Alan Simberg shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Alan, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Have you ever been glad you didn’t act fast?
There have been times when speaking with a client I’ve had a thought that I believed would be helpful. Because I hesitated before speaking the client said something that contributed to me saying something that was more helpful than what I was originally thinking to say. What I learned from that experience was it is usually best to listen to what a client is saying to assure that what I’d say would be as helpful as possible.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
As a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Chemical Dependency Counselor with over 50 years of professional experience I help clients overcome their mental health, relationship and addiction challenges as quickly and fully as possible.
One of the challenges I’ve been focusing on In my practice is to provide strategies to people who are in recovery from addiction. Although abstinence from addictive behaviors and substance use is part of recovery knowing how to manage every day life challenges can contribute to the most consistent and successful recovery experience.
To meet that need I have a self-published book called Back To Living on recovery and an e-learning program called Action Based Recovery.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
While earning my Marriage and Family post-graduate degree I asked an instructor which well known Marriage and Family expert’s approach would be best for me to use. The instructor said instead of using one of their approaches I should develop my own approach. That gave me the courage to follow the instructor’s advice which has resulted in my being able to help clients in a way that best fits their needs rather than possibly not being as helpful by copying any other therapist’s approach.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
The biggest and most helpful lesson I learned from suffering is to seek solutions rather than allow myself to develop a negative self-image. Instead of judging myself and thinking nothing I would do could stop the suffering I assessed the situation, spoke to people who could help me and identified a strategy to manage the situation. I also decided to view my situation as a challenge rather then something that was causing me to suffer.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
I used to believe I was stupid. My grades were average in high school and I flunked out of the first college I attended. I was accepted into a better college, proved myself worthy of becoming a fully matriculated day student by earning honor roll grades in night school. Learning how to study and earning honor roll grades. helped me realize I wasn’t stupid.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I know I’m doing what I was born to do. When I was about 7 0r 8 years of age I heard my parents talking and my father said a relative was coming to our home so he could see if he could help her. When I heard him say that I thought to myself “I want to do that someday, I want to help people”. Watching a television show that had a therapist helping people and thinking how does he know what questions to ask. My wanting to know how to do that further solidified my intention to help people.
Contact Info:
- Website: alansimberg.com lifemasterywithalan.com
- Instagram: alansimberg.therapy
- Linkedin: https;//www.linkedin.com/in/alansimberg
- Facebook: https;//www.facebook.com/alan.simberg
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