Joel Wallis (He/Him)

Depression can feel like a heavy cloud that lingers, making every step of life's journey a struggle. In our sessions, I provide a safe space for you to explore your thoughts and feelings without judgment. Depression is hard but it does not have to define us. I like helping client's recognize that they may experience depression but they are not depression.

I myself have a chronic illness as well as a child with chronic illness. While the challenges we face may be different I understand the heaviness of dealing with something that may never go away. I help my clients change the relationship they have with their chronic pain/illness and find ways to still live a value filled life.

While I typically do not label pornography use as an addiction, mainly because of the lack of control that label brings, I recognize that many view their struggles with pornography to be addictive. I help my clients develop a new way of seeing themselves and overcoming this challenge.

I believe talking about our problems is helpful but doing something about the challenges we face is even more so. In our sessions we won't just talk about what you can do to change your relationship with the distress you are experiencing, we will get experiential and identify ways for you to continue to apply skills throughout the week.

While I focus on ACT as a main focus the truth is there are so many helpful skills and techniques to be learned from other therapy models. I do my best to seamlessly integrate different skills and techniques into the ways we will address the challenges you are facing.

In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy we focus on the relationship you have with your distressing thoughts and feelings. Too often we want to avoid and distract from the painful things we experience, this is only normal, but it's not very helpful. Instead of trying to make the challenges we face go away we use ACT to change our relationship with them and learn to reconnect with what truly matters and live more rich and meaningful lives.

I believe that the root of addiction begins with the desire to avoid our distress and change how we feel. In addressing any addictive behavior you are experiencing we must look at the purpose the addiction serves for you and how you can learn to respond differently to the different stressors you face, including urges to engage in addictive behavior.