Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Eberst.
Hi Ryan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The three original founders of Aletheia Therapy met each other through their training site during our graduate programs. During our time together, we discovered that we all three had a passion for treating patients that many therapy practices shied away from – complex mental health disorders, personality disorders, co-occurring mental health and addictions, and those struggling with complex trauma and high levels of severity. We also discovered how important it was to not do this work from a place of isolation. We found that our work thrived when we were able to collaborate with other professionals and get as many minds as possible around some of our more difficult cases.
We found that the desire to be in private practice is often in tension with the desire to work in a collaborative and team-oriented environment for many therapists. There is a desire to be independent – to manage one’s scheduling, to set one’s own fees, and to determine one’s caseload – as well as a desire to work alongside others in order to consult with others and to be a part of a community. The idea of Aletheia Therapy was born out of these two desires in tension. We wanted to start a practice where all the therapists that work with us are running their own practices with as much independence as possible while still having the benefits of working with a team.
With the help and support of some dear friends and colleagues, we launched our practice in October of 2021 with four therapists and three practicum students. Since that time, we have added seven licensed clinicians – three of which were former practicum students with us who honored us by staying on and launching their practices with Aletheia – and two additional practicum students. By adding additional minds to our practice, we are able to gain a more expansive perspective for how to best treat the patients we work with. Together, we continue to dedicate ourselves to treating whoever walks through our doors or calls our office with the highest quality psychotherapy services possible.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have always wanted to balance our high-quality therapeutic work with the importance of cultivating deep relationships with one another. We did not want Aletheia to be a place where one just shows up, sees their patients, and goes home. By cultivating honest and vulnerable relationships with our colleagues, we step into the complexity of human life with each other.
One of the complexities we have had to navigate over the past year is the events of multiple pregnancies and the maternity/paternity leaves of our therapists. Since July, five of our clinicians have had children and taken leave to be with the new arrivals. Long-term leave is a complexity that any therapist that will have children has to navigate with their patients. It was a new experience for us as a practice, as we had to juggle different therapists being out at different times, have temporary therapists lined up for patients who wished to continue therapy during the leave, and managing the schedules of new parents.
This struggle illustrates the way we wish to enter into co-working relationships with each other. It was complicated, it required communication, and there were times where balls were dropped in the coordinating of logistics. But it is entirely false to say that the arrival of new life is anything but a joy. Similarly, we fully expect difficult conversations and complicated experiences as we enter into relationship with each other as colleagues. But it would be entirely false to say that deep and vulnerable relationships with each other are anything but a joy. We have a high value for choosing to navigate the difficult, the complicated, and the missteps with each other in the name of deeper human relationships, both in our work with patients and with each other.
As you know, we’re big fans of Aletheia Therapy. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
Aletheia Therapy is a group of clinicians dedicated to providing the highest-quality psychotherapy and counseling services. We work collaboratively as a practice in order to draw on each therapist’s unique perspective and expertise to most effectively treat our patients. Our collaborative environment allows for a team-oriented and multi-perspective treatment approach.
Coming from a wide range of expertise and theoretical orientations, Aletheia therapists are united in their adherence to recent research regarding the centrality of the therapy relationship in creating lasting change (Barsness, R., 2017; Norcross, J. C., & Lambert, M. J., 2019). Regardless of specific approaches and techniques, all of our clinicians recognize the central importance of the relationship between patient and therapist and work to establish a firm relational connection with each person.
Our goal as a practice is to empower therapists to do best what they love to do. We are proud of the passion each of our therapists bring to their work and believe that if each therapist can develop and cultivate what they love about their work they will provide outstanding psychotherapy services.
As each individual therapist develops their own practice towards the goals that they want to reach, they bring that passion and expertise into the practice as a whole. By way of weekly, practice-wide consultation meetings, each therapist becomes a part of the Aletheia team, helping each other conceptualize their cases and implement effective treatment. Thus, when a patient comes to see an Aletheia therapist, they are getting the benefit of having an entire team of people helping that therapist think and treat.
As a result of investing in our therapists’ unique and individual processes of development and sharing our expertise with each other, we are able to provide high-quality mental health services for a wide range of people struggle with various diagnoses and levels of severity
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
It is dangerous asking a therapist for book recommendations unless you want a long list! But a few that I recommend most often to my patients:
Emotional Inheritance: A Therapist, Her Patients, and the Legacy of Trauma by Galit Atlas – in this book, Atlas draws on her extensive experience as a psychoanalyst to illuminate the significance and pervasiveness of intergenerational trauma. Through her patients’ stories, she shows how things that are kept secret in family histories have a way of unconsciously resurfacing in our own life experiences.
No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard Schwartz – Internal Family Systems is an approach to therapy that emphasizes that our personality is made of component parts that interact with each other, sometimes collaboratively, sometimes with hostility. The work entails recognizing and honoring each part of ourselves so that our internal world can be more harmonious. While Internal Family Systems has existed for decades, this is one of the first books written for the non-clinician.
Can Love Last: The Fate of Romance Over Time by Stephen Mitchell – While not a light read, Mitchell’s book explores the modern experience of romance from a psychological perspective. Romance is composed of two conflicting drives – one for attachment, comfort, stability, and domesticity and the other for excitement, adventure, novelty, and danger. These two drives can threaten each other if they are not integrated into a romantic relationship.
Podcasts that I frequent include:
Why in the World with Bryan Nixon – Why in the World is a podcast fueled by curiosity. Deep dive conversations exploring meaning, purpose, and why we show up in the world the way that we do. Hosted by psychotherapist Bryan Nixon.
Relational Psych Podcast with Tyson Connor – The Relational Psych Podcast makes therapy more approachable by inviting real mental health professionals to explain what they do, why they do it, and why it works, using simple, understandable language that anyone can apply to their lifelong growth
Inefficiency with Matt Inman – Exploring the parts of life that can’t be squeezed through the standards of efficiency. (While this podcast is currently inactive, the episodes explore some phenomenal content that remains relevant).
This Jungian Life – Eavesdrop on three Jungian analysts as they engage in lively, sometimes irreverent conversations about a wide range of topics as they share what it’s like to see the world through the depth psychological lens provided by Carl Jung. Half of each episode is spent discussing a dream submitted by a listener.
Pricing:
- Fully Licensed Therapists begin at $125
- Associate Therapists begin at $100
- Reduced rate and pro bono services are offered on an as needed basis with one of our practicum students
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aletheiadfw.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aletheia.therapy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aletheiatherapy
