Chase Pittman
LPC-MHSP (Temp)Many thinkers, biblical and otherwise, have likened personal story to a journey through wilderness. Chase does too and believes that our stories, as we traverse the rough terrain of human life, tend to have three main chapters - wounding, suffering, and surviving. And each drives the other in a desperate cycle. But therapy invites us to break the cycle and write a new fourth chapter of the narrative journey: hope and healing.
In his own story, a recovery journey brought Chase to Kardia after two decades of legal work. Although his early life left painful wounds in his heart, a career in the courtroom promised Chase, a “driven” man, all the rewards that would make everything better. But in mid-life he began to suffer through anxious, sleepless nights, which halted his drive to succeed and brought him to a crossroads. The choice became whether to take another lap around the track of professional status quo, or to take a personal chance with therapy and 12-step recovery.
The latter brought Chase into the fourth chapter of his own journey, where he began to recover his heart from the layers of anxiety, toxic shame, and wounding beneath his sleeplessness. He also began to lose his codependent role-playing, professional and personal, in order to recover his true self. The recovery road has since led him to complete his master’s degree in psychotherapy and practice at Kardia.
Chase understands how “driven” people - the high performers, leaders, and achievers of society - often find themselves caught in a harmful but subtle cycle. At first, their drive to succeed enables them to (over)work very hard, accomplish laudable goals, and enjoy big rewards. But the same drive also seems to come with a price tag: stressful jobs, difficult relationships, internal agonies (anxiety, depression, burnout), etc. To be sure, the usual survival tools - food, alcohol, sex, wealth, entertainment, etc. - can manage the pain for a season. But they also entrap their users over time in addictive, codependent, and other harmful cycles that only worsen the suffering.
Juggling all these proverbial sharp knives from day to day, the driven person can survive for only so long … until one knife slips. Having suffered through it himself, Chase understands, and he knows how to help.
Our traumas can drive us to do almost anything, desperately, in order to cope with the pains of human life. So Chase passionately seeks to help his clients heal their hearts from traumatic wounds and addictive traps. He further helps clients to recover their true selves from the bondage of codependent relationships and role playing. As they do so, clients can then better reset relationships, find the professional work right for them, and pursue other meaningful purposes in their lives. Because the body tells its own story, Chase’s work includes attentive focus on somatic and experiential therapies. But central to his approach, which is based in psychodynamic and narrative traditions, are acceptance, empathy, and compassion.
Education
Master of Arts in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health
The Townsend Institute, Concordia University, Irvine, Cal.
Juris Doctor
University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphries School of Law, Memphis, Tenn.
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (with minors in English Literature and Business)
University of Mississippi, at Oxford
Licensure and Certifications
Licensed Professional Counselor (Temp.) (Tenn. #6248)
Certification in Modules I, II, & III of SomEx tm - Experiential Healing Center, Memphis, Tenn.
Attorney at Law (Tenn. B.P.R. #022977) (Miss. Bar #101388)
Member of Attorney Wellness Committee of the Tennessee Bar Association
Personal
Chase and Miriam have been married for some 20 years, have three wonderful daughters, and live in Memphis, Tennessee. Outside work, Chase likes to run on trails, take a canoe adventure on the Mississippi River, travel, and spend time with his family around the fire pit in their backyard.