Today we’d like to introduce you to David Ibrahim.
Hi David, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I feel the healing arts called me. I grew up in a rough neighborhood in Queens, NYC in the 80s and an alcoholic home, and emotionally neglectful home due to immigrant parents trying to survive. I’m grateful and love my parents today, but grew up with a lot of animosity and conflictual feelings towards them.
I turned to the streets as a kid as a way to find connection and went through many years of pain growing up. I see myself as a wounded healer in a sense. I’ve gotten to heal my inner struggles and pains and it’s been a blessing and honor to help patients heal as best as I can.
A mentor of mine many years ago suggested I get into Psychotherapy and they thought it would be a good fit for me. I tried it out and many years later it’s been a perfect fit and an honor to grow and help others heal and grow.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not smooth, I had gotten sober many years ago and had to grow as a man and as a human, and in a sense face my own inner demons. That really transformed me and gave me purpose as a father and husband as well. Even from a technical perspective, having to train in EMDR and ISTDP and extensively train daily for years, while juggling family and self-care has given me so much.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We specialize in Trauma, Addiction, and Neurodiversity in Adults. I have extensive experience working with all types of Traumas, ranging from incest survivors to combat veterans to rape survivors and victims of childhood abuse. I’m known as a Complex Trauma specialist, meaning the impact of childhood trauma. I’ve worked with over 1000 patients. I train EMDR therapists but also like to use Intense Psychodynamics and other modalities when needed. I don’t treat any person the exact same and try to shape the therapy according to what will help my patients best. I’m also a Yoga and Meditation Therapist and have extensive training and experience in somatic arts. So I try to leverage mindfulness and Yoga arts when needed.
I’m most proud of helping very complex and sophisticated cases and being able to help the majority of my patients. When I can’t I always refer out and I’m very straightforward with my patients.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Compassion, honesty, mutual efforts between patient and therapist, patience, nurturing and cheering on. As well as perseverance and endless diligence with fine-tuning my work and craft.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.glendalecounselingservices.com
