Child and teen wellness practice opens in Cedar Fairmount

Richard Dempsey

Richard Dempsey, a licensed professional clinical counselor (LPCC) has opened a child and adolescent psychotherapy practice in the Cedar Fairmount Business District.

Fairmount Mental Wellness, located in the Heights Medical Building (2460 Fairmount Blvd., Suite 317), serves the social and emotional needs of children and their families.

Specializing in narrative therapy, Dempsey’s focus is on helping angry kids, frustrated parents and disconnected families, and addressing concerns related to behavior, anxiety and depression.

“Narrative therapy proposes that people use certain stories about themselves like the lens on a camera,” explained Dempsey. “These stories have the effect of filtering a person's experience of life and thereby selecting what information gets focused in or focused out. These stories shape a person's perspectives on their lives, histories and futures. Despite information to the contrary, these stories of identity can be remarkably stable. Narrative therapy provides a means to refocus the lens and help reshape a person's stories and life. In this way I help children, teens and families turn old stories into new ones."

“In the face of serious problems it's hard to believe that conversations can shape new realities,” said Dempsey. “But they do.”

Dempsey has more than 14 years of experience in the mental health field, including stints with Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Washington’s Department of Public Behavioral Health and Justice Policy, Bellefaire Jewish Children’s Bureau and private counseling practice. He is a specialist in working with K–12 school-aged children.

Dempsey attended graduate school at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, where he studied counseling psychology and Christian theology. His practice is informed by both psychological and theological assumptions about the world. 

In 2014 he returned home to Cleveland and started work at Bellefaire. Today he is a school-based counselor in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, where his focus has been on classroom behavior and academic achievement to support the social and emotional health of students in Cleveland’s elementary and middle schools.

For additional information, or to schedule an appointment, visit www.fairmountmw.com or call 216-714-2910.

Kaye Lowe

Kaye Lowe is the executive director of the Cedar Fairmount Special Improvement District.

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Volume 12, Issue 1, Posted 12:41 PM, 01.03.2019