Geoff Faustman, MA, LMFT

Your Sioux Falls, South Dakota Therapist

Counseling that gets to the heart of the matter quickly & effectively.

Welcome to my Web site.

I offer a direct, active, goal-oriented approach in helping you find relief from the anxiety, anger, depression, shame, or whatever it is that leaves you feeling stuck. By taking a look at 1) What are you trying to achieve? 2) What are you trying to preserve? 3) What are you trying to avoid? and 4) What are you trying to eliminate? we can highlight the sometimes-complex interaction among your thoughts, decisions, actions and outcomes. Knowing yourself, making use of your personal strengths & your tools at hand while allowing your values guide you, you can propel yourself toward becoming the best, most fulfilled version of yourself.

I use a combination of evidence-based treatments tailored to suit your strengths to overcome your core fears and reach your goals. These include Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which can help with different kinds of problems and degrees of suffering. I don’t want you in therapy forever. I want you to reach your goals, and live your life to the fullest.

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Individual Therapy / Counseling
We’ll focus on the issues that are preventing you from making positive changes, working to help you strengthen your attachments to your loved ones and improve your self esteem. Whether it’s in your relationships, your work, or your personal happiness, together we can make changes that will improve your quality of life.
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Couple's Counseling
Learning when to listen and when to speak in your relationship is an integral part of communication. Often, many couples get to a point where they are only hearing the surface of the message, not the underlying need. Many couples reach out for the same connection, but have gotten stuck in a pattern where this is not done in an effective way. The underlying need of connection gets lost. We can work to help get you unstuck and reconnect.
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Pre-Marital Counseling
Premarital counseling is an incredibly advantageous way to begin this next chapter of your journey together. There are many topics couples don’t think to discuss before getting married. Premarital counseling gives you a safe space to explore these topics. This includes discussing finances, future family planning, family dynamics, roles of each partner, household tasks, and life goals.
Focus Areas
Relationships & Marriage
Focusing on effective communication & listening skills, handeling conflicts & resentments, establishing personal/relational booundaries leading to strengthening, growth and deepening.
Men's Issues
Honoring what it means to be the man you are—and masculinity. Understanding the unique needs, desires and inner workings of males.
Family Challenges
Families can be difficult, they can be comforting, they can be frustrating, they can be wonderful—and the most fundamental unit of social organization that with which we most intimately identify.
Depression & Anxiety
Taking a look at thoughts, patterns and behaviors to understand the connections and help alleviate symptoms.
Life Purpose / Meaning
Traveling on your unique path that’s built with your passions, aspirations, values and the things you hold meaningful. The story of your life: you decide how the rest is going to read.
Life Transitions / Adjusting to Change
Changes, and especially difficult changes, can influence personal growth, and dealing with a change successfully may leave one stronger, more confident, and better prepared for what comes next in life.
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Excerpt From: “Success: The Psychology of Achievement”

DETERMINING YOUR OBJECTIVES
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“American management consultant Fred Nickols, with input from his colleague Ray Forbes, has developed a set of questions you can ask yourself whenever you are trying to determine your objectives:

  • What are you trying to achieve?
  • What are you trying to preserve?
  • What are you trying to avoid?
  • What are you trying to eliminate?

The aim of these questions is to highlight the sometimes-complex interaction among our decisions, actions, and outcomes (see “Achieve, preserve, avoid, or eliminate?,”). The point is that you need to make choices to maintain an overall balance in your accomplishments by preserving what you have that you value, achieving in new areas, and avoiding any negative results.”

Excerpt From: “Success: The Psychology of Achievement”

OVERCOMING RELUCTANCE
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We have a natural resistance to changing set patterns: starting anything new means being a novice, and this can be daunting. In the Harvard Business Review, business expert Erika Andersen outlines four mental tools we can use to help ourselves along:

  1. Aspiration. When a challenge comes along, most of us are quicker to see the pitfalls than the opportunities. Psychological research finds that if we can picture how good it will feel to achieve something, we’re much more motivated to work on it.
  2. Self-awareness. Nobody’s perfect—indeed, it is human nature to have blind spots and failings. Foster an attitude of self-discovery; think about your strengths and your weaknesses, and how you can continue to grow and develop.
  3. Curiosity. We’re all born burning to learn, so try not to outgrow your youthful thirst for knowledge and new experiences.
  4. Vulnerability. It’s easy to stay in our comfort zone, but this is no way to improve. Be willing to try new things, make mistakes, and learn from them.”
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