Ian Kepler LCSW

The mind is a funny thing. It never quite stays still as a clear and definable ‘thing’. It is always changing, always reacting and shifting to try and navigate an endlessly complex world. Of course the mind is itself endlessly complex as a result and, when it comes time identify what about the patterns that it expresses are causing us difficulty, it can feel incredibly overwhelming, and maybe impossible, to figure out on our own.

I have made it my life long endeavor to try to understand what causes this exceptionally human experience of suffering and to find ways to mitigate it. Since my beginnings as a somewhat strange child with a healthy mix of traumas, neurodivergences, anxieties and depressions, I have gained a tremendous amount of personal experience trying just about everything to find peace in my own heart.

With my clients I offer everything I have gained in that process to try and help them find a way forward, whether we are treating depression or anxiety, CPTSD, PTSD, ADHD, or other conditions, or if we are simply facing existential dread about our lives, are confused about who we are or are lost and trying to figure out what direction we should be going. In the beginning especially, we often don’t know what’s wrong, only that something isn’t working.

So we start. In addition to my own personal internal experience I have also worked in therapeutic settings for over a decade and have training in clinical intervention for diagnosed mental health disorders. I strongly value science, whether of Psychology, neuroscience, biology etc., as a bedrock for successful psychotherapy.

Additionally, I strongly value spiritual perspectives. I grew up in a Christian context and now consider myself to be a Buddhist, having trained for years in residential monastic settings. I have experience with psychedelics as a source of profound meaning and value the science which shows the incredible potential benefits to mental health and spiritual well being. I have worked well with people who are seeking integration work from psychedelic or other transcendent spiritual experiences which can be difficult to make sense of and are often misunderstood by inexperienced therapists.

Ultimately, any effort you are making to grow and to heal is an act of great courage. Please take what ever encouragement you can that what you are doing for yourself in this process is something that will be of benefit to the world that we share. I wish you well.