them to take control of their lives and achieve their goals. This process involves acknowledging clients' autonomy while offering outside perspectives through psychoeducation, self-reflection, and insight, and supporting goal-setting and action planning. In session, we aren’t just focusing on the problems or things we want to change; we also have to take time to support and celebrate the successes of the past and present.
8. Can you share some examples of tools or strategies you provide to clients to support their mental health journey?
When checking in with my clients regarding their perception of progress, I often hear common themes of increased awareness and greater consideration of differing perspectives. We accomplish these by starting with increasing awareness. This happens in a variety of ways, determined by the individual client and their needs at the moment. I collaborate with each client through active listening and support of their circumstances and their perceptions. We build a foundation for understanding cognitive distortions and how those affect our experiences. We continue to use mindful awareness and value-driven behaviors to find responses that the client finds more in alignment with how they wish to react.
9. How do you approach working with clients who are dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, or grief?
Working with clients who are dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, or grief requires a compassionate, structured, and flexible approach tailored to each individual's unique needs. We do this in a variety of ways, which include but are not limited to creating and continually reinforcing the therapeutic relationship; providing a compassionate safe place to be heard and express the self fully; utilizing mindfulness for awareness, gratitude, and self-compassion; processing cognitive distortions and biases based on experiences and development; exploring strengths, values, and goals for alignment; and implementing a variety of coping skills or approaches for a client to utilize outside of session.
10. What are some common challenges that clients may face during their counseling journey, and how do you support them through these challenges?
Negative self-talk is something that I encounter in the majority of sessions, along with battling constantly on my own. There is no easy answer to dealing with our inner critic. Oddly, that inner critic is just a version of ourselves from the past that is trying to protect or help us in some way. The challenge is creating awareness for the client by acknowledging and identifying that defender, then finding ways to understand where it is coming from and understanding that aspect of our future interactions with our systems.
11. How do you help clients discover and embrace their authenticity during the counseling process?
I do my best to create a supportive environment in which I encourage self-exploration. Through the non-judgemental nature of our relationship, we challenge societal norms, promote self-expression, and nurture self-compassion. When a client inevitably finds themselves struggling with the ability to grant themselves grace, we rely on those tools of exploration, processing, psychoeducation, and mindfulness.
12. How do you support clients in finding increased fulfillment in their experiences and navigating life changes?
Overall, my approach to supporting clients in finding increased fulfillment and navigating life changes involves a combination of exploring client strengths, value-driven behaviors, goal-setting, resilience-building, and self-compassion. By providing guidance, encouragement, and practical strategies, I help clients navigate life's ups and downs with greater resilience, purpose, and satisfaction.