Hi, my name is Menzo Faassen. I received my B.S. in Psychology in 1999 from Middle Tennessee State University and I received my M.S. in Community Counseling from Austin Peay State University in 2009. I got my initial hours for my licensure in a community mental health center. My experience there gave me skills and abilities to work with a wide variety of people and issues. I go my first counseling license in Tennessee in 2015. I was licensed previously in New Mexico and Kentucky. Currently, Virginia is the only state where I am actively licensed. Due to telehealth laws, if you are not physically in the state of Virginia during a session, we will have to reschedule. I work full time in Richmond, Virginia (moved here in January of 2022). I work in an outpatient clinic in the Richmond, VA area. I have worked in a variety of therapy settings including outpatient, Intensive Outpatient, Residential Substance Abuse, and Partial Hospitalization. I have worked with clients with a variety of issues but my areas that I am most adept at are trauma, addiction, depression, grief/loss and LGBT issues. I am also a proud member of the LGBT community. My approach to therapy starts out with the basic Rogerian (person centered approach). But, I also incorporate Psychodramatic techniques into my therapy (I can only do this in video sessions). Psychodrama was created by J. L. Moreno and seeks to use a persons creativity and spontaneity in the healing process. Some techniques from this method include doubling (helping you speak your unspoken truth), role techniques (role play, role taking, and role reversal) and empty chair. I’m also fluent in cognitive behavioral therapy and utilize the unconditional positive regard of Carl Rogers. I start where you are. I believe that you are the expert on you and that this is your therapy not mine. The methods and techniques I use will be guided by what you want out of therapy as a whole and what you want out of each session. A few things to be aware of: 1. While you can send messages to me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you will not get an immediate response. BetterHelp is not a crisis line or appropriate for crisis situations or situations where you need an immediate answer. My work for BetterHelp is a part time, weekend structure. So, if you send me a message during the week you may not get an answer until the evening (between 7 PM and 10 PM Eastern Time in the US) or on Saturday or Sunday. If you need someone with more availability, you should chose a different therapist as I will not be able to meet your needs. 2. Prior to beginning therapy I request that you send me your home address and phone number. If you prefer you can send a copy of a photo ID. I request this information for a few reasons. The first is so that if there is an emergency (you present with a plan to hurt yourself or somebody else, or I suspect there is child abuse involved) I can alert the authorities in your location. It is also my ethical duty to assure that I am licensed to provide services in the state you reside. 3. Sending messages back and forth is fine, but you will get more value out of BetterHelp if you schedule a live chat, phone or video session with me. You can do that by selecting the schedule session on the right hand side of the screen. 4. As I said in section 1, the techniques and methods I use will be informed by the goal you have. I will start each session with the question “What do you want to get out of our time today?” Based on that information, I will gear my methods to accomplishing that goal for that session. As I said earlier, I do use Psychodrama techniques. I may have you using a chair or an object to “stand in” for a person or part of you. I may have you take the role or and speak from the role of that person or part. This may involve moving. So, when you meet with me, it is important that you have an idea of what you want to work on, be in a quiet private place and in a space that allows for some degree of movement. I realize that the first few sessions will be getting to know each other and me getting some background information. We will not be working on traumatic issues or a lot of deep work in the first session. 5. The more information I have about you the better. So, in way of introduction, some things you may want to share include (your childhood information, any traumatic events, previous relationships, current relationships, work history, family background/relationships, your previous therapy experience, etc.). In other words, use the first message to give me the autobiography of you. I have been in counseling myself and know how scary it can be to enter into the process and I try to make this as comfortable as possible. I look forward to walking with you as you begin this journey of healing and transformation.