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About Dr. Stanley

Dr. Stanley's Story

Here's my story.

As a young child, I believed my Christian faith was the answer to the many stressful problems you encounter in life. Because of this belief, when I was 7 years old I decided to attend a college where I could study theology and the Bible.

I remember the exact moment I made that decision. I was in the car with my mother on the way to a dental appointment. As my mother turned into the dentist office parking lot, she asked me about attending college and I told her about what I had decided.

Although I knew I didn't want to be a minister, I believed the Bible is full of practical wisdom that you can tap into and use to live a happy and successful life.

True to my plan, after graduating from high school, I entered a Bible college and majored in Christian education.

During my college years, I became interested in psychology and counseling. These interests led me to enter graduate school following college majoring in these disciplines.

I wanted to be better equipped to help people and I believed training in psychology and counseling would help me accomplish that. 

I earned a master's degree in counseling and a PhD in psychology.

After completing my education, I worked at Crichton College as an adjunct instructor, chairman of the Social Science Department, and an assistant professor. I also began practicing psychology. 

My first job in the counseling field was working for an agency counseling alcoholics and drug addicts. These were people that were not coping well with the stress in their lives. While working in this setting, I was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). 

AA provides its members with a twelve-step program to help them achieve and maintain a life of sobriety. I observed recovering alcoholics and drug addicts successfully overcoming all kinds of stressful problems.

I fell in love with the step-by-step approach of AA. However, I still believed theology and psychology offered much that was not included in the twelve-step program's approach.

I was looking for a step-by-step program that you can use to cope well with stressful problems and that draws from theology, psychology, and twelve-step recovery literature.

Not being able to find such a program, I started collecting specific tools and organizing them into comprehensive step-by-step plans.

I shared these tools and plans with my clients. I also began using them in my own life. Based on feedback from my clients and my own experiences, I refined the tools and modified the plans making them more user friendly and effective.

Dr. Stanley's Approach to Helping You Find Stress Relief

Through all of my research and trial-and-error experience, I learned two important facts…

• First, stress is a major factor in almost every painful problem you face.
  
• Second, living an out-of-balance life is a source of most of the stress you encounter.

When you are feeling stressed-out, it is often hard to identify and change the sources of your stress. Frequently, your thinking is foggy. You are hurting emotionally and physically.

You just don't feel like putting the necessary energy and effort into changing.

You need rapid stress relief to lessen the symptoms of stress. Rapid stress relief helps you feel better quickly. Because you feel better, you are more able to handle whatever is causing your stress.

But rapid stress relief alone is not enough. You also need real stress relief that goes beyond the symptoms and addresses the causes of your stress.

To find real relief from stress, you must design and live a balanced life.

Over the course of my career, I have worked in many settings, including the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, Christian Psychological and Educational Services, Inc., Memphis Area Addiction Clinics, St. Francis Hospital, Lakeside Behavioral Health Systems, several residential treatment centers, and nursing homes. 

After breaking my leg and being unable to walk without aid or drive for almost a year, I decided to shift my professional activities from psychology to life coaching.

I trained and was certified as a professional coach by the International Coach Certification Alliance. My coaching practice focuses on helping people who are struggling with stress design and live less stressful and more balanced lives so they can experience deeper peace and greater joy. 

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