a counseling center for all who desire to
Because being brave doesn’t often feel brave.
If we’re going to do hard things
we shouldn’t have to do them alone.
There is a deep longing in each of us.
To flourish. To be alive. To be whole.
Welcome to BrianJames Therapy.
We believe that one of the most powerful ways to find healing, freedom, and flourishing is through intentionally engaging our own stories with someone who is able to see, hold, and help us make meaning of our experiences in ways that open up pathways forward in our lives. This is why we are here. The process of therapy is not always pleasant or easy, but it can be a significant component on the way to flourishing.
If you are looking for support, if you are carrying things that are heavy or sit in contexts of uncertainty, pain, and struggle, consider allowing us to sit with you. We believe that if you are going to be brave and do difficult things, you shouldn’t have to be brave alone.
That longing to thrive?
To live lives of meaning and purpose and experience relationships of depth, security, and beauty?
That sits deep within us. Yet too often we find ourselves in stories, moments, and experiences in which we become stuck.
Maybe it’s the stories that our bodies and minds have carried for far too long, conflict and tension that we cannot figure out, pain that has never healed, or the uncertainty of the future that spins us out.
While there is something inherently within us that knows we are meant to live lives of connection and vibrancy, we are also hard-wired to protect ourselves when life becomes threatening or harmful. The tension between connection and self-preservation often leaves us uncertain of how to get where we are wanting to go.
What are we suppose to do with this tension?
Sometimes we try to power through. Or we burry our heads in the hopeless sands of powerlessness and drag ourselves through life. We become riddled with anxiety or succumb to the weight of depression. We escape and find ways to cope that temporarily relieve the weight and pain of our tension, but ultimately fail to move us any closer to being the people we long to be.
But what if there is another way? What if we can actually find a path out of the tension between self-protection and our dreams?
When the time is right, it will be our honor to hold space for you in a way that creates the opportunity for you to find your way toward flourishing.
Our Approach.
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See.
At the core of our very humanity is the longing to be seen and know. We believe being seen is an inherent value of being alive. It is our intent to come to see you and your story deeply. To honor your story. To enter in with you to your own experiences so that, together, we can help you experience healing and wholeness. It is from within the story itself that healing, freedom, and life most often emerge.
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Make Meaning.
Some of the stories we carry are rather difficult, confusing, complicated, and even frightening to enter alone.
A significant component of the healing journey is the work of discovering and naming what your experiences actually were and why they impacted you the way they did. As we make meaning and organize your experience, the path forward bings to emerge. -
Heal + Grow.
As we are seen and begin to make meaning of our stories and experiences, the keys that unlock the way forward begin to emerge. The landscapes of our lives often included scattered keys that hold new imagination and opportunity. We are not key-makers, but we will help you find the keys that your pain has often hidden or stolen from you. And when found, we will help you find the doors they unlock.
FAQs
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Our clinicians provide individual and couples counseling for adults and older adolescents (16+).
We treat a variety of emotional and relational health challenges including anxiety, depression, trauma, life-transitions, spiritual deconstruction, relational conflict, religious trauma, problematic sexual behavior, and marital disconnection and conflict.
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We provide psychotherapy at a variety of rates ranging from $40-175 depending on the provider.
Our team of clinicians is not currently in network with any insurance. However, we can provide super-bills that you can submit to your insurance provider yourself to see if there is reimbursement available for out-of-network coverage, or if it can be applied toward your deductible. Please note: the provision of superbills does not guarantee reimbursement from insurance providers. That is something that you would need to verify with your insurance carrier yourself
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Psychotherapy is available through BrianJames Therapy both virtually and in-person. When possible, we recommend in-person therapy, yet recognize that there are numerous reasons why virtual therapy is necessary and at times even preferable.
We primarily work with Missouri residents, but do have limited availability to serve clients who reside in the states of Virginia, California, and Florida.
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People often ask us if therapy feels "safe." The answer is actually a little more complicated than a straightforward "yes" or "no."
Safety in any relational context is not something that inherently exists or does not exist. Relational and emotional safety are co-created over time. When your bravery is met by the bravery of another, and that bravery is recognized and acknowledged, we become safer together.
There is something intrinsically risky about sharing ourselves with another. Each and every time. We believe it is an act of profound bravery to invite one of our therapists to see you. It is our commitment to honor your bravery in ways that allow us to continue to be brave together, form trust, and become safer as we continue to walk together. Yet it is wise to recognize that the depth of this safety often develops over time and may not be the very first experience.
For this reason, one of the questions we ask people when they begin therapy is, "Am I someone you can imagine yourself being brave with?" It is our hope that we will be found to be people and clinicians who honor your bravery, encourage you, and support each and every risk you take with us.
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Psychotherapy is a unique experience. It is deeply relational, yet is not a typical relationship.
Therapy is not friendship, though it is often a beautiful relational experience. Your therapist engages with great intentionality and carries the responsibility to engage in ways that are in your best interest.
Your therapist is not a wise sage waiting to dispense advice and steps, but a trained guide into the stories and experiences that have shaped you. Your therapist will walk alongside you to help you uncover, see, make meaning, and identify the right steps for you to take.
Therapy is often not quick work, though there are times where a few sessions will suffice to get you unstuck and moving forward. It takes time for our brains to change, to make new meaning of experiences. Some clients attend weekly, others bi-weekly or monthly. Often the most efficient way to expedite the process is to increase frequency of sessions. The process will still be the process.
Much of the work of therapy relates to what we call surfacing unconscious experiences. The vast majority of what inhibits us and causes us harm are things that our conscious minds have set to the side or pressed down. Through careful attentiveness to the stories and the relationship forming in the room, your therapist will help you engage your experiences in ways that bring healing and growth.
Our therapists use a variety of approaches based in their own training and experience.At the core, each approach is person-centered. To us, this means that above all, we walk with you. Research over the years has demonstrated clearly that even more important than the theory or the interventions used in therapy, the relationship that we have with our therapist is the greatest contributor to healing. That being said, the treatment that our counselors provide is evidence based and supported by research to be effective.
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Bonsai trees are intentionally designed to live a life in which the flourishing transcends the capacity of its root system. To live this way, the bonsai tree must be carefully, constantly, and intentionally attended to.
Our founder, BrianJames McMahon, grew up in Southeast Asia where he developed a deep value for the attentiveness and care required for the survival and growth of bonsai trees. It is his belief that the most vibrant of lives are those that are attended to with focus, purpose, and intentionality. In doing so, we create lives for ourselves that would not emerge on their own.
In this way we are all both the bonsai tree in need of care and the caretaker of our own the bonsai tree of life. Learning to be both is the walk of life and maturation.