In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be...This is the inter-related structure of reality
- Martin Luther King Jr
Joseph Germano, LMSW
Supervised by Adam Kadmon, LCSW-S
Professional Profile
Joe is from the Midwest and completed undergraduate and graduate school at Indiana University. During undergrad, Joe studied business and languages with aspirations to work in social entrepreneurship. After working in this sector, Joe learned that business, culture, and language were interests peripheral to a more profound passion, understanding why people are the way they are. In pursuit of answers, Joe moved to Washington D.C. to more deeply explore his own identity. Here, Joe worked in affirming healthcare for LGBTQ+ individuals and got his MSW during the pandemic. Following the pandemic, Joe moved to Austin in 2021 and continued to work in LGBTQ+ sexual health and gender care. Facing myriad barriers to care both within the organization Joe worked and Texas, Joe found himself in a state of burnt out and paused his social work journey. Joe reembarked on the side quest to explore his identity with a new question, is social work his calling?
While questing, Joe serendipitously discovered psychedelics. After a recreational journey, Joe was left with challenging emotions and further uncertainty. He decided to call his family friend, a lifelong LCSW for over 40 years. As they talked, she began to support him in navigating through areas of stuckness. Feeling reborn from the informal therapy session, Joe became curious about psychedelics and their power to ignite healing. Upon deep-diving into research, it dawned on Joe that he and his family friend inadvertently stumbled upon their first psychedelic-assisted therapy and integration session with the phone call occurring during the critical window period following a journey. Although we do not offer psychedelic-assisted therapy at AMC, Joe can support the integration phase following one's psychedelic journey.
Joe then knew his path forward was to support others in re-discovering and integrating their own inner healing intelligence. Joe is inspired by this profession because he believes in the healing power of relationship and community. Joe aims to integrate therapy, music, and movement, the mind, body, and soul. Joe has a passion for experiential therapy and is inspired by the following modalities: Hakomi, Mindfulness, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Coherence Therapy, and Internal Family Systems (IFS).
Specialties
Anxiety
Attachment
Boundaries
Depression
Emerging Adults
Existentialism
Experiential and Somatic Work
Grief and Loss
LGBTQ+ Issues and Intimacy
Mindfulness
PTSD
Spirituality
Insurance
Aetna
BCBS
Curative
Sana
Private Pay / Self Pay
Welcome!
Being vulnerable with someone can be an intimidating process. So first, I want to say welcome and I’m excited you found your way to my page! The path to healing is full of twists and turns. As we walk this path together, my hope is that you will feel supported enough to navigate the ocean of your mind. Whether you simply read this bio, we meet once, or we work together for severa sessions, I am honored to be a part of your healing journey.
How I Work
Therapy looks different for each person. However you can think of therapy as both a relationship and an adventure. Therapy is relational, meaning the relationship we create together is what becomes healing. It adheres to a different social contract than friendships and romantic relationships. You can think of me as more of a guide, with you being the expert of your own experience. After all, you are the one spending the most time with yourself.
Therapy is an adventure! If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, imagine that you are Khaleesi and I am one of your dragons (preferably the green one :). My goal is to help you navigate your inner terrain
and make it to the “Iron Throne,” which is our destination or goal. What comes up for you when you imagine what life looks like where you feel you no longer need our relationship?
Understanding why we are here and what we are working toward helps us stay grounded and tethered through the challenging parts of therapy. We don’t want to hang out in the uncomfies for no reason!
Once we have established where we are trying to go, we will build a map to get there. As we navigate your inner world together, we will encounter both mysterious and familiar characters that can give us clues and directions to get to our destination. We will explore: which strengths are supporting you in this process and which barriers are hindering you; which skills you want to cultivate to reach your goal; and what you need to let go of, heal, or change.
I want to meet you as you are in the present moment. I enjoy using curiosity, humility, collaboration, non-judgment, interconnectedness, authenticity, and playfulness in session when it feels right. I also work from an anti-privilege and anti-oppressive framework, meaning that understanding how society and culture has shaped the bodies we are in and how they influence our relationships with ourselves and others is crucial to the healing process. You and I will explore how we can hold multiple identities at the same time (race, age, gender identity, gender expression, sexuality, etc.) and how this overlap creates a unique experience for you.
