Carolyn Saad Gonzalez RMHCI

Carolyn Saad Gonzalez is a Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern, holding a B.A. in Psychology from University

Carolyn Saad Gonzalez

of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee and a Master's Degree in Mental Health Counseling from Asbury Theological Seminary. 

Carolyn's heart is for people.  Her passions include seeing wounds healed, relationships restored, confidence built, and persons of all ages and stages living into their fullest potential.  Carolyn operates from relational psychodynamic and attachment theory frameworks, and has experience working with adults, teens, and couples. 

Theory of Change:

Dallas Willard suggested that the essence of a person, the soul, is comprised of the mind, the body, and the will (Ortberg, 2014).  It was not in reading Dr. Willard’s work that I first encountered this suggestion, but in the writings of one of his students who went on to become a well-respected psychologist, teacher, and speaker.  This idea that the heartbeat of our personhood is threefold in nature has stuck with me, and it is from this framework that I consider the question, “How does change happen?”.  Reflecting on my experience as a mental health counselor, I can’t help but recall the presence of body, mind, and will in the room right alongside each client whose desire for change brought them in to wrestle, untangle, understand, and heal.   

Change, especially difficult change, comes from deep within.  It is a matter of the soul and, if I may use Dr. Willard’s philosophy as a jumping-off point, it’s become my curiosity whether the possibility of successful change is borne only from the alignment of the three elements of our being.  When I do what I wish I would not, or fail to do that which I wish I would, could it be perhaps because the echoes of my body, mind, and will ring in dissension?  When body, mind, will, or any combination of these do not yet agree, how can the desire for change be expected to develop into action?  Within the counseling relationship then, resistance to or perpetual unsuccess with bringing about change would perhaps be best approached by first examining which parts of the self may still be holding onto, preferring, the unchanged state.   

The encouraging thought, if this approach to change is to be effective, is that change can then never be seen as impossible; it is, at worst, just waiting for the various parts of oneself to be shifted into alignment and agreement.    

Reference:  Ortberg, J. (2014). Soul keeping: caring for the most important part of you. Zondervan 


Please feel invited to give MindSol Wellness Center a call at (941) 256-3725 to learn more or schedule an intake!  You may also reach Carolyn directly at (941) 276-9455 or [email protected]!

LOCATION

Availability

Primary

Monday:

8:00 am - 8:00 pm By Appointment Only

Tuesday:

8:00 am - 8:00 pm By Appointment Only

Wednesday:

8:00 am - 8:00 pm By Appointment Only

Thursday:

8:00 am - 8:00 pm By Appointment Only

Friday:

8:00 am - 8:00 pm By Appointment Only

Saturday:

Closed

Sunday:

Closed

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