Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Schlinsog.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Jim and I own True North Counseling in Bartlett, Tennessee. I specialize in working with anxiety and panic disorders and in treating depression. I also work quite a lot with issues related to addiction and substance use and how it affects the individual and their relationships.
I started in mental health right out of college, first working in residential treatment with adolescents and then on a behavioral health unit of a hospital. I really enjoyed the work and opted for graduate school and eventually a doctorate in counseling and human development. I worked in higher education for 20 plus years, mostly in residence life and housing and dean of students work If you think of all the bad things that happen on a college campus; those are the things that landed on my desk for a long time. I was always working adjacent to mental health and crisis work.
I left higher education a few years ago and transitioned into mental health working at Lakeside and in addiction treatment. I started my private practice about 6 years ago as a side hustle while working on Lakeside’s Landing Mental Health and Landing Addiction Services programs. I really enjoyed the acute care, crisis type work and really liked working with addicts in early recovery. I knew I wanted to start my own practice so that I could do more long-term work with people in their recovery.
I’ve been in fulltime private practice for about a little over three years now and really enjoy the one-on-one work. I will admit, though, I miss working with my addicts at Lakeside. It was really meaningful work, especially during the COVID shutdown years when so many in recovery were struggling with relapse and getting back on track. I really enjoy the private practice setting where I can work with someone on their individual goals. To me, the work I do isn’t just about helping with problems, though that is a lot of the work. Therapy is more about helping someone develop a better sense of who they are and how small changes in thinking, feeling, and action can have a dramatic effect on someone’s life and future despite what might have brought them into my office in the first place.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My path has not been a smooth road all the time. I enjoyed working with students and faculty in higher education, but I got burned out with bureaucracy and institutional politics. That is in large part what led me to seek something different…get back to my roots. I really enjoyed working with students to be successful, however that looked, and especially with those students who made poor choices and struggled as a result. One of my favorite stories from working with college students is a student who I had to suspend from school because of poor decisions. I worked with him when he was able to come back to school and helped him connect with mentors and find something that gave him purpose… and I kicked his butt a little until he graduated. Now, ironically, he does very similar work with college students that initially brought him into my office. We have been able to keep in touch with each other over the years. I still get to work with college students in my private practice.
Acute care hospitals such as Lakeside and addiction treatment is a tough space to work in. There is a lot of misunderstanding or misconceptions about the work. The pace could also be really fast, especially at a hospital like Lakeside where patients were cycling in and out usually in less than a week. There wasn’t always as much time as needed to treat everything. A lot of people come to a place like that thinking it will be a cure-all and fix everything when in reality it is more about stabilization, a few coping strategies, and connection with a really good therapist who will walk with that patient through the rest of their mental health journey. The reality is, acute care is just the start of mental health recovery and it can take a long time afterwards. I enjoy those longer journeys with my clients and helping them achieve their goals.
I think the most difficult part for me was a re-emergence of my own anxiety disorder and panic attacks when I worked at a small outpatient clinic for a few months. I was struggling and didn’t even realize it myself until I needed to take a break, work with my own therapist, and reposition to do something more meaningful and at a sustainable pace. One of the well-kept secrets in our field is that so many therapists, especially younger ones, try to do everything and can’t sustain their own mental wellbeing. It’s definitely a learning curve to finding that balance and being able to sustain yourself as a helper without taking on too much of the weight of what our clients bring to us every day. Since that short break to take better care of myself, eat healthy and exercise daily, I’ve lost about 50 pounds and my blood pressure is back under control naturally. I take better care of myself and I’m in the right headspace to be a better help to the people I work with every day.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about True North Counseling?
To me, True North is about finding, or rediscovering, yourself and who you want to be…who I wanted to be. True to my values and faith, True to my family. True to my colleagues, True to my clients. I work best with a client who has a good idea of what they want, even if they aren’t quite sure how to get there. My specialty area is in working with anxiety and panic disorders and how they affect nearly every dimension of our life from relationships, to work, to drinking or drugs. Admittedly, a lot of my clients are men, many of whom are skeptical about counseling but know they need to do something different. But I work effectively with nearly anyone who is willing to commit to their own wellbeing, their success, and their own True North.
Many of the men and women I work with are struggling in their relationships and at work. Many feel trapped in a cycle that just is not fulfilling and is sometimes harmful. Not everyone is able to save their marriage or their relationship or their job through counseling no matter how much work they do. Truthfully, a person can make incredible change and progress toward improving their life or their own wellbeing and still not be able to hold onto some parts of their lives. But even in those cases, I work with my clients to realize that they will be okay and can get a fresh start to build something that could be better. In nearly all cases, the reason someone starts counseling or therapy boils down to a couple key goals; they want to have better relationships, more fulfilled in their life, and just plain more happy.
I do a lot of work with trauma. I’m not sure that people realize how many of the addicts in our community struggle because of trauma whether it is in relationships or associated with violence. I think nearly everyone carries some trauma or some hurt that affects them and interferes with their own ability to be happy and healthy in their relationships. We tend to hide from that trauma or avoid things that remind us of our hurts or our disappointments. We use alcohol or drugs or anger or any other number of ways to avoid the risk of getting hurt again. But what really happens is we shut ourselves off from feeling joy or satisfaction and we close ourselves off from relationships we need. And we don’t get to enjoy the real benefits of the hard work we do in our careers or with our family as a result. I enjoy helping others peel the layers back on trauma and reorganize their experiences into a healthier perspective and a more positive view of themselves. I enjoy helping people feel happy again, especially when they didn’t even realize how unhappy they were before they started working with me.
You ask about something I’m most proud of. A couple of years ago, I got a call from a young person who missed their appointment. A newer client that I didn’t know very well yet. They were in another city, in a dangerous situation and had relapsed on alcohol or some other drug. I spent time on the phone with them and helped them get connected with law enforcement and then to a treatment center I was familiar with to get restarted on their recovery. A few months later they reached back out to me and said I saved their life. All because I was willing to spend some time on the phone, listen, and help get them situated into a safer environment. It’s just one story of many over the years both from my time working with college students to working in mental health in Memphis. I think those are the stories that give me purpose and help keep me focused on my own True North.
I also have two colleagues that work with me occasionally. Alastor and Winifred are my therapy pups that love people and are always willing to help someone find their balance. It’s amazing how someone will find a near instant sense of calm or peacefulness just because Winifred nudged them until they pet her or because Alastor just laid across their lap for a little while. Dogs can be an incredible asset in the healing process.
In addition to traditional mental health counseling and therapy, I also consult with the health licensing boards to conduct mental health and substance abuse evaluations for impaired healthcare professionals. I also support the immigration process by conducting mental health evaluations for those working through immigration courts. My goal in that is to help keep families together regardless of how they may have gotten a start. I also really enjoy working with career exploration and transition and career coaching for leaders. I still get to work with college students and their families particularly around understanding the transition to college and just how much a young person can change in that first six months in college. I see it with my own sons, which is a little strange sometimes, and its fun to watch that growth with my clients.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I’m still kind of a nerdy kid who likes comic books, Star Wars, sci-fi, Legos, and cartoons. That much hasn’t changed except that to my wife’s chagrin, the comic books get more expensive and the Lego models take up more space. I’ve always been a bit more introverted and would observe what was going on around me and with others. But I also learned how to be outgoing when it was needed.
I’m from Wisconsin originally so I love the Green Bay Packers, even when they are not doing so well. I have always loved a good tailgate and grilling or smoking really good BBQ in my backyard. I also enjoy working out with my sons when they are home from college and just spending time as a family.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.truenorthheals.com
- Instagram: drjimcounseling@gmail.com
