Get a free consultation

I offer a free 15 minute telephone consultation to help you decide how we might work together. 
​Call me today on (201) 779-6917, or email me at chris@exploretransform.com  or book online at https://www.therapyportal.com/p/cwarrendickins

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I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (a psychotherapist) and I offer counseling and psychotherapy to individuals and couples 
​My office is in downtown Ridgewood: 162 E Ridgewood Avenue, Suite 4B, Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey 07450  ​
Sessions can take place in-person or online
Find out more about my approach to counseling and therapy, including the use of EMDR therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ( CBT ), and a person-centered approach

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Individuals

We develop patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.  Although these patterns might have been useful in the past, now we need to replace them with more constructive ways of handling our present life. Why not share the burden. We can tackle this together, and we can work out what is holding you back, and what you need to thrive.  Read more

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Couples

Life gets in the way:  After your children, career, parents and friends, it is hard to give your relationship any sort of attention. 
​But an unhappy relationship can end up impacting on those other parts of your life, including your children, your career, and your personal wellbeing.
Read more

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LGBTQ+ Members & Allies

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I understand the unique challenges that we face.
I have worked for several years helping people to make sense of a wide range of issues including discrimination, relationship difficulties,  loneliness, family conflict, and anger management  
Read more

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Men

​For some boys and men, seeking help seems impossible.  You have been told to ‘man up’, which essentially means you have to ignore your feelings.  This is an impossible expectation, and so​ when life becomes overwhelming, what are you to do? The more you ‘keep going’, the harder it gets
Read more

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Book online today

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How can therapy help?

​Don’t you hate it when you feel like you should be happy, and you are not? 
Sometimes the answer is what we are focusing on –

• If we focus on the past, we have no way of changing that, so this can sometimes lead to regret.  Depression is often linked to a disproportionate focusing on the past
• If we focus on the future, we don’t yet know what will come, so this could make us fearful.  This is often the problem when we are anxious
• Instead, the only way we can change things is by focusing on the present.  What can we do now, what can we change? 

It is hard, though.  We often get dragged into the past or future.  That is why therapy can help.  With a trained professional, you can try and focus on what is in the present, what is coming up for you right now.
As you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings, you can explore these with your therapists.  They might hold the key to a great number of locked doors.  A therapist can support you as you unlock and walk through those doors, and discover aspects of yourself that can transform your life.

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Features

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The Body Scan

Mindfulness is the practice of noticing your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations in the present moment. The Body Scan is a mindfulness exercise, and I invite you to listen to my recording, and see what you make of it.  Mindfulness, like most things, takes time to practice.  But the rewards are plentiful.  Listen here

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Volcanic adolescence

Here is my article in Counseling Today, a publication of the American Counseling Association - 
"With any new client comes the challenge of forming a therapeutic relationship, but when that new client is an adolescent, there are additional factors to consider. Aside from the legal issues of capacity and consent, I discuss 10 of those therapeutic factors below..."     Read more here 

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Shame

'A child’s sense of survival is inextricably tied to a caregiver (whether that is a parent, older sibling or grandparent).  If that caregiver is abusive, they may shame the child into secrecy.  The survivor essentially given a choice:  Accept this shame and survive, or face extinction.  Inevitably they are going to choose shame.'

“The shame tattoo.” I heard that phrase a couple of years ago, and it has stayed with me ever since. It is such a striking way to encapsulate the concept of shame: It is the insertion of something that leaves an indelible mark deep beneath the skin. 

Robert* also liked to call his shame ‘the shame tattoo’. When we came to the end of our counseling sessions, he added it to the list of things he would take from our work together. He also liked the fact that a tattoo was something from the past, and it was only a mark on his skin: It was not the whole of him, and so the darkness did not define nor consume him.
Read more here

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Find out more about therapy

It can be hard to book that first consultation.  So here is a video showing you what might happen in a therapy session.  ​The therapist in this video is Carl Rogers, the Founder of Person-Centered therapy.
​This approach respects your viewpoint, and it does not try to push you into some pre-conceived idea about what is right or wrong for you

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Viktor Frankl, “Everything can be taken from a man
​but one thing:...to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances"

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