Flip the Script: Interview with James Ventura, LPCC

M: Hello, my name is Megan, and I’m here with Jim, a therapist at the Cleveland Health and Wellness Center for our “Flip the Script: Ask a Therapist” series where you can get to know our CHAWC therapists a little bit better. 

Jim has worked primarily in community mental health over the course of his career as a mental health professional.  Providing services for children, adolescents, and adults in a wide variety of settings has been an especially satisfying and rewarding experience for him. He has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from John Carroll University and also a Master’s Degree in Community Agency Counseling from Cleveland State University.  His special interests include the treatment of anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he has assessed and treated clients experiencing a wide variety of mental or emotional disorders and adjustment difficulties. He has extensive training and experience in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and utilizes many of the CBT techniques in his work with children, adolescents, and adults.  Some techniques Jim employs include but are not limited to: journaling, mindfulness meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, cognitive restructuring, and exposure/response prevention. He believes that trust and support are two key components in establishing a therapeutic relationship with clients.  Cultivating these components in the counseling session both encourage and motivate clients to learn and practice the CBT skills necessary for making positive and lasting changes. 

Thank you so much for being here today, Jim. I would like to just get into a few questions about your work. My first question for you is, when did you realize that you wanted to become a therapist?

J: Well, I was taking classes at John Carroll University, and I noticed I was developing a stronger and stronger interest towards psychology. I enjoyed studying it, studying behavior and mental processes, so I decided to major in psychology. And not long after I graduated, I linked up with a community agency, the first one I had worked for, and at that point I worked as a case manager, so I was helping to link people with outside community resources like, people with emotional and behavioral problems. Things like social security, disability, residential facilities, partial hospitalization programs, and things like that. After about three years, I decided to return to school to get my Master’s because I knew it would open up more doors for me. I pursued my Master’s in Counselor Education and I felt I could help others more by putting into practice some of the techniques I was learning in my counseling classes, so I decided to focus my energies more on individual psychotherapy. 

M: Nice, thank you. And can you please tell us what populations you enjoy working with?

J: I find it most rewarding to work with adolescents or young adults and adults with anxiety issues, depression, phobias, or panic attacks, and obsessive-compulsive disorders, just to help them realize they don’t have to be limited in their activities by those disorders. I felt it important to let them know that they can overcome those limitations and live more satisfying and rewarding lives.

M: And probably related to that—what treatment modalities do you draw from in your work? How do you allow clients to overcome any sort of limitations?

J: Well, I work with individuals, couples, and families, using mainly a cognitive behavioral approach in my work. This is like a psycho-social intervention and that aims to improve mental health for folks, for the clients, because the CBT focuses on challenging the cognitive distortions that people have, and behaviors, improving emotional regulation, and developing personal coping skills that target current problems they’re having.

M: Okay, thank you. What are your unique strengths as a therapist?

J: Well, I think I develop a good therapeutic rapport with most of the clients I see. I try to create an atmosphere in which people are comfortable and they can be themselves. I think I have good active listening skills and can help clients recognize their strengths rather than just look at what their limitations are. I try to help them recognize their strengths and how to use them rather than just focusing on perceived limitations.

M: Thanks. And how do you manage stress in your life?

J: Well, fortunately I’m a pretty active guy, I like doing a lot of sports, I enjoy working out, running, I still play in an adult hardball, baseball league, so I have fun. I also enjoy music, other different types of things like going out to dinner with my wife, seeing movies, good movies, things like that. Fortunately I have a variety of things that keep me active.

M: That’s good.

J: Thanks.

M: My final question for you is actually in two parts. So what makes therapy effective, and who can benefit from therapy?

J: I think knowing that you’re valued as a unique individual, and knowing that you have strengths to offer, are two important components. Also not just being listened to but being heard. Developing trust in your therapist, keeping a positive frame of mind with a sense of hope. I think that’s important also. And as far as benefitting from therapy, I feel that everyone and anyone can benefit from therapy. We can all enhance and enrich our lives at certain points in time just by participating in therapy.

M: Thank you so much for these answers and for taking the time to chat with me today. We’re happy to be able to get to know you a little bit better.

J: Well thanks, Megan, I appreciate it.

M: Thank you.