As we navigate your inner world together, we will encounter both mysterious and familiar characters that can give us clues and directions to get to our destination. We will explore: which strengths are supporting you in this process and which barriers are hindering you; which skills you want to cultivate to reach your goal; and what you need to let go of, heal, or change.
Therapist Spotlight
What made you decide to become a counselor?
Our work together as psychedelic, which means “soul-manifesting” in Greek. My goal is to integrate therapy, music, and movement—mind, body, and soul. I believe we each have an inner healing intelligence, guiding us to blossom into our highest potential. Sometimes, we become stuck in this process. I want to support you in rediscovering your innate resilience. From this place, you can reclaim your freedom to live authentically.
If you could teach the world one skill or technique to improve their lives, what would it be?
Joy and healing are acts of resistance. I would teach the world to hone their imagination and to have a relationship with their inner child. Our most powerful resources often come from our superpower to imagine and be with our most playful, authentic selves. When we land in a space of authenticity, we empower others to do so as well.
Have you personally been in counseling and if so, what did you learn about yourself?
Therapy is not magic, but it feels like magic when it works. I am currently in counseling and have engaged in group therapy and psychedelic-assisted therapy as well. I have learned an immense amount (too much to list everything here) and have so much more to learn!
My first takeaway is that authentic boundaries reignite the joy of being in relationship with others. How is this possible? Boundaries build intimacy. When we enter into an authentic relationship with ourselves (known as secure attachment), we become aware of our needs in the context of each relationship we have. We can then invite others to meet us in relationship in a way that honors an appropriate amount of linkage (joining with another) and differentiation (being in our own authentic experience). Moreover, secure attachment with ourselves allows us to play with the myriad ways we can have authentic and complex relationships with each person in our lives in different contexts. In other words, boundaries invite creativity, fun, and a richer relational experience.
My next takeaway is more abstract and comes from discovering an incarnation of secure attachment with myself and how this secure attachment allows me to move through life resiliently. These resources include the dragon/serpent, and the phrase serpentine meander. During a psychedelic therapy experience, I learned that trance states (mental distress) create the illusion that we are stuck in loops and repetitive cycles. However, what is really occurring is the constant deepening of experience much like a serpent coiling and meandering into a spiral. Rather than repeating experience, the
dragon and serpentine meander revealed a felt experience and deeper truth that I am never stepping into the same river twice and have the power to alter my life trajectory.
If you could recommend one book to all your clients, what would it be?
Pete Walker’s Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving: A Guide and Map for Recovering from Childhood Trauma is a must read. He also has a new book out of a more updated version that is geared toward therapists and a website with a lot of free resources: https://pete-walker.com/
Who is your ideal client?
I enjoy working with emerging adults, LGBTQ+ individuals, the coming-out process, and relating to one's own identity.
What inspires you to help others?
An indigenous concept encapsulates why I return to the profession everyday: healing happens in community. People are beautiful mirrors, constantly revealing where we are with respect to our own journeys. What is often missed on the client side of the therapy encounter is that the therapist grows alongside you just as much, if not more, as the relationship blossoms. Thus, it is a gift to return to the healing power of relationship, as we are interconnected in powerful, sometimes ineffable ways.
How do you personally practice self-care?
I attend supervision and consultation groups in order to undo professional aloneness and continue learning. I also work other jobs that engage different dimensions of my personhood, like teaching courses at UT and cycling classes. I love to create playlists and musical experiences as well as eat food and drink oat milk cappuccinos with vanilla while spending quality time with friends.
If you are hosting a dinner party, who are the 3 people you invite and why?
If I am hosting a dinner party, I would invite my mom, dad, and brother as the versions of our inner children. Growing up we often had dinners that consisted of avoidance and missed connection. In line with the theme above of serpentine meander, I would cherish the chance to connect with one another in a way that transcends our typical patterns of protection and distancing.
How do you relate to Mindfulness? How do you incorporate it in your sessions?
My favorite therapeutic modality is Hakomi. Hakomi is a mindfulness-based somatic psychotherapy. In other words, sessions consistently train both of us to engage with golden retriever-like curiosity as we warmly and compassionately explore the present moment together. Life is an unfolding moment-to-moment miracle, thus we could mindfully explore an infinite assortment of experiences. Some
areas of mindful exploration could include sensations, imagery, impulses, memories, emotions, movement, meaning, the therapeutic relationship, etc.