“The whole professional biography is lovely but who actually is this internet stranger I’m supposed to bare my soul to?”

I am a married, father of one toddler, New Yorker, who spends much of his free time in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes, playing/DM’ing Dungeon and Dragons, gardening, and fishing. My early career was on the path to be a music educator and thankfully as such, encouraged me to have a wide range in music taste, ranging from Ska to Opera to Jam Bands. I was raised as a Protestant Christian, but as an American I also believe secular separation of our faith from our work/government policies is important.

“This is a lot of personal information to know about a therapist, isn’t that uncommon?”

Personal information is generally not provided within the therapeutic context so to avoid implicit biases affecting the therapeutic process, which is incredibly important. What is also vital is building a strong rapport between clinician and client so that you feel you can comfortable sharing what’s intimately going on in your life, and that can be hard to do if the person opposite you feels like a stranger. It is up to the clinician to be wary of how much they bring themselves into the session so that the work is always for your benefit.