We recently connected with Antonio Medina and have shared our conversation below.

Antonio, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
In the fall of 2017, I met a client who would end up being one of the strongest and most courageous human beings I had ever met. She’d come to see me, wanting to work on her debilitating anxiety and panic. She had been married to an abusive alcoholic and narcissist and had been emotionally beaten down over the years. Over the next several months, we would learn more about the extent of her trauma and abuse which really began the moment she was born. Her father as absent, and her mother who an emotionally unstable and addicted to drugs, placed her to life-threatening situations, too graphic to describe here. But those stories just poured and poured. Just when I thought that I had heard the last childhood experience, there was another recollection… The last one I heard was just a few visits ago; some 4 years later.
When she started therapy, I had told her about how confronting her past could make her symptoms worse but in the end, it would allow her to release it indefinitely and heal in a different way she’d ever known. She was on multiple medications, she’d developed pseudo-seizures even, all of it was psychological in nature.
So we started working on her trauma on a weekly basis using Journeywork, Mindfulness, Regressive Hypnosis and other Holistic strategies that The Good Center is known for. Little by little, she began to untangle her past, she began healing the child in her, the adolescent in her and the present day version of herself that had been beaten down and taught to believe she was nothing and that everything was her fault.
Just 1 year after she started therapy, she went from staying in her house because of panic to working out 5 days a week, she was eating the healthiest foods she’d ever ate had reached her weight goals. She had started to find her light and let me tell you. When you discover your light, then you begin to know that you deserve it. Whatever that is.
She continued therapy, working on her spirituality and began to build a better relationship with her Soul through Journeywork and this allowed her to change her unconscious beliefs that had been instilled in her by her mother and by every toxic individual in her life. One by one, she began to replace those old beliefs with the a new Truth. A new Truth that taught her that she was a Good human being, that she was a wonderful human being who deserved a good life and everything else she envisioned.
2 years into therapy, she did the unthinkable. She grew the courage to leave her abusive husband. Didn’t have a plan, didn’t have a job, didn’t know how she was going to make it but she left. The fear of staying in abusive marriage now became greater than the fear of the unknown and she walked away. She struggled financially for months, petrified that she would become homeless and revisit some of her old childhood experiences. And then therapy reminded her; that was then, this is now. She had more authority over her life than at any point in her childhood.
3 years into therapy, she continued to confront not only her past trauma but everything that was happening then, she had secured a job in a similar field she had before she married her abusive husband and was worried that she’d disappoint and be fired. But again, she’d forgotten that she’d discovered her light. Therapy helped her stay alignment with her truth.
Today, she’s off medications, no seizures in over 4 years, no panic attacks, has her own home place, is a very successful account manager who oversees accounts in several states and manages 20 people underneath her. Oh, and she’s been in relationship with an emotionally stable man for over a year.

It’s really hard to encapsulate everything this client has overcome and everytime I see her, I remind her just how much of a TRUE badass she is. Who knows, maybe she’ll write a book about her story. Find your light…

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Ever since I was a child, I have always had this innate interest in human beings. – Antonio Medina

I had enrolled into a college after working odd jobs after high school and it was there that I realized my mission. I had been doing a lot of reflection those years and started to think about the things I am most passionate about and it was clear; I’d always loved analyzing people. I earned my Bachelors degree in Psychology from California State University Dominguez Hills and would go on to get my Masters Degree from Hope International University, a Christian college.

Some of the services The Good Center provides is Individual, Couples and Family Counseling. We also provide evaluations, Immigration Assessments and other therapeutic services. Our site also provides practicum training to students currently working on their Masters degree.

I think where I differ from other therapist’s is that I’m real and down to earth. So what exactly does this mean? It means that I haven’t forgotten who I am and that I am just like you. I’m a human being before I’m a therapist. How I act in life is how I am with you in therapy.

A second difference is that I don’t take clients that I can’t help. If I don’t have expertise or interest in the presenting issue, I won’t pretend to “know” or be interested in seeing you because I’d be lying to you. I don’t operate that way. Instead, I refer you to someone who can help because that’s what I would want from my therapist.

A third major difference between other therapists and myself is that I implement holistic and alternative interventions. A person doesn’t have to be religious or have to believe in God in order to benefit from these therapies, they just need to believe in themselves. My role in life is to help others see the potential I see in them, plain and simple.

A 4th major difference is that I actually treat the root problem. When people come for help, they come in complaining about the symptoms, not the root. The simplest way to put it is like this: Say you went to the doctor and complained about migraines, most doctors would prescribe a medication to treat the pain. I’m that doctor who asks, “What is causing this pain?” (although I’m not a doctor).

Although I work with a whole slew of issues, I really enjoy working with people who have mood problems, issues of self-worth, self-esteem, grief, relational problems, all traumas and existential crises are my favorite! One of the things that I am most proud of as a practice is what I highlighted earlier. I TREAT THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM!

If there’s one last thing I want my readers to know is that all therapist are trained the same, we aren’t trained in school to treat the root of your problem, we are trained to talk about the problem and explore, that’s it…

Therapists typically have be specially trained in those types of interventions that are not taught in school. So the next time you reach out to a therapist, ask, “Do you treat the root of the problem?”

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Your mindset and personality traits. While we may be therapists with a soft heart, I also know this is a business so one has to approach it this way. A business requires you to be open-minded, creative, flexible, proactive, disciplined, go-getter, have strong boundaries, be independent and constantly thinking ahead.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I think the 2 most important strategies for me have been my Website and my Online Presence.

To go into further detail, my website was designed with the client in mind. Client’s don’t care about where you went to college, or how you love your dog and they don’t want to read your autobiography. What they really want to know is can you help and how can they get started. With that in mind, the language on my site is simple, easy to read, very direct and simple. In addition to this, the process of scheduling an appointment is done online, no need for passwords or accounts; just pick a date and time and you’re set! This all translates to higher conversation rates.

The second thing is my online presence. This not includes being found on multiple healthcare sites but having strong reviews on Google, Healthgrades, Sharecare and several others. What this does is it creates a sense of trust, prestige and a feeling that the we can be trusted because our reviews substantiate the work we do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thegoodcenter.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/thegoodcenter
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Good-Center-463361500476048
• Other: Google Reviews: https://qrs.ly/uqc81u3

Image Credits
Antonio Medina, Myself.