Hello!

I am Gary Tenney, a licensed psychologist in Gilbert, AZ. I provide individual psychotherapy for adults and youth. I also provide couples therapy.  I am open to working with all situations, but I have extensive experience working with anxiety and depression.  In my practice, I utilize an approach that fits the needs of my clients. There is not a "one-size-fits-all" approach that works for everyone and every issue, but I have found a lot of benefit utilizing principles from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. Ultimately, what treatment approach I utilize will be a combination of my clients' needs, my clinical experience and expertise, and what is supported in psychological research to be an evidenced-based intervention.

As a life-long Arizonan I have always been passionate about improving mental health and wellbeing of my community. I spent many years in community mental health, both as a practitioner, providing individual and family therapy, and as a program director, managing outpatient and residential behavioral health programs. I have worked closely with my community to find solutions to help those in need of behavioral health services to receive the highest quality services to meet their needs. I find a lot of meaning by helping to strengthen the families and individuals in my community.

Positive psychology is one of the fundamental principles that guides how I work with my clients. My objective is not to simply help remove any negative factors affecting my clients' lives. I believe that it is also my responsibility to help assess and improve my clients' strengths.  The skills and characteristics needed to find happiness are not necessarily the same skills that one uses to reduce feelings of depression. I also work from a family-systems perspective. I do not see all dysfunction and existing within an individual but generally arises contextually within the dynamics of our relationships. Often, what are seen as our most dysfunctional behaviors, have actually served some role to help us to cope or function within a dysfunctional environment. I work to help individuals and families to find healthier ways of meeting their needs.

I follow a trauma-informed approach in my therapeutic services. Below are three basic components of trauma-informed therapy which I implement in my services:

• Realizing the prevalence of trauma

• Recognizing how trauma affects individuals

• Responding by putting this knowledge into practice

I know that coming to therapy takes a lot of courage and it can be difficult to open up with someone else about previous trauma or feelings of anxiety and depression. I hope that we will be able to work together to help you to find meaningful change in your life.

Client Focus:

• I work with adults (ages 18 and up)

• I provide both individual and couples therapy

Some areas of specialty:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Chronic Pain

• Trauma and PTSD

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Relationship Issues

• Stress

• Addiction