David Ordan, LPC
David Ordan, LPC, is an insightful, straightforward, compassionate, and encouraging therapist with more than two decades of experience in counseling.
He believes in a highly collaborative approach to counseling and has seen time and again that with the proper connection to a therapist, couples and individuals can come to powerful insights in a short period of time.
He is licensed to work with residents of Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Florida, and can do coaching with clients anywhere.
David helps individuals grapple with issues related to finding meaning and purpose, relationships with children of all ages (including estrangement and difficult relationships between adult children and parents/in-laws), depression, anxiety, Adult Children of Dysfunctional Parents, codependency, ADHD, anger issues, high functioning personality disorders, career transition, quarter-life or mid-life crises and relationship issues. He also works with couples seeking to improve communication, intimacy (emotional and physical) and parenting skills.
The approaches David draws from include Solution-Based Brief Therapy, Gottman, and Imago therapy. He also draws from Meyers Briggs Type Indicator both for career counseling and to help couples gain a better understanding of how their personalities can best work together. He is sex-positive and comfortable discussing sexual issues in session. David works with individuals and couples from all walks of life, including members of faith-based communities and LGBTQ+ communities.
A number of books have impacted David’s therapeutic approach, including Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work (Gottman and Silver), Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus (Gray) and The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage (Schlessinger). He recommends all three books to couples who wish to improve their relationships. For career counseling, David finds Do What You Are (Tieger, Barron and Tieger) to be especially helpful for individuals seeking to chart a path for their define for their working life.
With regard to relationships, David says, “It’s important to remember that we are not just roommates or, on the other end of the spectrum, pieces of flesh bashing into each other. We are all fully human with an actual heart and soul. The concepts around building good relationships are easy. It’s opening ourselves up loving communication that can be hard. I try to bring a sense of encouragement and humor to this process so that couples know they have a safe space to talk about difficult issues.”
With regard to men’s issues, David notes, “Many men think therapy is only for deep-seated issues and not for something as seemingly mundane as work or career. The truth is everyone needs a person to bounce ideas off of once in a while. Often career counseling becomes part of therapy as well, particularly with male clients. This aspect of our work can be empowering and even fun.”
David is a graduate of Columbia University and also holds a Rabbinic Ordination, which means he brings special insight to clients struggling with issues related to religion (e.g., crises of faith, issues facing partners when they have different religions, being raised religious but now choosing to be secular, etc.). With more than a couple decades of marriage under his belt, 6 children (plus 2 daughters-in-law) and 2 grandchildren, he has been, there, done that, and bought the t-shirt. He has lived in New York, Los Angeles, Jerusalem, and most recently Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In his free time, David dreams of finding a left-handed guitar so he can finally play songs around the campfire.
Email info@bestlifebehavioralhealth.com to work with David via video!