Read Time: 20 minutes

Community Connections is a spotlight blog series where we uplight other wonderful organizations and clinicians who align with our values here at Interfaith Bridge Counseling. This month’s feature is Jack Dickey of Fox Mind Counseling, PLLC. We hope you enjoy getting to know Jack and all the amazing opportunities he offers to our fellow mental health community through our video interview below:

Lena McCain: Hey, everyone, Lena here from Interfaith Bridge Counseling and I'm coming at you today with a new community resource where you meet and learn about other therapists and our Colorado community, who I love and adore. Today's guest is a newer friend and colleague to me who I've gotten to know over the spring of this year. So Jack, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are.

Jack Dickey: Yeah, thank you so much Lena for that introduction. I really, really appreciate that. And my name is Jack Dickey and I am a counselor working here in the state of Colorado. I work primarily with queer folks and do trauma therapy and I am the owner of Fox Mind Counseling here in Colorado. Yeah, let's see here. A little bit about me. So I am a cisgender gay man and I pass as white though. I have Latinx heritage and I have been practicing Buddhism for the last 10 years of my life, I'm in my 30s, I'm neurodiverse.. I am a highly sensitive person. Yeah, I've been working as a counselor over the course of the last four years here and I've been primarily working in queer non-profits over the course of that time. And recently I've made the transition into private practice and so that is where Fox Mind Counseling came from. And I'm so excited to be here today and to be connecting with you and talking about my work.

JACK DICKEY WITH FOX MIND COUNSELINGK, LLC IS AN EMDR THERAPIST WHO USES BODY-CENTERED THERAPY AND CREATIVE UNCONSCIOUS WORK AND OFFERS THERAPY TO LGBTQ+ INDIVIDUALS, NEURODIVERSE FOLKS, AND MORE

JACK’S WEBSITE

Lena McCain: Yeah, I adore your practice. I think when we first met, one of the things you and I really kind of got excited about was just the creativity that you and I can bring to our work and also just being in private practice because I know you have more experience like working out in the world and with agencies and nonprofits as far as being a counselor. And for me I was like, I'm going straight into private practice, but I think we both have a really big love for kind of the same populations in some ways.

Jack Dickey: Yes. Yeah.

Lena McCain: And for the work that we do. I'm curious, could you tell us a little bit about where you got your degree from?

Jack Dickey: Yeah, I got my degree from Naropa University. My degree is in Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology. So, when I was first getting started as a mental health provider, way back in undergrad, I was really getting into Buddhism and really getting into mental health care and being a therapist. And I thought that these were going to be two different worlds that were always going to stay separate from one another and then Naropa provided an opportunity for me to weave the two of them together. So, the degree that I have in Contemplative Psychotherapy is really all about taking what I consider to be kind of the best of western therapy which is client-centered, compassion, presence, centered, and mixing that with Buddhist philosophy to create a therapeutic relationship that is really based on the client's inherent goodness as a person and the wisdom that a client is bringing into the therapeutic relationship.

Lena McCain: Deal. And for those of you who know about me and my degree, we went to the same university just different times and slightly different programs, but contemplative is from my mind or the hardcore Naropians doing the hard intense work. They're doing a lot of really in depth practice. I feel like mine was a little bit more, but we were like the claw to catch you into Naropa, to begin with, ya know? Tell us a little bit about your services because you primarily offer individual counseling, right?

Jack Dickey: Yeah. I provide exclusively individual counseling. I do not do relationship counseling or family counseling at this time. Yeah. Yeah yeah. and that's just my own personal preference. I have tremendous admiration for anybody that is doing any relational counseling work. So I work primarily with adults as well and the services that I'm offering right now are exclusively over Telehealth though, over the course of the next month or two that's going to evolve and I'm going to start offering in-person sessions more frequently. 

Lena McCain: Whoa!

Jack Dickey: So I’m  very excited about that.I have been doing telehealth therapy for a while now and I am excited to get back to in-person. Not that Telehealth therapy is tremendously supportive and really, really helpful. And I've seen tremendous transformation from clients in the therapeutic relationship through Telehealth and simultaneously I am just incredibly excited to be working with people in person. It's maybe a selfish thing.

