When people meet me, they naturally feel like trusting me with their deepest feelings. Healing begins with feeling - everything. Having experienced PTSD from my time as a Colorado State Trooper, and the subsequent toll it took on my family and I, having someone who will not only listen, but actually see on a deep level all the pain is a must when choosing to connect with a counselor. No Pain - No Gain No Raining - No Training No Feeling - No Healing My dad, CPL Ric Backman, USMC, had two prominent bumper stickers on the back of his vehicles: "Semper Fi" and "Pain is weakness leaving the body" Emotions are evidence of strength. Allowing the body to feel everything is the only way to realize that strength. It's easy to act strong and pretend one doesn't feel. Allowing feelings to come through in a painful emotional workout is no act, but evidence one has mastered the art of true strength. Strength without compassion is just a bully. Compassion without strength is a liar. I believe the strongest people who will ever live on planet Earth are weighing the choice of parents they have before them.