I am getting a lot of calls these days for my private practice. Thankfully, my clients almost always tell me why they called me (rather than, or in addition to, the thirty-seven thousand OTHER therapists in Honolulu or Santa Fe…) It’s almost always about two things. OK—let’s call it four.

• My profile felt genuine, welcoming, and showed “personality”
• I do both “Life Coaching” and “Therapy”
• I do not want to get us lost in 1981, or 1999, and certainly not in 1954–I want to work with your life NOW
• I do “Law of Attraction” work… (for what THAT might mean, click here. )

My Inner City Cleveland Roots

I am a pretty regular guy, I love humor, I am very approachable, and anybody who wants to call me Jim or James does (I don’t stand on the “Dr. Nolan” thing.)

Life Coaching

And then there’s the Life Coaching thing—what does THAT mean? Well, it means, among other things, that we are not going to be only, or maybe even primarily, “Problem-Focused.”  We ARE going to focus too on what is going RIGHT in your life; we look at your strengths, dreams, aspirations, manifestations, hopes, and goals. As they say, sometimes in life you need to get from -3 to +2, and other times, you want to get from +5 to +9. You could call the first one Therapy, the second one Coaching.

Focus on the Past vs. Focus on Life in the Now & the Future

And the 1974 thing. A lot of therapists work deep into your past, and I just do not want to do that, and more often than not, I do not think it is useful at all, other than to surf over the highlights and get on back to present day.  I also find that a LOT of my clients explicitly tell me “I have been in therapy before, and I don’t really want to do the mom stuff–done that already. I am ready to move on with my life…” That is usually the point we start blending “Counseling” and “Life Coaching.”

Summary

Anyway, I love this work. I have a strong commitment to empowering others to bring their lives up to that “Holy Cow, Are You Kidding Me?” place, when possible. “Coaching” helps make that happen. Staying focused on problems, and “Psychopathology” (what insurance companies prefer to pay for) alone will not help you get to those places high up in the trees, or even the clouds.

I am not afraid of, nor will I ignore or avoid your “baggage.” But I don’t want us to get caught on the Baggage Claim Carousel for months, either–I want to get us on the next available flight, and I want you to be the pilot…

Stuff going on? Text me, at 505-699-7616. I am an INFP, after all, an Introvert, and texting works just fine. Or check out my web site, and see if anything resonates. It’s drjamesmichaelnolan.com, and I have a bunch of articles there…

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great week ahead of you…

Warmly,

Jim

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