Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Garcia.
Hi Christopher, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I graduated in 2012 with my bachelor’s in English Literature from Nova Southeastern University and at the time, my plan was to go to Europe to get a master’s in literature but that didn’t work out. I was encouraged by my girlfriend at that time to work at the on-campus preschool for children with autism, where she was working which helped pay for some of the credits of any master’s program of your choosing from Nova Southeastern University. The plan was to work here while I decided on what to do and, in the meantime, I would be exposed to other students from various master’s degree study programs.
At this preschool, there were students studying school counseling, marriage and family therapy, speech and language pathology and applied behavior analysis students. At the same time, I worked at the university’s gym as a personal trainer and group exercise instructor, and several of my clients had been students and professors in the marriage and family therapy master’s program. They had all suggested I would be a good fit just because of my interests in human behavior, performance and my outlook on life/personality since I was already interested in a wide variety of subjects as an English major. I decided to look into the program and was really intrigued and fascinated with the theory that provides the backbone of marriage and family therapy, known as systems theory and cybernetics and how they use these theories to create various models of therapy a person can use to understand people, behavior and the systems like family systems or work systems we find ourselves in. It was all really complex and really cool for me at the time. I applied to the program and was accepted. My first year, I was really overwhelmed, lost and daunted by the amount of information I had to learn, especially since my background was in literature and not psychology but once I started to understand the concepts and have clinical experiences at a family clinic on campus and then later at Broward General’s psychiatric wards, things started to click and make sense.
Getting my master’s while I worked full-time as a preschool teacher aide was also super helpful because I learned so much from these experiences with the preschool children I worked with, from behavior to how family systems influenced their own behavior in and out of the classroom. I learned so many communications skills and got to see what I studied play out in the lives of my students, their families, coworkers and even workplace dynamics. I learned so much about my own family, family dysfunction and ways to repair a family system.
When I graduated my passion/interest that developed while in school was in trauma, specifically how to help traumatized people with their symptoms and how their lived experiences shaped the behaviors they had that were causing them issues and trouble in their lives. One of my favorite professors at the time led international trips to Cambodia, China and Mexico and I was able to accompany him on several of these trips, which further fueled my interest in trauma from a cultural lens. Beginning in 2015, I took a deep dive into as many certifications, trainings and books that I could while I started to work in the substance abuse field where I knew I would have access to people who’ve experienced trauma and where I could do the most good while learning a lot at the same time.
I started working in the substance abuse treatment field in 2015 after I graduated from my Master’s, learning and growing as a therapist and in my ability to help facilitate change in people’s lives. It’s hard and difficult work but the uncertainty, chaos and the rewarding nature of the job have been my favorite parts, knowing you’ve changed someone’s life for the better and the lives of everyone they then meet moving forward. It’s extremely rewarding and satisfying.
I always wanted to have my own private practice that specifically focused on trauma, just because I felt it was my passion and the area I was the most interested in. Once I became licensed I decided to open a private practice in Cooper City and I still work in the substance abuse treatment field several days out of the week. I think it’s important to still help people in the addiction field and I really love how addiction is rooted in a person’s attempt to feel better and how this relates to trauma, as well, so I am trying to give at least one or two days a week to this field while maintaining a private practice. I really like the contrast between private practice and working in treatment since it’s two very different environments with very different demands and I feel I really benefit from the challenge, variety and change of pace that both offer me.
In my downtime, I try to stay as active and healthy as possible and I am really fascinated by human movement and performance, exercise science, neurophysiology and literature.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There’s a concept you are taught as a marriage and family therapist when you learn about the founder of systems theory, called Equifinality, and at its most basic level, it means there are many different ways of achieving the desired state or the goal.
Because of this, I don’t think anyone ever has a smooth road and mine was most definitely not smooth. What I have appreciated is how every little detour, delay and bump has helped lead me exactly where I needed to be, even if I didn’t recognize it at that moment.
My biggest struggles came from the volatile nature and landscape of the substance abuse field, it’s fast-paced, flawed, high-stakes and very chaotic. The paperwork and documentation demands are super high and it’s easy to be overworked and burnt out especially the more you care and try to really help as much as you can. The biggest learning curve for me was learning that business’s do not see client’s the same way a therapist does, and this led to a lot of conflict between me and those managing the substance abuse treatment centers I worked at. Working in the treatment field is one of those environments where you either adapt and become really excellent and excelled at managing the demands or you burn out fast and end up leaving, so I’m grateful for these challenges because they’ve turned me into the skilled and passionate therapist I am today, and the field still teaches me so much daily. I really feel like every day, I get better and more skilled and there are not a lot of professional environments where that’s the case.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Kairos Trauma Resolution?
I am most proud of my company’s name and what my brand stands for because trauma represents a significant event/events in the life of a person. In my eyes, I feel KAIROS TRAUMA RESOLUTION is not just therapy, it’s also personal growth and development human optimization and focuses on the betterment of all those who choose to engage on this path of self-healing and introspection.
The ancient Greeks measured time in two ways, they used the word CHRONOS to measure seconds, minutes, hours and years. It was chronological. The second word they used, KAIROS, measured the right moment or the significant moment because it could not be defined chronologically, its impact was deeper, and like TRAUMA, it encompasses experience, opportunity, significance and imprints on our past, present and future all at the same time.
My very general and overarching definition for trauma would be any significant or cumulative negative emotional events in our lives.
I believe trauma hides behind our problems preventing us from having successful, stress-free lives. Trauma hides behind anxiety, depression, addiction, stress, anger, relationship issues, emotional problems and mental health symptoms. I believe trauma is an important and often underlooked aspect of life and I have a unique view of trauma, believing it to play an adaptive role in people’s lives.
My goal is always to empower clients into learning how to utilize their trauma and lived experiences to overcome their problems and as a means of personal transformation, rather than a diagnosis of symptoms and heartache.
For me, trauma recovery and effective therapy is all about gaining control of who you are, multidimensional; to treat ourselves physically, psychologically, spiritually, mentally and biologically.
I would like the reader’s to know that Trauma is the bodies heroic response to threat… Whether that threat was perceived, planned or a significant event, you never expected.
Trauma is about how you survived, but Recovery is about how you thrive; I think healing happens by focusing on overcoming how you have adapted based on your lived experiences and learning to reintegrate this new version of you…to become the best version of you.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I have learned just how resilient and adaptable people can be and have always been. I think this is the most stressed out generation of people and yet, despite how much uncertainty and fear there has been globally, you still see everyone making an effort to survive, to help, to instigate change on all sides of the political and scientific landscapes. I think people are so resilient and we don’t even recognize just how resilient we are because of the issues, stressors and challenges most of us are facing but when we look back at how we have survived the crisis, people will see that they banded together, however that looks for some people, and it was nice to see it play out in the lives of my client’s and in my own life.
Contact Info:
- Email: christopher@kairostraumaresolution.com
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/kairos-trauma-resolution-cooper-city-fl/415294
Image Credits
ruelnavarrophotography
