"I am now patient, thoughtful, and far more self-aware than I used to be. And I owe that to my sessions with Tom. I find that my mental stamina and my tolerance for frustration and setbacks have greatly increased, to the point that, when I come across one of these, I spend my energies getting around it rather than standing frozen and helpless. I believe that Tom's foremost skill is in his ability to gently lead clients to recognize their own challenges, and choose for themselves to address them. For me, that was chiefly procrastination. Without Tom, I would still be in Junior College, in my eighth year there, and still aimless. Instead, I am focused with a clear goal in sight and in reach. I expect by this time next year to be a degreed and fully certified school teacher. My emphases will be special education, English as a Second Language, and urban education, a career path which ideally suits my interests and abilities. Before I met Tom, I wouldn't say I was completely aimless, but I had no idea how I would reach my goals, and these were not very clearly defined to begin with. His occasionally "blunt" critiques really made me shape up, because now that I had received some sort of guidance I could no longer make excuses for procrastinating."

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N.S.M. [age 27, college senior]

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Follow-up Note: N.S.M is now a Magna Cum Laude University Graduate.

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After seeing Dr. Merriman:

* taught how to socialize

* taught how to empathize

* taught how to be self sufficient

* taught how to see myself as others see me, and to what degree I should care

* taught how to appreciate myself and what expectations to have of myself

* taught how to recognize and avoid potential social conflicts

* taught how to [be] genuinely conscious of how others think/feel

* can understand your issue and the best way to address it

* taught how to interact in different contexts with different people

* gives confidence to take risks/steps that otherwise wouldn't be taken

* knowledgeable about wide variety of real-life topics

* appreciates people based on who they really are, not who they appear to be

* is very accommodating for individual life circumstances/obligations

* develops a genuine interest in your genuine interests

* does not believe anyone can be boring; every social behavior is interesting

* easy to contact outside of scheduled appointments

* will leave the office to help with tasks if necessary

* provides free snacks/drinks

* has a lot of life experience/insight in a huge variety of situations

* gives advice on how to turn your genuine interests into personal/productive strengths

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C.S. [age 20, college sophomore]

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Follow-up Note: C.S. is now a University Graduate working out of state at an international engineering firm.

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"Our conversations have helped me me a lot since we first started the sessions and I feel much better personally about myself and what are the goals I need to achieve moving forward in my life."

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M.R. [brief therapy, age 22, college senior]

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Follow-up Note: M.R is now a successful/fully employed University Graduate.

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I had a terrific experience with Dr. Merriman. He took the time to genuinely help me with my college admissions applications. I was applying to transfer to UT Austin for the second year of my undergraduate degree and [I] was having a hard time formulating my essays. In our first appointment, I learned so much about which parts of my composition were lacking and how I needed to change not only the message I intended to convey by my writing, but also the intricate technicalities of the essay. Later that upcoming summer, I received news that I was granted admission to transfer to UT Austin, which was in fact the school I dreamed of attending. My experiences goes to show how impactful Dr. Merriman's guidance and expertise were in my transfer application.

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K.A. [age 23, new college graduate!]

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Follow-up Note: K.A. is now a successful/fully employed University Graduate.