Mental Health Counseling

John Wepner, MA, LCMHCA, Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate, graduated in 2020 from Lenoir Rhyne University in Hickory, NC with an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. He is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and a current member of the American Counseling Association (ACA). John has many additional years of training in body-mind facilitation and depth psychology with PsychoEnergetics, Pathwork, and other modalities.

John specializes in psychodynamic psychotherapy and body-centered psychotherapy. John works with adults and teenagers with many diverse backgrounds and ages, who are dealing with anxiety, depression, family and relationship issues, grief and loss, life changes and stress. John explores with clients what is underneath troubling thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and to help understand how the past influences the present. He focuses towards increasing self-awareness, through the body-mind connection, and gaining insight into the self, which provides context and opportunity to make new choices.

John values genuineness, empathy, and unconditional positive regard in working with clients. He seeks to build a collaborative therapeutic relationship that honors what clients have lived through and helps them look towards the future of what can now be possible.

 What to expect:

• To better understand, with more insight and self-compassion, how you have ended up being exactly where you are in your life.
• Learn to make use of another person’s presence and mind, rather than going at it alone.
• To work with a psychotherapist who is responsive and attuned to your inner experience, and who helps you think about your life differently.
• Expect a series of highs and lows, movement forward and setbacks, revisiting familiar territory and finding yourself in new ways. 
• Learn to question basic assumptions you have made about yourself and others; and re-assess how these subconscious beliefs and expectations have shaped you.
• Face the tensions and contradictions of the conflicts inside yourself.

​What it takes:

• A commitment to effective psychotherapy is a mutual one, made by both the client and the therapist. There is an inherent understanding that the client will explore deep thoughts, feelings, and memories that are usually hidden under the surface.
• The process requires the willingness to open up, feel vulnerable, and face oneself and others in new ways.
• In the therapy process, a client has the opportunity explore their inner and outer worlds that have been previously off-limits, hidden, or simply have never had anyone to talk about them to before.
• Talk in psychotherapy is much more than just talk. This talk is an expression of the body, mind, and feelings. Giving language to experiences that have not been heard from before is a potent and powerful tool, especially when it is witnessed by another.