Wesley Taira

Much aloha and peace to you! As a Christian-oriented counselor and therapist, I am curious about your hopes, your dreams, and how you can be successful in reaching these goals. I believe that your very nature is crafted and formed in the image of God and you are precious in His sight. This is the only way I see you! I would like to work with you using this as a foundational starting point for us . . . "that you are very precious in God's sight and that He loves you incredibly, more than you can even imagine." In Hawaii, we appreciate the concept of "Ohana," meaning "family," people bound together by support, loyalty, and love for one another, which means "you belong," and you are never alone! Nurtured and fostered in this spirit of Aloha (love) and Ohana, I am committed to serve in this profession of counseling and therapy knowing that everyone has a life-purpose. Please remember, you are so very vital and so very important and you need to realize and claim this gift of life!

My approach

Reaching out and trying to find a therapist can be one of the hardest things to do especially when you are in the midst of chaos and going through a crisis. Once you take that first step however, it will get easier and will get even more progressively easier. Feeling like someone is actually listening to you and focusing on you is so very important, especially nowadays in our fast-paced lifestyles!

My focus

As a therapist, I focus on each person's specific needs and I will adjust my therapy style accordingly, drawing from and utilizing various skill modalities that I think will be helpful. I tend to draw from Solution-Focused, Positive Psychology, Strengths-based, Cognitive Behavioral, Life-Coaching, and Meaning Centered Therapy areas in order to help people resolve their situations and life-transitions. Together we will focus on things going on currently and also in the past. This has worked well for my clients and overall outcomes have been very positive.

My communication style

Being accepted and understood is what most people want and need. It would be a privilege to "being present" with you and provide a safe non-judgmental space so you are able to process and grow from the challenges and opportunities life has presented in front of you. I like working with anyone who would like to deepen their relationship with God or who would just like to improve their quality of life. I am committed to work with those who are broken-hearted, which includes those who are experiencing: a significant loss, experiencing depression, existential issues, being overly-stressed, experiencing severe anxiety, experiencing troubled marriages.. I will strive to help you feel comfortable and safe from judgment and censure. Together, we can work on goals you want to achieve that will help you feel more confident, motivated, and self-aware. I am an active listener and try to help my clients to arrive at their own solutions which will eventually become very obvious to them. I would like for you as a client to be sure you feel safe enough to be able to trust me to share everything necessary to reach your intended goals and objectives. I will make sure we are always on the "same page" and working towards the same stated goals and objectives we have established together as a team. I always pray before sessions with my clients and ask God to be present during our special time together. I consider prayer as a therapeutic intervention and sometimes will also incorporate prayer right into our sessions for purposes of Inner healing and Inner Child work. Although I am a very good listener, I do ask a lot of questions in order to gain more insight and understanding and also as a way to prompt more client insight into their own situations.

My journey to mental healthcare

Adolescence and my years through high school were not happy years for me as I suffered through major depression, using surfing and substances to help quell all my waves of sadness. I felt I was drowning in my depression, felt helpless, hopeless, and so alone. I thought I was losing my mind until one day I met Jesus who totally changed me. He healed me and gave me a brand new start and a new chance in life. For the very first time, I came to know and understand what 'real love' was, and that someone really loved me unconditionally. I could experience what this real, genuine love was like. Now I know beyond a doubt that there is a supernatural quality of love that exists and is available for everyone! It's a quality of love I never knew about and I would like to help everyone to get to know this source of love and life at the deepest levels of their being. Everyone can discover this "New Life," this quality of love and can indeed achieve true peace and healing in all domains of their life.

My goals for you

I am excited! I see you and I working together, establishing goals, working as a team in order to achieve goals and objectives that will expand your quality of life and raise your level of positive emotions. I see us utilizing goal setting as a "work-in-progress," and will always be checking with you to establish relevancy and look to wherever your goals require adjusting.

My first session with you

I would honestly like to learn more about your hopes and dreams as a client, what situations you may be going through that are holding you back, and together how we can get to where you want to be in life. With God's help anything is possible so let's do this!