Today we’d like to introduce you to Jerry Moreau.
Hi Jerry, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I moved to San Diego with my partner in 1995. Together we made a life for ourselves here. In San Diego, we have our community and family of choice. It is home. Moving to San Diego was a huge transition for me. I had left the computer filed world having no real idea what I was going to do, but I knew I needed to do something different. This was the time before the big computer boom of the ’90s. Trusting it was the right thing to do. The path before me wasn’t clear. I forged ahead anyway despite all the naysayers. I continued to learn more about myself. Like others, you could say that my life has been somewhat like the hero’s journey, that is leaving home and accepting the call to adventure. Not having any idea what that really means. Trusting what I had to do yet not knowing what I had to do. Following this invisible thread that was unconsciously leading me. My thoughts were, or was it more of a feeling of “What the hell am I thinking” and “This is something I have to do.” Torn between these two things, I moved ahead. I had no idea the journey that decision was about to take me on. By this time, I had already come out as a gay man and working on what it means to be in this world in the 1980s & 90s and the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. I was becoming more and more in touch with my body, mind, and spirit.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My life has been an interesting journey so far. Apparently, this thread was there early in my life, still unseen, and I was unconscious to it. When I was in college, I didn’t have any clue that being a psychotherapist was a possibility. In college, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do but was told that I should go into business. I ended up in computer programming. Computer work was enjoyable for a while but was ultimately unfulfilling. I worked as an aerobics instructor and personal trainer. As I started to discover who I was as a man, and a gay man, my interests changed. I went to graduate school and earned a master’s degree in exercise science and certificates in massage therapy. I worked as a massage therapist and teacher at a massage school for many years. Here I started to discover more—that there is more to a person than just muscle and bone; that we are beings of energy and spirit. I studied various traditions from East – Asian medicine in Thailand and China, West – various massage modalities, including Visionary Craniosacral Work, and native traditions – shamanic work in Peru. I realized that working with people needed to expand beyond their bodies. During my work, clients started to talk and share experiences with me, intimate parts of their lives started to peak out—things that they hadn’t shared with anyone else. This led me to realize I needed more skills, and back to school I went this time for a master’s degree in counseling psychology. It was exciting and challenging to be back in school again, even after so many years away. I had to find the discipline to work full-time and study. I persevered knowing it was the right course for me, finally achieving a state license to practice as a psychotherapist.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have been working with people for over 25 years. I am a licensed marriage & family therapist (MFT#52696.) I worked for eight years in community mental health, serving individuals with severe mental illness before starting my private practice. As a therapist who is depth-oriented, body-centered, relational, trauma, and sex therapy-focused, I believe that creating a deeper connection between our physical, mental, emotional, sexual, and spiritual self, we can move forward in life with greater ease and experience the world anew. We have the opportunity to become more authentic with ourselves, others, and life.
As a balance to my private practice, I teach as adjunct faculty at Pacific College of Health & Science. I teach Clinical Counseling classes in a master’s program to acupuncture students. I share with them the skills to be a good listener and to create good patient/practitioner relationships. I have trained other clinicians for the County of San Diego the importance of sexual health conversation among co-workers, supervisors, clients, administrators, and the community. I assisted them in becoming more comfortable talking with their clients about sex, sexuality, and sexual health.
I strive to integrate all the wisdom that I have learned over the years from some great teachers who come from many walks of life. What helps me bring this all together is to share it with others in my clinical practice and teaching. Bringing together body and mind to be in service to help heal from pain and opening to growth; these are driving intentions of my work and life. It is my intention to help clients and students grow in ways that increase their happiness and the quality of their relationships to self, others, and life.
I am grateful for the work I do, and after the many years of working with people, their health, bodies, and psyche, I continue to enjoy my work as much as ever. My work within, yet not limited to, the LGBTQ+, Kink, and Ethical Non-Monogamy communities have allowed me to develop insights into our community. Being a therapist is a unique privilege that enables me to know others in ways that we seldom do in life. Working with clients has taught me many things including compassion, appreciation, and humility regarding the human condition, and I am encouraged with our ability to grow and change.
Life is a journey! One of my favorite quotes is from the poem The Summer Day by Mary Oliver, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
It is my vision to see us all be more playful in the world, enjoying who we are and what we do. To live a passionate life that is filled with love, compassion, and curiosity for the possibilities.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The obvious essential quality for a therapist is to be a good listener. But what does that really mean? I believe that means real listening, being present, and tracking what the client is sharing while being empathic, genuine, respectful, warm, and objective. In the effort to get the client to be real and honest with themselves so they develop insight. This can take time. One must learn that in both massage therapy and psychotherapy, you can never go too deep; you can only go too fast. The therapeutic space, along with proper boundaries, needs to be safe with a therapist who is knowledgeable and caring. In this environment, when the client is able to feel safe and allow themselves to be vulnerable and seen, then healing can occur. It is a genuine connection in the therapeutic relationship that heals.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.jerrymoreaumft.com/
Image Credits
Scott B. Smith
