Today we’d like to introduce you to David Chism.
David, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Like a lot of trauma therapists, my childhood had some adversity. Some things happened that really altered the trajectory of my life and it took me a long time to really find myself. I was drawn to psychology classes as a way to help me understand myself and my family. Later, towards the end of grad school when I was doing my internship at Casa de Salud, I had what was for me a revelatory experience working with underserved and underresourced populations with complex trauma. It was incredibly powerful for me to sit in the room with those clients, sharing in their pain and trying to help them work through their struggles. I felt like I was finally doing something really meaningful, even if I also felt totally out of my depth and ill-equipped to the task. I had never had some burning desire to work with complex trauma when I was studying in grad school; I was quite intimidated by the prospect of it and didn’t have the belief in myself to actually be able to help such clients. But my internship at Casa de Salud ignited in me a passion to do that work, even if I was still overcome by self-doubt.
My first job in the field was working with kids and families for an agency called Compass Health Network. Here again I was working with clients with complex trauma, doing work that felt really meaningful but also oftentimes impossible. So many of these kids and families needed so much more support than just therapy given the challenges they were facing. I was trying my best while also trying to figure myself out as a therapist in the process. I was really fortunate to have a fantastic licensure supervisor in Elise Eichberg, who is just one of the most encouraging people you’ll ever meet and exactly the person you’d want to be in a foxhole with because she’s got your back.
After doing a couple years of agency work, I felt like I needed to make the move to private practice. That was where I’d always wanted to be in the first place and the stress of agency work had taken its toll on me. Here is where a real stroke of luck occurred that changed my life. I had just started doing my certification in EMDR under Steve Buchheit and decided to mention that I was looking to make the move to private practice and wondered if he would recommend any group practices for me to reach out to. Steve said, “Why not come work for me?” I was flabbergasted but thankfully said yes.
Steve helped me develop not only as a therapist but also as a person. He has been the best mentor I could have asked for and really has shaped how I work more than anyone. I also saw how he modeled how to do this job in a healthy way, taking good care of yourself so that you can show up for clients. Elise had done the same but at that time I wasn’t ready to do those things; I was too focused on just trying to keep my head above water when I started my career. I got to meet so many other wonderful people through Steve that have made a huge impact on me personally and professionally. I could write all day about Steve and not say enough.
After working for Steve for two years and growing tremendously both personally and professionally, I felt like I was ready to run my own practice.
My practice has been in operation for over a year now (September 2024) and I’m really enjoying learning the business side of things even if therapy is still my main passion. I’m still energized about working with complex trauma but also have expanded my interests into other areas such as neurodivergence and dissociation. I feel much more confident in myself now and am really happy about the work I’m doing with clients. I also feel very fortunate to have found a career that really stirs my soul.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s definitely not been a smooth road. Without going into much detail, I experienced trauma early in life that just changed the course of how my life unfolded. I had pretty significant mental health struggles growing up as a result and couldn’t handle much stress without getting overwhelmed by it. As a result it took me quite a long time to finish college (18 years total for undergrad and grad school) and my twenties and early thirties felt like I was just kind of drifting through life with no direction. It wasn’t until I started going to therapy my last year of grad school that I started to make progress on myself and began to heal the impacts of what happened to me early in life.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about David Chism Counseling LLC?
I specialize in working with neurodivergent clients (autism, adhd, etc) with complex trauma, PTSD, and dissociative disorders. As a therapist, my approach is very somatic-focused, which is incredibly helpful for complex trauma clients as nervous system dysregulation is at the core of their struggles in life and relationships. I’m EMDR certified but also use somatic modalities such as Deep Brain Reorienting and Natural Processing. I like to use a neurobiological lens and relational lens in therapy both to help conceptualize client struggles and as the points of intervention in healing. “The body keeps the score” as they say and that impacts our relationship to ourselves and with others.
I also am certified in the Safe and Sound protocol, which can be tremendously helpful for neurodivergent clients. It can help with developing interoception, improving emotional regulation and capacity to handle stress, and is really helpful for autistic clients struggling with burnout.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
My practice takes a few insurances (Anthem, Aetna, Ambetter) in addition to private pay or out of network clients.
Pricing:
- Sliding scale $125-165 per session
Contact Info:
