Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Sugg.
Hi Jason, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started my professional life as a software developer – I actually have bachelors and masters degrees in computer science from MIT! As a student I really enjoyed that field, but when I got out into the working world I quickly discovered that I wasn’t well-suited to the corporate environments of most tech firms. I was living in San Francisco, working for a startup, and in the wake of the dotcom crash of the early 2000s I was laid off. I took it as an opportunity to move to Austin (where I had lived for a couple of summers during college) where I felt much more at home.
When I came here it was with the intention of finding a more sustainable and personally satisfying career. And so, while I was working tech jobs here, I also dabbled with different interests as I tried to find something that was a better fit. At different points I thought about being a bartender, going back to school for history, and I spent a couple of years exploring screenwriting and filmmaking. During this period I tried going to therapy and had a terrible experience – that therapist basically told me I didn’t have any real problems and to come back and talk to her when I did!
It’s a miracle I ever went back. But one day while I was out walking my dog I noticed myself reacting in some very emotional ways to things she was doing. And it hit me – something is happening here that I don’t really understand. Out of that curiosity I started seeing a (different!) therapist, and it wound up being an extraordinarily impactful experience. I found that I really enjoyed the process of therapy and wound up working with her for many years, through marriage and having kids and then getting divorced.
Around the time my oldest daughter was born I felt the call to do something different in an intense way, and one day my therapist suggested that I, too, could become a therapist. I had had the thought before and dismissed it, but with a child on the way it hit differently. And that became my path forward. I returned to school when she was 2 years old and never looked back!
I got so much out of my masters program in counseling that I decided to continue on to get a PhD, focused on depth psychology in the tradition of Jung, with a particular emphasis on the integration with ecological thought. Today I have been in private practice for about 10 years, and continue to study and write at the intersection of psychology, ecology, and culture. In fact I am just wrapping up a book I’ve been working on for the last couple of years.
Along this journey I also discovered meditation and somatic practices, which have been game-changers for me. I trained in an approach called Hakomi, which uses mindful awareness of body and mind to allow the therapy to go very deep very quickly, and I am slowly shifting my practice towards those approaches because I have found them so effective!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it has not been smooth! Is the path smooth for anybody? I’ve been extremely fortunate to have support and resources that have allowed me to develop in this career. But it’s a career that, if you’re going to do it well, demands that you dig into the things that are the most difficult for you. My biggest struggles along the way have all been with my own foibles, of which I have plenty! And I’m proud to say that, at this point, I feel like I have overcome most of them!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I help people who are struggling to feel fully alive find their vitality. People come in struggling with anxiety, depression, or just general life dissatisfaction in work or relationships, and together we explore what is keeping them stuck in that place, and what their symptoms might be telling them they need in their lives. And then we work together to develop tailored approaches that, over time, create new life habits that help them feel more connected, more alive, and more joyful. Sometimes I call this process joy engineering!
I’m known for my particular combination of empathy and deep knowledge of the field. I’ve worked hard to find a sense of freedom in myself that allows me to feel grounded in the world, and I love being able to share what I have learned with my clients. It makes me proud every time I see someone use the things we have been working on in our sessions in their lives, and I have seen my clients make some very big shifts in their lives!
I bring a fairly unique perspective to this work – I find that most counselors are primarily focused on talking. And while I do think the talking we do is important, I don’t see real changes happening until people incorporate the things they are discovering into their bodies. By that I literally mean their posture shifts, they walk differently, and they’re more able to bring themselves into emotional regulation through somatic techniques. The body-based explorations I have studied allow me to help people make big changes quickly but gently. I also am a big believer in the importance of movement and connection with nature, and am increasingly making those core parts of my offerings.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Books –
Modern Man in Search of a Soul – Carl Jung
The Spell of the Sensuous – David Abram
The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle
Devotions – Mary Oliver
Podcasts –
The Emerald
Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield
Ram Dass Here and Now
On Being
Huberman Lab
Contact Info:
- Website: http://jasonsugg.com
- Instagram: @jasonsuggpsychotherapy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasonsuggpsychotherapypllc/
Image Credits
Jason Sugg
