John Powell - therapist

John Powell, a therapist renting space in our office wrote the following to introduce himself to you. 

​When I was finishing my freshman year of college I was living in Ohio, had just been dumped the same day I told my girlfriend that I was in love with her, and my friends had joined a fraternity I didn’t want to join and they no longer spent much time with me. I hated my classes, too. The deep depression I found myself in taxed my mental and physical health and, after a week of barely eating, sleeping, and not going to class, I visited the counseling center. The therapist there was unbelievably supportive and helped me make some tough decisions, like dropping out of school, moving home, and regrouping.
 
This decision brought up prolonged and challenging experiences of shame, guilt, fear, and sadness, and at the same time offered an opportunity for me to step back from human DOing, and spend some time as a human BEing.
 
That, teamed with a fascination for the human brain, eventually took me down the path of becoming a therapist, an environmentalist, writer, and educator, all focused around behaviorism and the human condition. “Don’t believe everything that you think” became my motto.
 
Years in youth work (teacher, teen center programming, working in a college counseling center, etc.) and studying child development has brought me to specializing in family and family systems. I enjoy working with youth directly as they navigate adolescence and early adulthood. I also work with parents who are trying to navigate their relationships with one another and their children. I work with individuals and couples, and do some family therapy work.
 
Parenting and adulting. Two challenges that, no matter how many millions of years it’s been happening, we still need help navigating.
 
My type of therapy isn’t traditional. The last two decades have brought on incredible research about how we behave and learn. I use this research to help people practice acceptance (not as we’ve traditionally defined it) and taking action (not as we’ve traditionally done it). Specializing in what’s called “ACT” work, I like to think I offer something to this area that many others don’t. ACT allows me to marry my interest in eastern philosophies with up-to-date evidence-based therapy.
 
In August 2017, I opened Mind Body Spirit, LLC, upstairs in the Avalon Natural Medicine offices. Entering private practice is a huge risk. It’s a lot of work without the support that naturally comes from working in an organization. But for me, helping others move in the direction of what’s important to them despite the challenges along the way meant I could do the same for myself.
 
I’m currently accepting new clients. If you or someone you know could benefit from work that is collaborative, incorporating the mind, body, and spirit, and can help them with their relationships and self-acceptance, please be in touch. My work can help with (but isn’t limited to) the following:
 
Grief and loss
Chronic pain
Family stress
School issues
Relationship issues
Sexual issues
Parenting issues
Anxiety
Addiction and recovery
Gender struggles
Self-harm
Trauma
 
Outside of therapy, I’m an avid writer (mostly fantastical fiction), musician, poet, and environmentalist. I’m often doing presentations on the environment and mental health for all ages. I also practice meditation and yoga daily, believe in the power of fresh air, and love woodworking. I grew up in the age between Nirvana and Bieber, the age between cassettes and digital music, between the car phone and the smart phone, and a time when mental, physical, and spiritual health moved from the background to the foreground. We live in a difficult time because this is an era of transition. We, as a collective whole, are creating our next chapter.