Tay Jones, LAPC

What do you believe people deserve from therapy that they may not always receive elsewhere?

I believe people deserve unwavering curiosity in therapy. My counseling room is an empathetic and reflective space for you to gain clarity about who you are now, accept who you are, and gain support in your growth and healing. People also deserve information and knowledge about their experiences -- providing evidence-based context for clients, and processing that information with them, is one of my favorite parts of the job.

What might someone be carrying when they first come to you, even if they do not yet have the words for it?

People often come to me when they aren't feeling good and have quite a bit of an understanding as to why. But there's something blocking them -- whether that be a feeling or knowing of guilt, shame, worry for those in their community, among many other possibilities -- from feeling that understanding and transforming it into self-knowledge they can use moving forward. A lot of times the question in the room is, "why can't I just..." and we work together to explore that space with curiosity and compassion.

What makes the therapeutic space you create feel different from other spaces in a client’s life?

The space I create centers curiosity and patience. My sessions usually move in phases, which emphasize those qualities. First, I ask a lot of questions because I like to know your specific experience of what you're bringing into the space. These questions always rotate between thought questions ("what is your brain saying..."), body/somatic questions ("where are you feeling that, what does that feel like in your body...") and contextual questions ("how did they respond when you said or did that?;" "how was that usually handled growing up?"). Then I try to track the patterns of what a client is saying. "How does this connect to what we discussed a few weeks ago?" Sometimes we move into a meditation to identify parts of clients and talk with them directly. Other moments call for me to share information and education on what may be a well-researched experience that a client is describing.

When I introduce tools or education, I like to process how it feels to receive that information. Tools are amazing, but they can be framed as quick-fixes, and sometimes clients can feel like they have failed or are inherently broken. While tools can be immediately impactful for some, for others they are not. I am curious about what it is like to receive a tool or education and the experience of using it -- was it helpful or not? Walking beside you during that process is one of my favorite parts -- we're learning how you thrive, we're building a deeper understanding of how to care for you.

What does socially conscious therapy look like in your actual sessions?

I work hard to pull in as many contextual factors as possible to remind clients that they do not exist in isolation -- we all have systems bearing down upon us, of course some more than others. Feeling support and having community around those various systemic oppressions is correlational to positive mental health outcomes. In session, this has showed up as listening to a client and then gently pulling in systemic explanations that may be unconsciously adding weight to their distress. Offering that perspective to clients, as well as holding that grief together with them, without avoiding it, is important to my work.