Dr. Kole Mason

Hi, I’m Kole! Thanks for taking the time to visit my site. My Experiences and Approach to Therapy I enjoy my work as a therapist! Over my career, I've worked in the university/college and private practice settings. My clients have ranged in age from 18 - 60 and presented with a variety of concerns/symptoms, social identities, and lived experiences. Many of my clients are connected to university/college as students, faculty, or staff and also hold one or more marginalized identities, especially LGBTQIA+. In general, I work best with people who take responsibility for themselves, or want to learn how to, as well as those who want to develop a more intimate and truly loving relationship with themselves and others. When working with clients, I focus on deeply listening to the stories they tell about themselves, others, and their lived experiences. Which includes exploration of their emotions, body sensations, what they heard themselves say, and so forth. This helps me understand the relationship between their lived experiences, current contexts, and their reasons for seeking help. With this in mind, it is easier to identify what they want, what actions they're already taking and/or can take, in addition to the resources they have or need in service of their goals. My approach works on the belief that the therapeutic relationship provides a solid foundation for psychological/spiritual transformation. As a result, I sometimes use the therapeutic relationship as a tool for growth. That involves mutual sharing about observations and experiences of the therapeutic relationship. This is especially important when clients act out well-practiced mental, emotional, and behavior patterns in the therapy relationship. For example, people pleasing, indirect communication, approval seeking, avoidance, deferring, dissociating/forgetting, starting fights/creating conflict, lying, hostility, helplessness, hyper independence, over dependence, and so forth. When this happens, it is an opportunity to understand the origin, function, impact, and effectiveness of those patterns and how they might appear in other areas of the client's life. The hope is that exploring these in a safer, or more controlled setting, might help with unlearning unhelpful relational patterns. Also, it's a chance to address any unhelpful assumptions about therapy, therapists, and/or clients. Ultimately, it provides the possibility to make different choices and learn what happens. Sometimes, we need to do things twice, or nth times, to learn and create the reality we want to experience :) Additional Information About Me I’m a descendant of enslaved Africans, trans-guy, survivor of many broken hearts (personal and systemic), and a believer in the existence and power of true love and personal choice/responsibility. I’m also a psychologist, small business owner, psychic/medium (I'm known as "the man with ears" or "the one who listens"), priest/ess, reiki master of two lineages, and hobby musician.