About MEJ Mental Health Counseling
Therapy Shouldn’t Feel Like Another Place Where You Have to Prove Yourself
You don’t have to convince me that what happened was “bad enough,” have the perfect words for what you’re feeling, or show up already knowing what you need.
You can come in angry, overwhelmed, grieving, skeptical, confused, or completely unsure where to start.
All of you is welcome here.
An Actual Human Conversation
Working with me is less about sitting across from a silent therapist and more about having an actual human conversation.
I talk, ask questions, challenge patterns, laugh with you, and sit with you when there simply aren’t words yet.
You won’t be expected to perform therapy correctly or turn your life into clinical language.
We start with what is real for you and work from there.
More Choice in How You Move Forward
My approach is especially grounded in understanding how trauma, grief, relationships, and life experiences have shaped the way you see yourself and the world around you.
The goal isn’t to erase your past or turn you into a completely different person.
It’s to understand what helped you survive, recognize what may no longer be helping, and give you more choice in how you move forward.
I Don’t Believe Therapy Is One-Size-Fits-All
I use evidence-based approaches in my work, but I don’t believe people should have to fit themselves into a therapeutic model. The model should serve the person.
Our work may include cognitive and behavioral approaches, narrative work, writing, trauma processing, grief work, exploring relationships and patterns, emotional regulation, boundaries, or something specific to what you’re experiencing.
I’m not anti-worksheet.
I’m anti-giving you a worksheet because therapists are apparently supposed to give people worksheets.
If a tool will actually help you understand something we’re working on, we’ll use it. If it won’t, we won’t.
You are a person. Not a treatment manual.
Your Needs, Feelings, Voice, and Future Deserve Space Too
Therapy can help you:
- Develop healthier boundaries
- Understand your emotional responses
- Improve relationships
- Process grief and trauma
- Recognize patterns
- Rebuild trust in yourself
But underneath all of that is something even more important: learning that your needs, feelings, voice, and future deserve space too.
Sometimes the Adaptations Get Exhausting
I don’t believe people are broken. I believe people adapt to what they’ve lived through.
Sometimes those adaptations eventually become exhausting.
Therapy gives us a place to understand them without judgment and decide together what you want to keep, what you’re ready to change, and who you want to become.
You Just Have to Be Willing to Start Somewhere
You don’t have to know exactly what healing looks like before you begin.
You just have to be willing to start somewhere.
I’ll meet you there.
Helping You Learn You Matter.
About Meaghan Johnson, LMHC-D, NCC, CCTP-II, CAGCS
I’m Meaghan, and while the letters after my name matter, they’re probably not the most important thing you need to know about me.
On paper, I’m a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with diagnostic privileges, National Certified Counselor, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and Certified Advanced Grief Counseling Specialist. My work focuses heavily on trauma, grief and loss, men’s mental health, adolescents, and people whose lives and experiences don’t always fit neatly into a diagnostic box.
But I’m also a real person, and I think that matters in therapy.
I’m Direct. I Use Humor. I Swear Sometimes.
I ask questions, give feedback, and will respectfully call you out when I notice a pattern getting in your way. I’ll also celebrate the hell out of you when you do something that took courage, even when you’re convinced it wasn’t a big deal.
My office reflects that same philosophy. It isn’t designed to feel sterile or clinical.
There’s personality, pink, neon, Funko Pops, things to look at and touch, a little organized chaos, and usually a French Bulldog named Luna nearby.
I want you to be able to walk in, sit down, and feel like you can actually breathe.
You Don’t Have to Protect Me From Your Story
I’ve worked with people carrying complicated histories: trauma, grief, addiction, incarceration, abuse, family estrangement, destructive relationships, regret, and things they’ve never said out loud.
I’m not easily shocked.
You don’t have to spend your therapy session watching my face to figure out whether you’ve become “too much.”
Tell me the truth.
We can work with the truth.
Therapists Should Do Their Own Work, Too
I don’t sit on the other side of the room because I have life completely figured out. I’m human. I know what it’s like to have a story, to do your own work, and to sometimes have no idea how to put something into words.
Somewhere You Can Tell the Whole Truth
I became a therapist because I believe people deserve somewhere they can tell the whole truth without being reduced to the hardest, messiest, or most painful part of their story.
You don’t need me to be perfect. And I certainly don’t expect you to be.
We just need to be real with each other. That’s where we can start.
Why Do I Do This Work?
Because I’ve watched what happens when someone who has spent their entire life believing they don’t matter begins to question that belief.
They set a boundary. They say the name of someone they couldn’t talk about before. They stop apologizing for having needs. They recognize a pattern before repeating it. They choose themselves.
Those moments may look small from the outside. They’re not. They’re everything.
That’s why I do this work. Not to fix people. Not to create perfect lives. But to help another human being get to the point where they can finally say:
I matter too.
Fifteen Minutes, No Story Required
If any of this sounds like the kind of therapy you’ve been looking for, the next step is a free 15-minute phone consultation.
It’s a short conversation about what you’re looking for and whether we’re a good fit. You don’t have to tell me your whole story to find out.
Call (518) 608-2912 to schedule.
I see clients in person in Schenectady and virtually throughout New York.
Ready When You Are
You don't have to have it all figured out before you reach out. You don't need to know exactly what to say, what kind of therapy you need, or even where to begin.
That's what the first conversation is for.
If something you've read here feels familiar, trust that. Reach out, ask your questions, and see if MEJ feels like the right fit for you.
You've spent enough time carrying everything on your own.
You matter. Your healing matters. And when you're ready, I'm here.
That first conversation is a free 15-minute phone call.
Call (518) 608-2912 or email mjohnson@mejcounseling.org.