Ryan Sargent

Existential therapy helps you explore life’s deeper questions—purpose, freedom, mortality, and meaning—especially during transitions or crises. Together, we’ll uncover how your values shape choices, clarify what truly matters, and find strength in the face of uncertainty. My approach fosters resilience, purpose, and authenticity so you can live with greater clarity and direction.

Former Army Combat Engineer, 12 years Ohio National Guard, plus five years as a firefighter/EMT. Star Behavioral Health Providers (SBHP) trained — focused on military culture and work with veterans. I work with veterans, Guard and Reserve members (including those who never deployed to combat), and first responders navigating identity shifts, burnout, moral injury, and the space between the uniform and what comes after. Self-pay practice; no insurance billing, no session limits.

I work with men whose outside life and inside life no longer match — high-responsibility men carrying more than they say out loud. Founders, operators, veterans, first responders, and professionals navigating burnout, identity shifts, relationship strain, and questions about purpose and direction. The work is structured, direct, and built around real change — not just insight. My approach draws from existential therapy, ACT, and Gottman-informed relationship work.

Burnout rarely starts as exhaustion. It starts as misalignment — the slow erosion of meaning in work and life that used to fit. You're still showing up, but something underneath has gone quiet. My approach helps clients move beyond symptom management to clarify values, restore direction, and rebuild a life that makes psychological sense again. I integrate existential therapy, ACT, and the Meaning-Oriented Counseling Model to address burnout at the level of identity and purpose.

ACT principles shape much of my work with men in transition. When the old strategies stop fitting, ACT offers tools that help: clarifying values, accepting what cannot be controlled, and taking committed action toward the life that makes sense now. I use ACT-informed work to help clients move from stuck patterns to values-aligned decisions. Not formally certified in ACT; I draw from its principles and integrate them with existential therapy and my own Meaning-Oriented Counseling Model.

Mindfulness matters most for high-responsibility men who have spent years overriding their own signals. MBCT-informed work helps clients notice what their body and mind are saying before the signals escalate to burnout or breakdown. I draw from MBCT principles to support emotional regulation, attention, and presence - not as stand-alone practice, but as one layer within the broader Meaning-Oriented approach. Not formally MBCT-certified; I integrate its principles into my work.

Existential therapy sits at the center of my work. High-responsibility men often arrive not with a disorder, but with a crisis of meaning - the sense that their life no longer fits the person they've become. Existential work addresses this directly: clarifying values, confronting mortality and freedom, and rebuilding a life that holds up under scrutiny. I integrate existential therapy with ACT-informed action and my own Meaning-Oriented Counseling Model.