My name is George Hage. I have been practicing counseling for 31 years. Over the years, I have also taught middle school, high school, community college, and college. Since 1984, I have served as an ordained minister in the Christian Church Disciples of Christ in North Carolina, and for the past 5 years, I have served as a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church in the United States (THEOCUS). I have completed doctorates in education and curriculum and Eastern Orthodox theology. I hold bachelors degrees in Bible and Music and a masters degree in social and cultural studies. I am licensed in North Caroina with the LPC (#2165) and the LPCS (#S2165).
I consider counseling as a gift of the Divine. Thus I consider it a ministry. I, therefore, welcome you as my client regardless of your background. This includes your social status, culture, ethnicity, income level, race, and religion or non-religion. I welcome you as a human being, the image of the Divine, to present your need and person, and I will respond to you with openness, acceptance, understanding, and respect.
I will do whatever I can to guide you into a sense of empowerment that rests within your being as a person.
I listen carefully to your story including your good and bad experiences. in this way, I assess with you your needs and strengths, in all, what you are looking for toward your betterment and wellbeing. In fact, wellbeing and wholeness is the end of counseling and the move toward self-relaization and self-mastery. I look to 5000 years of universal spiritual wisdom and development that have occured in the writings and experiences of luninaries and sages. Much of these principles give impetus to such therapies as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy, Contemplative Therapy, Person Centered Therapy, Positive Psychology, Logo Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and others.
As we relate to one another, I see you as fundamentally a creative being as this is your essence. As the very first act of God in Genesis, Chapter 1 was that of creating the heaven and the earth, so in making you into God’s image and likeness, God breathes into you the spirit of creativity. In looking at the world around us, we see the handiwork of men and women through architecture, urban design, art, music, clothing design, road construction and layout, etc.
Thus you have within your being the creative spark that shapes even yourself, your being, your personality. You also have the freedom of choice to shape yourself as you are.
Hence, we pass through trials. Each trial challenges us to stay on task with our self-development. Trials are included in your circumstances of daily living and in your weaknesses resulting from psychological, spiritual, intellectual, and physical disorders. All of these imperfections are like pot holes and cracks in the road or even the cracks and holes in a mountain that from a distance may seem smooth. But a great solo mountain climber such as Alex Honnold, studies the mountain that he is planning to climb with special shoes, gloves, or harness. Then without these, he climbed Sentinel by not looking down but looking straight ahead and up. He used the cracks, and holes to place his feet and hands. Thereby, he was empowered to avoid slippery places along with fear, and anxiety which he claimed would make him fall.
You may be facing fear, anxiety, depression, and mood swings over your trying situation. You may be dealing with issues of low self-concept and confidence. You may feel that you don’t fit in socially. You may be having relational problems with you partner and even your family. You may be having spiritual or belief issues. At the same time, you may be questioning your purpose for life and being. You also may be trying to decide on what to do with your life. This may include trying to decide on a job, or school. You may even feel like a failure in life.
Such feelings and experiences plug into a whole array of psychiatrically defined issues that essentially relate to the way we think and feel. My challenge to you is that these situations of your experience are pliable and not frozen. You, through your choices, can change and reshape your thoughts and feelings as well as these situations. Together we will work on this as I guide you to see your Divine and natural endowments that exist within your being.
