About

No cookie-cutter therapy – You are unique.

When I work with you as an individual, I help you navigate not only your current external struggles (relationships, work, life activities), but your inner world, which affects everything about how you are showing up in your life in all those categories.

Our work together will include looking at how your story has shaped how you feel, relate, and move through life. We will identify deeply held beliefs (often unconscious) that may get in the way of a more gratifying life.

You are a unique individual, so I will tailor my work to most effectively affect your growth. Some clients love to read, so I will leverage that for their benefit; others, not so much, so I would not burden them with reading suggestions.

Music, movies, culture, philosophy, theology, my journey – anything that my experience tells me would be most useful to you I will harness to promote your progress.

We travel this road together.

I have found that clients benefit when the counselor assumes the role of a fellow sojourner rather than the I-have-it-all-together expert. So, while I always maintain professional standards, I work to break down the professional distance espoused by some approaches.

In the end, an actual human, caring relationship becomes the context of healing and growth in the counseling process.

Relationships involve two people, not one.

Couples come to me with a myriad of issues, but there are common themes. Most problems involve trust issues, intimacy, and communication.

Being deeply heard and understood by your partner is a beautiful feeling, and the lack of feeling truly heard is excruciating, often becoming intolerable. I will teach you how to make your partner feel deeply heard and how to ask for the same in return.

Couples counseling has a catch: you cannot “fix” your relationship without fixing yourself. I often tell couples, “There is only one kind of healthy relationship on the planet – a relationship between two healthy people.”

So, I challenge couples to look at whatever they may bring to the relationship that contributes to the lack of a healthy, gratifying relationship.

Preparing for your next ‘season’…

Mentoring executives accomplished in many areas of their lives but who want guidance toward increasing wholeness and growth is my passion.

Becoming liberated from toxic fear and shame helps you live the next season of your life with even more purpose and authenticity. Understanding your core strengths, root issues, and besetting roadblocks can launch you to new heights in every area of your life.

Hello, I am Monte.

Here’s the boring stuff: I hold advanced degrees in Theology (Dallas Theological Seminary, 1990) and Counseling (Colorado Christian University, 1994) and have read lots of books (a few of them worth reading and might be recommended to you if you like to read).

But the truth is, I genuinely believe my effectiveness as a counselor comes not as much from my formal training as from the ongoing openness to examining my own life, learning from literature, music, and meaningful conversation with others.

I have learned as much from my clients over the years as they have learned from me. And I plan to continue that pattern. Learning, in every category of life, is central to who I am, and I hope to infect my clients with that condition.

Here is the less boring stuff: We all have addictions. From age 7, I have been a sports addict. And guitar – I have loved playing guitar since age 16 (my desire to be good and efforts to be good have so far exceeded my talent). I have dabbled in songwriting since moving to Nashville in 1999; you will see a guitar hanging in my office.

And in 2013, I took up a new hobby, which has become an obsession – ballroom dancing. If I win the lottery, you’ll have to find a new counselor, ‘cuz you’ll never see me again. I’ll be taking ballroom dance lessons from the top instructors in Europe – fair warning.