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About Me
Odell Terrell
Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate
Odell Terrell is a mental health counselor in Greensboro, NC. He graduated with a MS in Counseling from Divine Mercy University in Arlington, VA, and places an emphasis on working with spiritual integration, adults and adolescents, trauma, family and children, and grief and loss. Odell received his undergraduate degree from the University of St. Leo's in St. Leo Florida, with a degree in Psychology. He has spent his last 15 years working in the field of emergency services. It is in working with people in emergency situations, both patients and first responders, that Odell has learned how to deal respectively with people in crises mode, helping instill a sense of hope and healing. Odell is happily married, for 18 years, and is the father of 9 children and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his family and child therapy practice. Odell started his own practice in downtown Greensboro in 2020.
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Life is supposed to be lived to its fullest! You do not have to surrender to your depression, let trauma control you, or be anxious and angry all the time. As a parent, you do not need to walk on eggshells around your children. You deserve a common-sense approach to more effectively deal with your child’s personality and temperament style.
I can help you or your child (I help adults too) achieve what you want out of therapy and enjoy the process. Therapy does not have to be complicated or dry. The one thing parents need more than anything is confidence in themselves.
Raising emotionally healthy children is my life's work. The child psyche is not something every therapist can comprehend. It does not matter how many child development classes they have taken. Raising children cannot always be described in a book. Explaining things and working with children is not merely acquired but requires some natural intuitiveness and real-life experience. You will get the confidence you need as a parent from not only a therapist but a trusted parent.
I enjoy several hobbies; boxing, Jiu-Jitsus, outdoors, hiking, hunting. We go on family trips, camp, music festivals. I enjoy stargazing, the smell of wood-burning late December, robins singing on a springtime window sill, and long songs of whippoorwills. I am an N.C. licensed falconer, a rapture conservationist. I like animals and wildlife. Like I said, life is meant to be lived!
Additionally, I have training in family systems theory, attachment theory, personality disorders, and complex trauma. I also have background and experience in the family courts and high conflict divorce.
If you are in need of mental health counseling, or a parent who struggles with a difficult child, don't hesitate to call or sign up for a session through my client portal.
My Theoretical Perspective
My approach is mainly based on Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). It has been around for a long time and for a good reason. It is the most researched and one of the most beneficial modalities when it comes to dealing with and treating mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidality, and eating disorders. I also believe this foundation is best for incorporating beneficial skills from other modalities.
Many therapist classify themselves as eclectic. Eclectic is a fancy word for a therapeutic approach that incorporates a variety of therapeutic principles and philosophies to create the ideal treatment plan that fits the client. In reality, we all have a basic principle and approach that we lean towards most, for me, that would be CBT. I believe it is vital to balance CBT with empathy, validation, and motivation therapy to help my client view cognitive interventions as emotionally relevant.
I also like to incorporate Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Techniques (DBT). It is an approach that combines CBT with skills that help you become more aware and mindful. The term "dialectical" comes from the concept that bringing together two seemingly opposites in therapy (self-acceptance and change) which leads to greater therapeutic results. The main goals are to teach you how to live in the moment, cope healthily with stress, regulate emotions, and improve relationships with others. DBT does deal with cognitions, but only in part, and, whereas CBT might be likened to cutting and pasting thought process (sometimes necessary) DBT is more of an expansion and shifting of cognitive processes and a greater emphasis on emotions.
The help you have been looking for
You come to therapy to seek help from someone with experience and expertise, yet you have found little to no direction from therapy. You have given up on therapy because they have not helped you learn how to appropriate the issues that lead to your unhappiness or mental illness. That is not by mistake. We are taught and required (for a good reason) by ethics committees for proper licensure that we are not to lead or give advice to our clients because we will be imposing our own values onto the client and thus fail to respect their autonomy and free will. The problem is in response to this, we often become nothing other than a sounding board where you are expected to solve your own problems by merely having a place to vent. How does this make sense when you are the one seeking professional help and advice? Venting and breathing techniques alone will be of no benefit to you.
What we are not taught and which I think only comes from life experience, prudence, and a proper understanding of human nature is how to appeal to the client’s natural disposition for the good. First, in seeing what is true and good in your personal qualities and values, I can challenge you where your thoughts and actions might prohibit you from attaining what it is you long for - happiness. This is made impossible by the therapist who denies truth altogether, is guided by subjectivism and relativistic values, and sees good not only in your qualities and values but “good” in your thoughts and behaviors that are directly opposed and hostile to those values you hold. There is no distinction in seeing “good” everywhere. Hence, some of these thoughts and behaviors are actively encouraged in therapy, which only aids in your unhappiness. When you have no definite conception of what is true or good, how are you going to see what is true and good in the individual? Likewise, mental disorders can only be understood in light of order and what is true and good. The lack of something can only be understood by knowing what properly belongs to it. No wonder many people feel worse after leaving therapy. No wonder people see little value in therapy.
I help my clients set goals not contrary to their personal qualities and values, rather these goals help them better adhere to those basic principles. The happiness that is found in reaching those attributes and qualities you value is the most rewarding part of being a therapist.