I'm hoping someone can help me out with this b/c I just don't know where to start looking. A friend of mine had a great referral, but it's out in Missouri City, and we live in far NW Houston- near 1960 & Jones Rd.
Here's the deal... My hubby has been dealing with some serious depression issues for a long time, but I could never convince him to see someone. He got a fabulous job, and things seemed to be going better for a little while (self-worth is a huge issue). But I kept telling him he'd still need to find a therapist/counselor to work out the underlying issues. Now he's having some serious anger issues- mostly towards our son who is just a normal 3-yr-old testing boundaries & looking for attention. He is normally so laid-back I just want to shoot him b/c he won't react to anything! He's asking what's wrong with him & saying he needs to see about anger management classes.. I think he's finally ready to really get into some counseling. The problem is that we don't know where to start in terms of finding someone.
A Christian-based practice may be okay, but he would not want to see someone who "shoves religion down his throat." Long story very short- he had religion forced upon him as a kid, started noticing hypocracy as a pre-teen and has completely turned his back on anything church-related for a very long time. I went through the exact same situation, and we are slowly working together to find our way back into a church home, etc. No offense intended, but I would really appreciate avoiding that lecture.
He would like to find someone fairly close to home (1960 & Jones Rd/ Willowbrook area), who is casual and easy to talk to. The one person he did go to see on the other side of town, he said was very stuffy and he couldn't talk to that guy. It was very uncomfortable for him to go in the first place, and then the office was too sterile.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Counseling Associates of South Texas, Inc.
Focuses on change-oriented strategies that teach individuals, families, and organizations how to transform their lives and relationships through choice.
Paula Whitaker, Champions Christian Counseling on Cherry Street in Tomball.
There's another thought that may help here since you weren't sure if he was comfortable in that situation. Depelchin's center offers a parenting class. It has a lot of helpful information and is not as invasive as one on one counseling. You talk about child development, typical stages, etc. But you also talk about finding better ways to deal with your own feelings and get some foundational ideas for coping with parenthood on top of a million other daily life stresses. It is done in a group setting. You don't always have to participate but either way will pick up a lot of information that may help him ease through this time of issues. My husband and I both took the class simply because we came from abusive backgrounds and wanted to get some good healthy input on how to parent as opposed to what we went through. It really helped us with some of the same issues because we started to implement some of the strategies they teach. It is probably not a long term solution since he has some depression issues but it would be a place for him to ease into that being able to talk to people about what's going on stage and in some ways may help him see the situation a little clearer which would make a therapist more productive if he still felt the need to find one down the road.
Not sure if he would be comfortable with a woman, but I know someone who goes to the Endocrinology and Psychiatry Center on Huffmeister between 290 and Hwy 6 so not too far from you. Her name is Neha Patel and her number is ###-###-####. I see her husband, the endocrinologist, but have met both of them and they are very easy to talk to.
Hope this helps.