Lena McCain: Yeah. I love it!

Jack Dickey: Yeah, and let's see here. So I primarily offer 50-minute  therapy sessions. I do also have 80-minute therapy sessions available as well. So the 50-minute sessions are primarily around talk counseling EMDR as well, but the 80-minute sessions are kind of reserved for people who are wanting to take a deeper dive with EMDR work.

Lena McCain: Hmm..so I'm curious if you could tell us a little bit about what would be the difference between someone coming and doing, like an EMDR session with you versus being really interested in the contemplative part of your degree?

Jack Dickey: That's a really great question. So one of the things that I really try hard to do as a counselor, is to be continuously weaving all of my different approaches that I'm holding together. So I see myself as an integrative therapist and so the contemplative piece that brings to therapy, I kind of see is the larger container of the work that I do. So this is really based on the present moment.. It's not that the past and future don't matter. We're just taking a look at how the past and future are arising for you now, in this moment, how they're affecting you now. There's also a really big emphasis on, again, like what I said, client-centered care and so I see myself as holding expertise in certain therapeutic processes, but you as the client are really the expert on your experience. So I'm working alongside you to come up with a therapeutic approach that's going to be best for you. So I definitely practice modes of therapy that are very tailored to the client’s moment to moment experience. I'm not trying to place clients into some kind of therapeutic shoe box of this is how it's supposed to go or anything like that. So that can become a unique healing experience for people that are exploring EMDR because EMDR can be a pretty regimented experience. There's a kind of a formula that's the EMDR process. And so what I am doing during the EMDR process is to really be working to stay attuned to the client in their present moment experience. And while doing that, I am bringing in the EMDR structured approach in that. So anybody that's working with me, whether they be working with me through more, kind of traditional talk therapy or working with me, through EMDR is going to be getting that contemplative piece. So really focusing in on the present moment, focusing in on what's happening in our relationship in that moment and emphasizing safety, compassion, and collaboration throughout the entirety of the experience. So I'm very happy to restructure the way that we do EMDR in order to make sure that clients are feeling well attuned-to and cared for as we're going through that process, I'm all about molding. My therapeutic approach to the clients needs and not trying to mold clients to the therapeutic approach.

Lena McCain: Yes, I love that. I mean, what you said, a little bit earlier was the client is the expert and I don't know if that's our Naropian teachings coming through, or If that's just how you and I approach therapy but I think that is so true, right? They are the expert and we're the facilitator like we are... I often think of it, kind of like a math equation, I have the end answer of who they are and they're the expert and they're filling in the formula for me. And from that formula we're going to pull out the modalities… it's almost like an improv show but in a really scientific way at the end of the day.

Jack Dickey: Yeah.

Lena McCain: So I'm wondering, could you describe your ideal client? If someone is listening to this, or reading the blog, how will they know they're the right fit, that they should reach out to you.

