Hi, let me introduce myself: I am Dennis DuBois
BACKGROUND:
Adolescence
I would say that the first stirrings of becoming a therapist occurred when I was about 14-15 years of age, a time when it became clear to me that my friends were choosing me as the designated person to talk to about their inward and outward difficulties. I suppose I demonstrated qualities such as withholding judgment, telling the truth, listening closely, and providing support, -- simple traits that served me well and that have matured over the years.
Cross-Culturality
I am a by product of a cross-cultural marriage. My father was an American of French Huguenot, Irish, Welsh, Scotch descent and my mother a Brazilian (mix native Indian, with African and European). Whatever difficulties one can imagine in such a fusion, it is also necessary to imagine the potential beauty, and the intense curiosity in terms of identity, ethnicity, and of the world at large and my place in it. The blessing of it is, of course, that my upbringing provided me with an intuitive and experiential understanding of what it might mean to be other-cultured and the types of difficulties cross-cultural couples get into.
Writing/Poetry
Beginning with Pirate stories in childhood and later fine tuned with education and individual studies, writing has been a good friend. For the past 20 years it has taken the form of poetry with a distinct effort to dig deep for understanding. For me, poetry has been a tool for self exploration and broadens my understanding of myself and of humanity and its many writers who also try to convey something of the delicateness of the human condition.
Optimism & Humor
Lastly, I would like to say something about the need for optimism and humor in the incredibly hyped and complex times we live in. And here I don’t mean simple positivity but the notion of feeling as fully alive as one can. I subscribe to that old axiom that the ability of one to more fully experience the joy and happiness of life is codependent upon the degree one is willing to experience the expectable sorrows of life. Avoidance of the more “negative” forms of human expression (sadness, anger, fear, for instance) also narrows the capacity of people to experience joy and happiness. This is one of the few cases where I have been a lifelong advocate of having it all; taking ownership of all our feelings, including the societally unacceptable ones. I want to say, too, that over the years, the most memorable therapy sessions involved a degree of humor which I believe underscored the degree of trust and progress in the work.
My Own Therapy
At difficult junctures of my life, I have engaged in my own psychotherapy and found it to be tremendously helpful both personally and professionally. It is an invaluable experience to know what it feels like to be in the position of the client, and by extension to apply that knowledge to one’s own clients.
EDUCATION
2001-Completed social law course at the Danish College for Social workers.
2000 - Danish college for Social Workers
Granted Danish equivalent of a Masters Degree in Social Work.
1998 - Employee Assistance Professional Association, Inc. Virginia, USA C.E.A.P. (Certified Employee Assistance Professional) Granted this credential after 2 years home study and passing grade on exam.
1996 - (S.U.N.Y.) State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA Certificate to supervise social work students
1985 - Graduate of Hunter College School of Social Work, New York, NY, USA Masters Degree in Social Work
1983- State University of New York at New Paltz, NY, USA Bachelor of Arts Degree Major: Psychology Graduate with honors: Summa Cum Laude
EXPERIENCE & PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY
I would venture that experience and variety are probably my strongest points. I have worked in community mental health clinics, private practice, hospital outpatient psychiatric clinics, methadone/poly-substance abuse clinics, EAP Programs, which has given me in the course of some 18 years a very broad exposure to many types of clients, including age ranges, gender, class, and diagnosis (from retarded to developmentally disabled, from psychotic to substance addicted to sociopathic to moderately impaired neurotics to the worried well) as well as opportunities to work side by side with psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health nurses in providing individual, group, marital and family therapy.
Beginning Orientation:
In terms of orientation, I took my first cues from my masters program in social work. The clinical social work track borrows heavily from many different experts in the mental health field; both their own advanced practitioners but also from psychology, sociology, among others. The orientation most stressed when I graduated was on Rogerian humanistics, systems theory, and post-Freudian psychodynamic theory. We were trained to accept clients as they are and to begin with what comes out of their presentation. Assessments are based on a bio-psycho-social-environmental perspective which allows one to look at a problem from a biological, behavioral, sociological, individual-couple-familial, intra-psychic, systemic, point of view. By way of example, if a black client presents with an issue, say depression, it behooves the clinician to be aware of and knowledgeable of some of the underlying and potentially connecting issues regarding racism in the environment where the client lives and in particular as it relates to the causes of his/her depression.
Further Education
There have been many opportunities to further my education over the years. In the beginning I held to a more systemic approach, particularly when working with couples and families. Over the years I have felt the need to augment my knowledge base with all types of further education. Many educational opportunities were offered as part of the on-site trainings of the workplace and often focused on new treatment techniques, sharpening diagnostic skills, and managing crisis situations. As the cognitive approach came into its own, it was necessary to enhance my education with courses. Particular interest was paid to trainers with a psycho-spiritual approach such as Jungian psychotherapy. I also took a deep interest in dream work and psycho-spiritual approaches, for example, mindfulness and other forms of meditative approaches, Masterson’s approach to working with Borderlines/Narcissists, and short term therapy experts advocating a more direct, active approach to treatment.
Recently I have completed a two year training program with the Wellness Institute of Seattle, resulting in certification as a hypnotherapist. The experiential program included their special brand of hypnotherapy referred to as Heart-centered Hypnotherapy which had many components including hypnotherapy, breath work, energy psychodrama, and Chakra meditation. At the moment I am engaged in learning to deliver another of their programs called The Personal Transformation Intensive, which provides the lay public an opportunity to work with these skills toward their own personal growth.
These are the tools that are brought to bear to attempt to loosen the client’s problem. The techniques I have learned over the years are useful to know and sometimes provide the client an opportunity to make a dramatic shift in their behavior or to glean an life-shifting insight, but the work can only go forward at the speed the client prefers, and the most basic skills of listening and providing empathy are still the mainstays of psychotherapy, primarily because clients appreciate and value the experience of being heard.
