About
Before You Decide Whether to Say Any of It Out Loud
Sharing your story with a stranger can be difficult.
You’ve probably told parts of it before. To a friend who changed the subject, or to somebody in your family who already had an opinion ready before you finished.
Handing the whole thing to a person you’ve never met is a different request. It’s fair to want to know what I’ll do with it.
Say It All the Way Through
I will sit with a story, until you are done, before responding.
That is my whole first-session method. You talk, I listen, and the two of us get introduced.
My clients tell me they’re comfortable at that first hour, while we’re still building a rapport with one another.
Plenty of what you bring will be heavy. Some of it will turn out to be funny, and when it does, I’ll laugh with you. Humor is allowed here, even on the worst subjects.
Expect Me to Tell You the Truth
You won’t have to guess what I think.
Everything we discuss will be real, with no textbook connotations.
There will be times I name a pattern you’d rather I left alone, and I’ll do that for the sake of acknowledgment, never criticism.
Nobody is grading you here. If you start talking about yourself in a circle, I’ll say so.
How I Work with You
My approach is eclectic. I pull from whatever my client needs, because one method doesn’t work with every client.
- Family systems. We look at the whole relationship as a system where everyone’s behavior affects everyone else, instead of deciding one person is the problem.
- Motivational interviewing. Conversations that get you clear on what you want and what’s in the way, so the reasons to change are yours and they hold.
- CBT. Testing the thoughts you’ve been treating as fact and finding out which ones hold up.
- Journaling. Writing down what you’re thinking in the moment it happens, not reconstructing it from memory a week later in session.
I’m licensed for mental health counseling in both Tennessee and North Carolina. The substance abuse license is North Carolina only, so that side of the work stays inside that state.
Every session happens online. Confidentiality is an absolute standard.
Your Therapy Should Have an End Point
Weekly appointments build endurance. That’s the boring, unglamorous part, and it’s the part that works.
Short term relief is the easy part. What I’m after is long term stability: you have the skills, you’re using them, and you don’t need the weekly hour anymore.
That’s what I’m aiming at from the first session on, with couples and with the men who came in because somebody asked them to.
About John H. Crapo, LPC, LCMHC, LCAS
Basically, I needed an M.A. in Counseling to navigate life successfully with a sense of humor.
It’s a joke, and it’s also close to accurate.
Why You Won’t Surprise Me
My wife and I married 43 years ago, while we were still finishing our undergraduate degrees, then moved to the city where her parents lived to help care for her disabled mother. We cared for both parents, as needed, for 27 years.
Through our late twenties we provided temporary foster care to older children and teens. I carried mail for the Postal Service for ten years, then started the master’s degree in counseling after experiencing 36 years of life, with five adopted children already at home.
Number six, a boy, joined us shortly after graduation. I definitely needed male companionship in the home. Another son and another daughter came along over time, which made eight.
You’ll Notice God Keeps Coming Up
We didn’t realize our early adulthood prayers for children were an open line. Last year, God showed us His sense of humor by gifting us with an 11-year-old grandson to raise.
There are sporting practices to drive to again.
I’m a Christian, and I say so up front. It’s never been a condition of sitting down with me.
The Credentials, Since You Asked
The master’s is from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, with additional coursework at NCSU and Liberty University to finish out the licensure requirements. Before all of that, the undergraduate degree was in Physical Education.
Tennessee licenses me as a Licensed Professional Counselor. North Carolina licenses me twice, as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and as a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist, and that second one keeps the substance abuse work inside North Carolina.
Every session is virtual, anywhere you like across Tennessee or North Carolina.
The Music You’d Hear in My House
In my free time, I listen to MY music, which is rock from the 70s and 80s. I enjoy watching sports in person or via media.
My body and mind no longer enjoy playing sports after 33 years and counting of soccer, baseball, softball, basketball, Tae Kwon Do, and cheerleading practices. They did all the work, but somehow the pain showed up in my body.
When It Wasn’t Your Idea
Somebody else decided you should be here. Your wife, or your doctor, or the friend who went and won’t stop talking about it.
The deciding part is still yours.
Ask me before you decide anything about therapy.
Don’t Be Jason
Jason looked at the offer once and decided it wasn’t worth finding out.
A complimentary consultation is where the two of us work out whether I’m the one who can help you.