Jack Dickey: Yeah. Absolutely. So It's funny that you ask this because whenever I get this question, the first thing that comes to my mind immediately is people who are dreamers. And I want to kind of flesh out exactly what I mean by that. So my ideal client or the ideal person that I work with is somebody that is really open to using imagination in session. I use a lot of visualization in the sessions that I do, as a way to contact parts, of clients' experiences that maybe aren't used to being contacted or used to expressing themselves or typically get suppressed in some way in their day-to-day lives. So I invite clients into relationship with these parts of themselves. And one of the ways that I do that is with the creative unconscious, or with the process of visualizing or drawing. So my ideal client is someone that is open to using their imagination or at the very least somebody that's open to exploring the use of imagination in therapy. I also am definitely interested or my ideal client would be working with somebody who is open to compassionately reconnecting with themselves or with younger versions of themselves. So for me kind of the essence of the therapeutic approach that I use is really compassion-focused and the development, not only of compassionate therapeutic relationship but compassion of a client towards their own experiences. And so working with clients to develop that kind of compassionate mindset towards themselves. I think it's a really radical act, and I think is something an ideal client that I'd be working with would be someone that would at least be open to the process of developing self-compassion. I also really appreciate working – 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: – somatically with clients understanding the stories of their bodies, understanding what their body has to say about their present experience or the past experiences that the body has gone through. And so, a client that I feel like would be ideal for the work that I do would be a client that at the very least of open to the possibility of listening to what is happening in their body, listening to their experience on an embodied level and hearing the body story from the body's point of view. I'm kind of imposing one's will onto the body. Instead allowing the body to share its story and to share its authentic experience, and to use embodiment, or what's happening in the felt sense of the body, as an avenue, towards living authentically and living in - in connection with self and others in a way that feels really nourishing. And I'm also really passionate about working with clients – 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: – who have experienced or received lineages of intergenerational trauma. I think we probably all have honestly but clients who are willing to look at that or wanting to look at that, I should say. and to not only understand the experiences that their ancestry had that led them to - to express the way that they did. But to also through, compassion towards themselves compassion towards their ancestry to to disrupt the transmission of intergenerational trauma. And to heal it in a way that not only is a healing for the self…

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: but healing for any future generations as well that come into contact with that lineage.

Lena McCain: I'm noticing, you're talking about the somatic experience as part of your ideal client. I'm noticing for myself as I was listening to you talk between compassion and the embodiment and intergenerational trauma, just kind of like this, release in my own shoulders, and in my own chest. and I want to bring that up or I want to name that because as a disabled person, and as a disabled therapists, I often am working, or with people thinking about my own work around those three areas. And I think that that's something that really sets you apart as a therapists to be even willing to name that because From my perspective, when we're doing therapeutic work compassion is one of the pillars that lit – 

Jack Dickey: Yes.

Lena McCain: – the foundation in order to even access these big points somatically or intergenerationally. We have to be willing to be so radically compassionate towards our bodies towards our beliefs and our values so that we can actually dig in and do the pieces – 

Jack Dickey: Yeah.

Lena McCain: – because this is some big work - people don't think about how being genuine and nice and warm to your body is a radical act against white supremacy.

Jack Dickey: Okay, absolutely.

Lena McCain: It's like, yeah – 

Jack Dickey: Radical acts. Yes.

Lena McCain: – it's wild. People, it's my body, your body is kind of the whole thing. It needs space. What's it like to build that relationship?

Jack Dickey: Yeah. Yeah. And so that experience of developing the relationship with the body is just something that really lights me up as a counselor and I'm supporting persons in coming into contact with that piece because I do think that we live in a toxic culture. Based on white supremacy, that is heavily invested in people being disconnected from their authenticity and people being disconnected from their embodiment. And so we live in a kind of soup or water, that's just always telling us to disregard what our body is telling us that there's something wrong with us as opposed to something wrong with the system that is asking of us to be. So disconnected from ourselves and each other. And so, that reconnection with the body, feels like the almost ultimate pushing back against white supremacy, Are based on the level of an individual.

Lena McCain: I couldn't agree more, one of the things that I'm recognizing is we’re - we're using the phrase intergenerational trauma and I know what that means. You know what, and I wonder, do people listening know what that means and what that actually might mean, in regards to the body, could you maybe give a quick definition of intergenerational trauma.

Jack Dickey: Yeah, I'll do my very best to make a quick one. So when I'm talking about intergenerational trauma,…

