I grew up the youngest of 6, on the Southside of Chicago, in what was originally a three bedroom, one point five bathroom house. It was not always safe to play outside and it wasn’t always safe inside, so I made the safest spot I could find inside of my own mind.  Traumas and violence impacted me regularly, even as a young child, so once I was old enough to pick up a pen, I escaped to other worlds through my writing.  Before I knew I that I am transgender man, before I even understood that I am Black, I understood that I am a storyteller.  After years of being a Family Therapist, one thing is very clear about why I chose to do this work.  —I am a storyteller.  Many people have asked me over the years if being a therapist has ever grown tiring. My response is often that my clients have become my favorite characters from my favorite stories to catch up on every week.  My therapy practice is like tuning into my favorite thirty-five sitcoms or dramas.  I relax into my comfy chair and my imagination illuminates before me as their lives unfold on my couch.  My office has become the best seat in the Universe for me to understand humanity in all of its complexity.  I sometimes am moved to the edge of my seat as I am rooting for each of them to find the love of their life, overcome a trauma or tragedy, land the job of their dreams, or find the will to live more fully each day.  With each new Monday, I am embarking on an adventure that cycles me through each and every emotion possible.  We cry, we laugh, we immerse ourselves in deep intellectual philosophy, we share poetry, we commune with spirit, and we share in unconditional Love.

      There is no coincidence that this storyteller has found his way to being a therapist in this lifetime. Over all my years as a therapist, I have found a simple truth about the way that people share their stories. The way that someone tells their story, informs how they navigate their world. The only real difference between a soap opera and sitcom in my office is how someone lays out the narrative before me. I have seen the same set of circumstances told from two very different perspectives. I have seen the same set of world events create very different impacts as told from two very different points of view.  Whether someone becomes a hero or a villain is rooted in a simple belief embedded in the narrative.  I learned long ago that if we explore the narrative long enough, we find that each and every story is a love story.  Every antagonist is a protagonist who has experienced great loss of some kind or has felt a well of hurt in some way. What makes them an antagonist is a choice made in a singular moment that created this narrative of how to deal with those personal tragedies.  If I find that belief, I understand their "why.”  Understanding their “why” is vital to helping them find center and balance in their lives. Our work becomes an exploration of the way they each tell their individual stories as the narrative holds the key to success in their healing work.  Ultimately, my hope is that through our work in therapy, all of my clients understand the importance of authoring and reauthoring their stories.  We each have the ability to change any narrative about us.  We can’t change the past, but we can heal it.  We can change the future by evolving what we tell ourselves in the present.  I learned this long ago in my childhood, transmuting fear into love through my writing.  Now, I get to offer this wisdom as a therapist and I hope you feel empowered to author your own story and find healing through your own voice.