Craig Lesley, LPC-A. Anxiety, Trauma, Substance Use
Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry
water.
- Zen Proverb
Craig Lesley, LPC-A
Supervised by Laurie Stevens-Beck LPC-S
Professional Profile
Craig is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate and EMDR trained. He received his master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lamar University and holds an honor’s BA from the University of Texas at Austin. He also worked for over 20 years in the high-tech field, with a particular focus on content creation and software development.
Craig practices trauma-informed and person-centered therapy that employs traditional talk modalities including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) as well as bodily-based approaches such as somatic experiencing and mindfulness. Craig’s specialties include healing from major trauma, managing anxiety and overwhelm, processing complex grief, overcoming substance abuse, handling caregiver stress, and working through co-dependency, divorce, and other relationship challenges.
Outside of work, Craig enjoys being with his wife and teenage boys, tolerating his two rescued dogs, carefully eyeballing his two funny/probably evil cats, and wondering why the family chickens lay so few eggs. He also writes poetry (poorly mostly), watches his fair share of football games, practices yoga, exercises inconsistently, and grills (again, poorly mostly, but he tells himself he’s getting better).
Specialties
Anxiety
Depression
Caregivers
Co-Dependency
Divorce
Grief and Loss
Relationships
Stress
Substance Use
Trauma
Insurance
Aetna
BCBS
Curative
Sana
Private Pay / Self Pay
Welcome!
I’m Craig, and I’m glad you’re here. Anxiety. Overwhelm. Life transitions. Finances. Relationship challenges. Grief. Substance use. Life is speeding locomotive, often chaotic, and never easy, and I applaud you for considering therapy. It takes courage to do so.
My aim is to provide a supportive environment for you to slow down, look around, and just exhale. We need that, I believe. To settle. To catch our breaths. We’ll also work together to locate the roots of your pain, and together, we’ll develop actionable tools that lead to change and sustained growth.
When you’re ready, I hope you’ll reach out with questions, concerns, whatever. All of us need someone to walk with us in our hardest seasons, and I’d be honored to be that person for you.
How I Work
Coming into therapy can be scary, so I like to start with making sure you feel settled, present, and safe. That might look like a short EFT tapping activity, guided grounding exercises, or me just listening, really listening, to what brings you in.
From there, I adapt my approach to you. I have yet to discover a one-size-fits-all solution, so I employ, depending on you aims and goals, a combination of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and Somatic Experiencing. My approach is always strength-based, which is to say we find out what is working well and do more of that.
Coming into therapy can be scary, so I like to start with making sure you feel settled, present, and safe.
Therapist Spotlight
What made you decide to become a counselor?
Around age 50, I experienced a midlife calling of sorts to help people heal and bring people together. It was this, along with a lifelong interest in how our minds work and how we mend our bodies, that led me to leave a career in the high-tech sector and return to school to become a licensed professional counselor. In the four years since
then, I have completed graduate school and two semesters of internships. I have also worked as a crisis counselor and as trauma therapist, and that feeling, that calling, has, if anything, only strengthened. I continue to believe that right now, at this time in my life, I am here to sit with others and lift them up. And I continue to be energized to grow, evolve, and become an exceptional therapist.
If you could teach the world one skill or technique to improve their lives, what would it be?
Self-compassion. We’re pretty good at recognizing the beauty in our children and loved ones, but so often, we miss it ourselves. And I believe, it is often through self-compassion that we can shut down shame, set maintainable boundaries, and find compassion for our fellow hurting humans.
Have you personally been in counseling and if so, what did you learn about yourself?
Yes, I have been and continue to be in counseling. I have learned to communicate, manage my emotions, grieve, forgive, and for the first time, I think, really truly love. Being in counseling has profoundly shifted my perspective of myself, other people, and the world. Counseling might have saved my life.
If you could recommend one book to all your clients, what would it be?
What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Dr. Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey. Each of us, every one of us, deals with pain, and this book, which is engaging, accessible, and well researched, takes us to the heart of where that pain comes from and how we can heal from it.
Who is your ideal client?
My ideal client is anybody who is ready to look themselves in the eye and change.
What inspires you to help others?
What inspires me is the people I get to work with as a therapist. I find it to be a profound honor to sit with someone on their darkest days, their strangest seasons, and their times of significant change. And I continue to be astounded by people’s resilience, strength, and ability to change.
How do you personally practice self-care?
I walk or jog with my dogs, open-water swim, meditate, grill/burn things, and practice yoga. Making time for my family and my friends is important, too. Oh, and sleep, too.
If you are hosting a dinner party, who are the 3 people you would invite and why?
I’d invite Joel, Shawn, and other Shawn. They’re my best friends, and I haven’t seen them in person in months.
How do you relate to Mindfulness? How do you incorporate it in your sessions?
From my daily morning meditation and regular yoga practice to trying to do one mindfulness while brushing my teeth, mindfulness is central to both my self-care regimen and my overall well-being. It calms me, resets me, and reopens my eyes to the wonder in the here and now. In sessions, mindfulness is client dependent, session specific, and might be a practice or educational component or both. I also see mindfulness as foundational to healing and well-being both, so it is a common component, even if it might shift to the background in some sessions.