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: I'm talking about a pattern of disconnecting from the body that is transmitted from person to person to person and so oftentimes, it's kind of a big unknown as to where the original disconnects may have happened but it could be along the lines that look, maybe you could just take an example of anger for instance at some point in somebody's family generational history it might have been a really, really dangerous experience for them to get angry for them. To get angry, may have invited additional violence onto themselves. It may have prevented there from being even an intergenerational transmission to begin with because they may have died in that moment. And so there is a kind of trauma that takes place there. And what I mean by trauma is a disconnection of something with us or splitting within us, where part of us continues on, and another part of us that's holding, for instance, our anger gets repressed. That anger experience continues to get repressed after the trauma in order for the body to survive and to continue to live. And then what happens is that relationship with anger, that self-suppression of anger, then enters into relationship with a child. You have a kid and then that kiddo, they start to get angry, which is a normal understandable healthy human response. It's an expression of dignity, it's an expression of our values. It's an expression of “I deserve to be treated with respect, or with kindness” kiddo gets angry, parents’ nervous system sees that and responds that anger the same way they respond to their own, which is “that's dangerous, shut that shit down” and so the kiddo gets their anger suppressed either directly or the parent disengages in some way. so there's this replication of this experience of “anger, bad.” And this could be so many different ways, “anger, depressed, sleeping, resting bad.” So many different things that may have been communicated through trauma to the body and then as soon as these things start to come up in a kid, the parent will relate to those experiences the same way that they relate to their own experiences, that they need to rest. The need for authenticity, the need for anger, the need for self-nourishment through food, or through sex. And so this gets repeated and so then you imagine this kid who grows up with these same suppressive mechanisms and then they have a kid and then that kid has their experience suppressed and then it just repeats and repeats. And so intergenerational trauma through the lens of the body is an experience that arises in the body and then gets suppressed for some historic reason that may – may not be identifiable. That be the experience of anger at the experience of sadness, the experience of getting to rest. Whatever that might be, but it is that embodied suppression or repression of that experience or of that need.

Lena McCain: Absolutely. And that's where from my perspective, that integration between the mind and the body coming in and doing the work together, it's like building the relationship, for them to start communicating and being able to choose and heal. Some of that trauma, that's where the good stuff is.

Jack Dickey: Yeah. Yeah, abso-fucking-lutely.. That's where the good stuff is.

Lena McCain: Exactly.

Jack Dickey: And it's that the magnitude of the ripple effect that can happen with the healing of intergenerational trauma. I think just cannot be understated, because – 

Lena McCain: No.

Jack Dickey: – we’re talking about, this is not like your relationship for – let's just keep using angry. It's an easy example, your relationship with anger is not only going to be playing out with persons that you might be caring for but is also going to be playing out with every person that you come into relationship with. And so within yourself to heal that relationship with your embodied need to express your dignity here to express your authenticity is gonna trickle out across not only the generations to come, but also just everybody that you're interacting with and it's a radical step towards combating, white supremacist culture.

Lena McCain: Totally, people don't even recognize that therapists can be that, I'm just coming in to sort some things out and then here they are just busting down pillars at least on an individual level, and you can't help your community – 

Jack Dickey: Yeah. Yeah.

Lena McCain: – until you help yourself. And I know all of us – 

Jack Dickey: Yes.

Lena McCain: – people pleasers love to say that's not true. But you do have to put your oxygen mask on first. Otherwise, you won't be around after putting someone, or maybe two other people's oxygen masks,

Jack Dickey: Yeah, yeah. And then in that way, you do that intergenerational patterning of not putting your own oxygen mask off first, you role model that to the people around you and – 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: I do think it is a part of our toxic culture, that kind of monumentizes, or glorifies the person who shuts themselves down and services somebody else. And so – 

Lena McCain: That.

Jack Dickey: – it's really embedded in the culture. This kind of reinforcement of “don't listen to yourself, care for somebody else” that you're doing the good thing by doing that. But it leaves you depleted. And it leaves you unable to sustainably care for other people.

Lena McCain: yeah, I'm getting chills. And I think in part because this is What we're talking about is if I had to put interfaith bridge and mission just out there in not bullet points, like what we're talking about is this.

Jack Dickey: Yeah.

Lena McCain: How do you reestablish a relationship with yourself that is…that cares about you, that is compassion, that is loving, that is willing to try some hard things, make mistakes and take accountability, but try and…you use the word “dreamer.” Dream of who you are, who you want to be and the community that You deserve access to.

Lena McCain: I'm wondering, I mean you've already said it in so many words. But how do you align with our vision in our mission? We are a very communal based place. I mean, it's part of why we even do these type of blogs.

Jack Dickey: So one of the things that really stuck out to me about Interfaith Bridge, when I was first, looking you up, Lena was the emphasis that was placed just right there on the website front and center mental health as a human, right? Fuck  yes.

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: Mental health is a human right? And I see so I don't want to be overly simplifying of this when I say this but I do see that most of the mental illness is not all of the mental suffering. I just want to call it that mental suffering that exists is oftentimes the result of the toxic culture that we live in that is asking people to be so radically disconnected from their non-negotiable human needs. 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: And so like we have a human need for connection. We have a human need for rest. We have a human need to express our dignity and stand up for ourselves. We have a human need for authenticity. These are all things that we need and society and intergenerational trauma creates circumstances that tell us that it's not okay, in some way for us to have these needs, we need to shut these needs down or it's like some kind of hippy dippy bullshit. So to have this human need or human desire inside of ourselves for not only survival, but living. And so that notion of mental health as a human right, it's like air as a human right. Or the ability to not get murdered when you're walking down.the street is a human right. And so, it's like you have fundamental non-negotiable human needs that have every fucking reason to be honored and have every fucking reason to be there. And you have the right, like, to that because you can't survive, you can't live without them. You cannot live without these needs being met and that and a loss of mental health. Or the mental suffering is stemming from this kind of systemic disconnect that we are asked to make as individuals. So yeah, I do thoroughly deeply believe that mental health, which is a way to me of expressing radical self-attunement, radical compassion towards the self, and radical attunement of the community to the needs of human beings. These are things that our society desperately needs and need to be held within the framework of a human right because this is as important as it gets.

Lena McCain: Yeah. As you were talking, the thing that just kept kind of popping up in my mind is like this is what liberation through mental health actually means at the end of the day,…

Jack Dickey: Yes, yes.

Lena McCain: …recognizing that you are human and that is one all you need to be if you want to be more awesome. But all you need to be is human and by being human, you are deserving of so many things, including mental health. And I know I'm thinking of my clients and just my community. And when I say because you are perfect just the way, you are deserving. That's the thing that stops people but they’re like, “is that true?” It is true, but we're so far deep that we do not think that's true. And yet it is right, there's no shame. Around that you deserve, you deserve and that's liberation at its finest.

Jack Dickey: Yes. Yes, just as you are, just as the glorious fucking human being that you are.

Lena McCain: I know, it's wild. It's hard to accept that we're perfect just that way, but that's where that radical self-compassion comes in. Okay, I'm curious. I only have a couple more questions to make sure that we’re getting this well rounded understanding of who you are, the work that you do and the services that you offer, you've mentioned in some ways, but how do you work with oppressed identities?

Jack Dickey: Yeah. Absolutely. So first and foremost if there's ever someone that I am working with, I mean I think we are all carrying an oppressed identity in some way or another and anybody that I am working with who is talking about That person is the authority on their experience of oppression and – 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: – what it feels like to them to experience that whether it be oppression due to having a disability oppression, due to having a body that looks a certain way, depression due to having skin that's a certain tone, of processing information, a – a certain way to loving a certain person, those experiences of oppression that we experience living in a white supremacist culture those are valid. And I am not here to wrestle with my clients over their validity. I am not here to tell clients “maybe you could think about it this way.” No, what that person is sharing is their truth, first and foremost.I do think it's also extremely important. So therapy tends to be this really kind of individualistic mode of healing and – 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: –  while there is a need to talk about equations I'd say, half of the equation in regards to the healing of oppression might take place within the person. I am impressed I am not going to continue to treat myself the way that white supremacist culture has taught me to treat myself, all finding good, –

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: — and great, and needed, and wonderful, And there also needs to be community support. For people who are experiencing oppression in this culture, need to have the support of others there to bolster them, to hold them up. We cannot do this on our own and we need the support of our comrades. People who are having parallel experiences that can come in and tell them, “you're not crazy and when you feel like you can't keep swimming, I'm here to hold you up.”

