Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise Ross.
Hi Denise, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was 23 years old and worked part time in a combination Jr/Sr high school for the SDUSD with students in a school for Severely Emotionally Disturbed. Everyone loved the counselor there. It was a small staff of young professionals and at that time I had no aspirations to attend college. However, I wanted his job and to be loved and respected helping other people like he did. So I started putting myself through jr college on any grant I could receive and working 30 hours a week. It took me until I was 28 to graduate with my BS in Human Services. I went on at 30 years old to get a masters Degree and the required Pupil Services credential so I could finally get a school counselor job. I had arrived! I was the only person in my family to ever get a BS College degree and have a professional career. My parents got pregnant at 16 years old and dropped out of school back in Pa. My father never graduated from High School but years and years later my mother took her GED to get her HS Diploma. After 16 years of school counseling jobs in 2000 at the milleminum change I could no longer see myself continuing in that job and in 1991 took the written and oral exam for Marriage and Family License. I began a private practice then. In 2006 I began working for a large company who hired Licensed therapists to work on US Military bases around the world. This service offered Active Military and their families confidental counseling services outside of the Military records. I traveled and worked In Italy for 9 months, then Japan for 9 months until covid hit and the country borders were closing. I came back to the US and took a position on a very remote military base location in the desert of Joshua tree at 29 Palms. This was a perfect place during the Covid shut down. I enjoyed the National Park of Joshua tree often. During that year in the desert My mother passed away in PA where I grew up so I traveled to PA to be with her for her final hours. After that I moved with the same company and took a job on the east coast on a Military base in North Carolina. It was an extreme culture shock and I felt I did not belong there because the values were entirely different than mine after living 30 years in California. So once again I drove across the country back to CA to live. After 30 years I took the National exam for Marriage and Family Therapy license and got licensed in Tenn. and also North Carolina as well as my original CA MFT license. It was a huge challenge to go back into studying for the national exam after all the years of working in the field. I felt very good about my acomplishment and ambition to restudy the material and to pass the exam after so many years. I now practice 3 days a week in Del Mar, Ca
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Struggles were learning how to build up confidence in what I was doing and to finally accept that bringing who I am into the counseling relationships it lead me to being my most authentic self with the clients. Old school therapy taught us to never reveal anything personal to clients which is a good practice because the focus is always on helping the client. However, what I was holding back unnecessarily was my own personality of humor and directness. I finally realized some clients loved my approach and for some it was too direct and they left and hopefully found a therapist they could work with that suited their needs.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize now in offering EMDR modality for assisting clients to break negative self talk and trauma. I work exclusively with Adults and Couples.
Pricing:
- $185 Individuals
- $225/ Couples
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.DeniseRossMFT.com
