This is me!

My name is Joshua Adams and I’m a Clinical Psychologist. I love to help people find and live out lives of purpose. Let me start out by telling you my purpose statement which is unique to me:

“To help people become healthier through relationships of depth, and to inspire them towards living authentically purposeful lives.”

My Journey: I have degrees in science, religious studies, and counselling. My journey towards becoming a Psychologist has been an interesting one. I graduated high school as class valedictorian and went straight into a science degree focused on math. I’ve always been a logical thinker and I enjoyed the experience of ‘mastery’ that came from solving difficult problems. After this, I spent several years teaching math; however, I became unsatisfied with this career choice as I progressively became thirstier to get ‘deeper’ with people in understanding their lives and helping them with personal issues.

Professional ministry: I pursued a degree in religious studies with the intention of becoming a minister. I thought to myself, “If the religious leaders claims are true, there is nothing more important than pursuing a life pleasing to God and helping others do the same.” However, I felt that I could do pastoral work outside of the bounds of a church. I decided that I would try helping people through working with the homeless.

More Tools! After working with homeless people for a few years, I realized that I did not have enough skills to help them. I grew in my compassion and desire to help the poor and disadvantaged, but I knew that I just didn’t have the tools and the resources to help them in more in-depth ways. I wanted to help them make changes, so I realized that I needed to study more about how to help people change.

Psychology: I enrolled in a Master’s degree program in Counselling. I finished this degree and the subsequent steps to become a Registered Psychologist, at the same time as I worked in various capacities with the homeless population: Supervisor, Building Supervisor, Case Manager, Counsellor, and Mental Health Clinician. I also completed a practicum at Calgary Counselling Centre and did some subsequent contract therapy through them afterwards.

My personality: I’m calm, empathetic, sincere, open-minded, and a good listener. I truly enjoy getting to know people, finding their strengths and genuine values, and helping them overcome barriers to becoming authentic and intentional in living out their own unique purpose.

Open-Minded: I’m born and raised Canadian, yet I’m fascinated by other cultures and ways of being in relationship—especially those societies which exalt the family and virtues of unconditional care for one’s kin. I’m also a Christian; however, while my faith is important to me, I don’t impose my belief system on others. Rather, I love to listen to and empathize with others’ views on any topic that is important to them. I do this without judgment.

My interests: I am a father to three wonderful children and I am very social–after a long day of counselling, I often find myself hungry for even more interpersonal connections! I also enjoy reading non-fiction (mostly psychology) books, discussing and debating interesting ideas, watching movies, exercising and rollerblading, playing card games and board games, and working with wood.

To learn more about how to get in touch with me to set up an appointment, click here.