Lena McCain: Yeah, and no, on the flip side of that, too, of holding us accountable to that individual healing. I think about some of the identities that I hold and I can get wrapped in the “I did the work.” And I'm going through and it's my community and I also include my therapists when I think about my own personal community. But I'm like, “yeah, my community holds me accountable.” When they're like, “you're kind of just rolling with it or sweeping it under the rug, stop and sit with let me reflect to you, be the mirror in some ways,” like you're right.

Jack Dickey: Yeah. Yeah.

Lena McCain: We can't do it by ourselves, it's not possible.

Jack Dickey: I feel so good to hear you name that experience, around that accountability piece and holding us to a culture that combats or pushes against, I should say, white supremacy. I do also just in that individualistic work or – 

Lena McCain: Totally.

Jack Dickey: in the individualistic work of therapy when it is individualistic, whatever the fuck “individualistic” means, even at this point – 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: – right? in the one on what therapy session, what I really like to do, or what, I really like to support clients with, if they're open to it is pointing out places where white supremacist culture has been internalized and then allowing the client to make whatever fucking decision, they want to make around that. I'm not there to colonize the client with just another set of programming.

Lena McCain: Yep.

Jack Dickey: I'm there to help clients recognize “Hey, this is the way that I'm relating to myself. This is where it came from, whether that be intergenerational, trauma, white, supremacist culture, something different. Or a combination of those, this is what I'm doing to myself. And how do I want to be in relationship to that? This is what I'm doing to other people. And how do I want to be in relationship with that?” And if the client chooses to, then potentially bringing on online or activating their mental immune system, their anger, their dignity to press back against that messaging, and to say, “this is something that was placed on to me. And I'm not going to continue to perpetuate it onto myself.”

Lena McCain: Yeah, absolutely. it's so interesting because as individual therapists there is a lot of individual work happening. But we're also part of the community with them and talk about a unique experience where it's like, “I'm not ready to go out in and try those things with my identities with the greater community, but having a therapists that I did a part of my community that I trust enough to have a corrective experience with.”

Jack Dickey: No.

Lena McCain: I think about how often it can serve to get angry with me as a therapist. I'm not leaving you. I mean, I have boundaries, I have weight, I have my limits and I'm abandoning you. I'm out, not gonna happen. We're gonna sit there, and we're gonna work for it. And when I stumble, can we work and practice being brave and offer a corrective experience with what it looks like to be.

Jack Dickey: So have your anger received to impaired for? Yeah.

Lena McCain: Absolutely. And to have a white person, who's at least willing to make mistakes, Because most white people are not willing to make mistakes, not outwardly.

Jack Dickey: Yeah or two I would say maybe in addition to that not willing to admit to mistakes when they do happen.

Lena McCain: Yeah. Totally. Okay, my last question is, How do you make your services accessible? Mental –

Jack Dickey: Sure.

Lena McCain: – health is expensive? We live in Colorado. I mean what are our market rates, currently $140 is the average rate. So yeah. How do you make your services accessible for us?

Jack Dickey: Yeah, thank you so much for asking. So half of the caseload that I hold at Fox Counseling. I maintain half of it on a sliding scale basis, so people who are wanting to work with me, and have come to me to access services through me – 

Lena McCain: Okay.

Jack Dickey: if one of those spots is available, then it's absolutely available to that client. if a client comes to me and they're wanting to access sliding skills with me and the spots are full, then I am still getting on the phone with that client. If they want to, I still want to understand what it is that they're looking for support with who it is that they're seeking as a therapists and then working with them to coordinate with my community of providers, Interfaith Bridge just being one of them, to help this client to access services that are going to be affordable for them. or if they choose to, they could also get on to a waitlist to work with me on science. Scale basis, I don't really believe in Waitlists. I believe in getting people connected to therapists right away when they're in that moment of seeking counseling. And I'm not here to hold on to clients. I'm wanting to make sure that they're connected with great fitting counselors who can meet their financial needs and – 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: – also keeping that door open if the client wants to, like, “Hey when a spot does open up, do you want me to contact you?”

