Jonah Bryan, LPC

“We did not come to remain whole.
We came to lose our leaves like the trees,
The trees that are broken
And start again, drawing up on great roots.”

― Robert Bly

My name is Jonah Bryan and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and IFS Institute trained clinician. I am passionate about fighting through the mud and mire of life in order to know the deepest joy. As an LPC, I specialize in men’s issues, marriage counseling and issues related to abuse and trauma.

The imagery of a tree shedding its leaves, breaking and starting again embodies the experience I am honored to be a part of as a therapist. I have found in my practice that people often come to therapy because they have “lost their leaves.”

They have lost a relationship, a dream, or hope for another way. They feel barren. Alone. Exposed. They want to clothe themselves in something new, but they don’t know what new means. They want to stop shaking in their anxiety, being battered by their addictions, being stripped by their depression, but they don’t know or believe or dare to hope in another way.

What does it mean to “draw from the great roots”? What does it mean to know the story of your undoing and what you have used to feel strong and whole and together as your leaves tumbled down? How have you tried presenting to the world a whole self even though the veil was thinning? Especially in my work with men, I have found (and been told repeatedly) that as men we often try to hold on to the illusion of togetherness, strength and invulnerability. As the last leaf falls…where do you turn? Where have you turned? Where do you want to turn?

It is often the places we have turned that have caused us, and those around us, to suffer. In our turning, we have become alienated from our hearts and the hearts of others. Depending on your story, this turning away may have led to addictive behaviors, depression, anxiety, despair or just general unhappiness and complacency. Where do you want to turn? My hope is to engage in that life-defining, soul-revealing work with you.