We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rick Merritt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rick thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

The Defining Moment

If were to be honest, there are several defining moments in my life that lead me to the path of emotional and psychological wellness. I grew up in the 70”s in the southern state of Louisiana. I come from a close net family of dignified black men and women with a strong sense of cultural pride. We didn’t cross boundaries of cultural divides simply because there was no interest to at all. So imagine when I joined the military and ended up in Germany where all of the rules were different. To top it off, I married a German girl. You have to understand, even though we are a close family steeped in religion, there were many traumatic and emotionally disturbing events in the memory of my childhood.
You never know how these things play out in your life till they play out in your life. For me it was in my anger; to top it off, it was typified by my disappointment against my son. The mixture of emotions that brought me to a tipping point that could have ruined my relationship with him forever was at a threshold right before me and I had no tools to navigate my mind or my emotions as a father. I didn’t want to react, because I was afraid of my unstable emotions. So I called someone I trusted to guide me through the fog of my pain. That was the beginning of me coming to a place of honesty about my traumatic past which prompted me to find out what are my PET’s personal emotional triggers. The rest is history.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

First and foremost, I am a believer in Jesus Christ for 33 years. When you look behind that I am the eldest of three children born to my parents, a husband of 39 years, a father of three children to that marriage, and of a son before that marriage. I am a grandfather of 12 beautiful grandchildren, and to think that this has become my legacy blows my mind every day. Because my childhood was riddled with emotional and psychological trauma I was reacting to triggers indie of me that had not been identified. I needed to know what was going on with me, so I went to school to find out. This is why I studied clinical psychology with an emphasis on family relationships. I’ve also been pastoring as lead pastor for 26 years, which has given me incredible insight into the different dynamics surrounding relationships.

What I have come to realize is the healthiest relationship that we can have that affects all others, is the relationship that we have with our self. I believe that I am uniquely suited for helping families because of the collective experience as a pastor, combined with my schooling to have sensitivity to both spiritual and psychological features in the soul.

I provide services to service couples and families to help manage the effects of war on their home life with a program I’ve entitled “What We Have In Common.” I’ve helped many couples who were at the brink of throwing in the towel, find hope and healing to restore their marriage to a stronger union with fulfillment and happiness.

You can check me out on YouTube at, RealTalk with Dr. Rick Merritt and catch some of my helps in relationships. I’ve been blessed to say there are healthy young men and women who came to me suicidal in their teenage years who are productive husbands and wives in marriage today. My most proud moment is when I had the privilege of providing marriage counsel to LeBron and Savanah James before I married them. Get to know me at my website Dr. Rick D. Merritt.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for me was local saturation of flyers. Make impact in your immediate area first. Then connect with the businesses around you even if they may not provide a clientele base, they will have people who may need your services. I’ve gotten many referrals from businesses simply because I built relationships with the people who work in the same vicinity of my practice. Build real relationships, not just a social media profile. The social media presence will help no doubt but touch real people. There’s nothing more powerful or effective that word of mouth referrals. Look for how you can meet a need and you’ll be busier that you can keep up. The old idiom goes, people don’t care how much you know until they know you care.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Genuine sincerity is the door that open for you when nothing else works. Take time to listen to people’s heart in their story, not just their words. Often as pastors and counselors we are so consumed with collecting data that we miss the unspoken data that is expressed in their emotions. Body language speaks louder than words if we pay attention to the whole person in front of us. Learning to divert a person out of a triggering moment for the sake of emotional comfort will win you points of trust. If they feel you care about their emotional state as a person, they will trust you as their therapist. Being a father and grandfather with autistic grandchildren has worked in my favor simply because it’s forced me to empathize with those who are at the mercy of things they don’t control.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: [email protected]
• Facebook: [email protected]
• Linkedin: [email protected]
• Twitter: [email protected]
• Youtube: [email protected]
• Yelp: [email protected]

Image Credits
The Aspire Center