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: I do also offer super bills through my practice, which Lena was so kind to bring up and so the superbill process just to anybody who's interested in it is, if you have insurance you can work with me as an out-of-network provider. I would provide you with a special kind of invoice called a superbill. You would then submit that to your insurance and you would be reimbursed by your insurance at your out-of-network provider rate. Now that is a gross simplification of the process and it is really important that you contact your insurance provider and really understand the ins and outs of superbilling through your insurance provider before going forward with it. But anybody that contacts me, that does have insurance, I do provide online resources for them to understand what to be asking and what questions to be asking and what to be informed about in regards to superbilling. So I definitely do my very best to empower clients.

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: With that information so that they don't enter into a relationship thinking that they could use a superbill. And then there's a little code, that's also something that your insurance requires.

Lena McCain: Okay.

Jack Dickey: So being really well informed about the process is important. And then finally, any queer client that contacts me who is experiencing suicidality, I am in coordination with an organization called the Alana Faith Chen Foundation. They are an absolutely incredible organization. I highly recommend people to be aware of them, but what they do is they subsidize the mental health care of your persons who are experiencing on suicidality, such that – 

Lena McCain: Yeah.

Jack Dickey: – Let's say out of that average market rate that you named with $140, let's say the client comes in and can only afford $10 a session or in the forward, $0 a session. So the Alana FaithChen Foundation, you can submit applications to them and they will respond. If the application is approved, that covers the entire difference of that amount between what the client can afford and what the therapist’s out-of-pocket rate. So that's another way that I work to care for the most vulnerable – 

Lena McCain: I love – 

Jack Dickey: – members of the queer community who are seeking support.

Lena McCain: Yeah. I love that, I think that's kind of, that's the most important thing when I talk about accessible mental health because it is a human right. How are we showing up as providers in ways to make sure we're knowledgeable of what's out there because it's already a big deal to reach out to a therapist to begin with and say, “I'm looking for whatever that support is.” But then having a therapist that knows, “maybe I am the right fit for you, but I'm not financially. So, here are the trusted people in our community.”

Jack Dickey: Yes.

Lena McCain: Let me hear a little bit of your story and I'm gonna help connect you to the superbills at least for a provider, in my opinion, they are so easy to be able to offer. They take maybe two minutes and – 

Jack Dickey: Just – 

Lena McCain: – depending on your EHR it takes two minutes to set up and then it's automated, so easy to offer knowing the organizations that we can partner with, to make sure that not only us therapists’ needs are getting met, because we too live in this system of capitalism and we have to survive and our work is really hard, but the people we love to work with the most deserve to also have…

Jack Dickey: Yes.

Lena McCain: It's a very beautiful, intricate system. When we come from this, how do we make it accessible and working within the unfortunate parameters that we have to with this?

Jack Dickey: Yeah.

Lena McCain: Awesome. I'm wondering if there's any last tidbit you want to say before we log off for the day, Jack,

Jack Dickey: Just thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about myself and about my work. Thank you for being such a compassionate and supportive audience and such a supportive presence in our community. And thank you for providing a forum to talk about love and to talk about compassion and healing, not only for ourselves, for others. So I'm just with infinite gratitude for your work and thank you to whoever is seeing this for your time and awareness so I have to say

Lena McCain: Well wonderful. All right everyone we're gonna log off but I will make sure that Jack's contact info is listed in this blog and right below this video including how to find him, his services, and any other goodies he may offer. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to either one of us and we will make sure to answer them the best that we can or connect you to the other if needed.

Jack Dickey: Absolutely.

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I hope you all enjoyed listening to this video interview as much as I did recording it.

Until next time.

About Our Author | Lena McCain MA, LPC. 0017723

Lena McCain is our Founder here at Interfaith Bridge Counseling, where she continues her support as our Clinical Director. She also holds a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Mental Health: Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa University.

Lena’s drive and passions lie in the realm of community building and youth collaboration, which she has spent the last 12 years studying with an emphasis on one’s exploration of personal growth, community healing, and multicultural values. Lena’s expertise in these areas and the therapeutic field acts as a reminder to our community, teens, and young adults that they are not alone in their experience of life.