Michael Godby

My name is Mike Godby and I am a psychotherapist with a master's degree in Clinical Psychology. I have been trained in relationships with myself and others. Many of my clients have issues with family, friends bosses, and spouses. I use an approach of uncovering the self. When a person begins to know themselves. it's possible to have the right relationships with others because they have taken responsibility for themselves and have the clarity to decide who is in their inner circle. I use a gentle approach derived from over 50 years of meditation. I invite you to uncover yourself. Mike

My approach

I use an eclectic approach using Existential Therapy, Systems Therapy, Transpersonal Therapy, EMDR, and Brief Therapy.

My focus

I typically treat people who have some life event that challenges their current existence. They have exhausted their current ability to cope. It's at this point that exploration of who the self is uncovers unknown strength and confidence and positive emotions and thinking. It can be brief therapy or spread over time. This depends on the person's ability to let go of the present and become more of who they really are.

My communication style

I like to create an uncluttered safe environment for the person that I am working with. I want to know how they think and feel. I want to know what their story is but I also want them to help me help them change the story to reflect who they are. Hopefully, the story will give them a newfound vision that allows them to let the story flow and change by taking the freedom that self-responsibility brings. The goal is to be more of who you really are.

My journey to mental healthcare

When I was about 10 years old I saw a TV show about a social worker and I wanted to be him. I liked to see him help people. In my whole life, I have had opportunities to help people around me that I could help. When I was a conscientious objector I worked in the laundry of Harbor General Hospital for two years. I was 1 of a few white people working there. Most were African Americans from South Central LA or Latinos from San Pedro. I made a lot of friendships there and helped an elderly black women to get off welfare and get a permanent job with the county. I did this by calling all of the supervisors from La County to tell them that someone on welfare wants to get off and get a job with the count but can't pass the Civil Service test because she only went to third grade. I told them I was going to go to the LA Times and say the county won't let somebody off welfare because of the bureaucracy. I didn't hear from any of them and gave up. When my 2 years were up at the laundry my supervisor told me that the woman I tried to help was going to take my job when I left. I asked how it happened and he said the supervisors let them give her an oral exam. He asked me what I did because they were trying to hire her for 10 years.

My goals for you

Goal setting comes from what the clients need and want. Once the client knows what he or she doesn't want we can work on a plan to go towards what the vision is of what they do want. Together we can break up the plan into steps of successive approximations. This will be a topic of the next meeting. At that point, we can do some deep diving to see what's next by discussing what worked what we need more of, or something to add. Perhaps we will create a silent space with clients' eyes closed to discover feelings about the process. This may be a prototype for the future. After a few meetings, we will talk about what has changed to see what works.

My first session with you

They should expect to see who their therapist is and then get the housekeeping issues finished so we can get some therapy started.