Meet the Team: King Counts

One thing is definite within the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinics at Centerstone – our team is a team.  Each and every staff member not only plays a crucial role in accomplishing our mission to ensure our military families receive the care they’ve earned, but they do so from the heart and with a passion that can’t help but to inspire. Here’s a closer look at one such therapist and colleague, Dr. King Counts.

Tell me a little bit about yourself, such as where you grew up and your background leading up to joining CVN?  I grew up in northeastern Tennessee (Bristol) and was the youngest of five siblings. Growing up in a small town in the Appalachians gave me a good background in family, community, and hard work.  I went to public schools and attended a small college in my hometown.  Faith was always very important to me, so I majored in biblical studies in preparation for seminary.  I never really found my way out of going to school for most of my adult life and have always enjoyed learning.  While in seminary I also worked on completing degrees in divinity, marriage and family counseling, and leadership.  I spent most of my adult life pastoring churches all over the United States and teaching college courses until finally coming to a point in my adult life that I needed a career change to keep it interesting.  That’s when I started doing therapy full time and have been hooked on it ever since.

If a Veteran, can you tell me about your time in service?  I have never served in the military but I have two sons who are career military.  One is in the Army officer stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington.  The other is a special forces Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  My daughter followed in her father’s footsteps and is a therapist in Colorado Springs.   I have ten grandchildren.  My family would never have existed unless I found the love of my life.  I have been married for 43 years to Angela who is my best friend and life partner.  My marriage and family is my greatest life achievement!

You’ve taken life experience and built a career to help others, what was your greatest takeaway from this process?  There is something so satisfying about being engaged in such a worthwhile career and seeing people’s lives changed and enriched.  In my mind, this is the intersection of my love for God and for people. I have deep personal Christian convictions but I also respect each person’s right to make choices for themselves. People are fascinating and are worth our very best efforts.   I enjoy the challenges and the successes, the ups and downs, the twists and turns!  Working in the therapy field has been about growing to meet people where they are using a variety of specialties:  marriage and family therapy, EMDR, Christian counseling, and CBT.   I love teaching groups, helping therapists grow their clinical skills through consultation and supervision.

How have things been going at the clinic since you arrived?  Working with my teammates is a pleasure!  Without a doubt, our clinic is the “best” place I have ever worked at and I am so grateful to be part of it.   Sometimes I am stretched to learn procedures and keep up with doing things according to our clinic’s system.  But, as I begin to grasp the reasoning behind these processes, I start becoming more and more appreciative of how well thought out it all is.  I work with wonderful leaders and teammates who have proven to be more than mere professionals but more like trusted friends.

Have you faced challenges so far in your time at the clinic?  Every day is a challenge!   That is one of the things I like the most about working here.   I had Covid last summer and was critically ill for a month and had to take off about two months.  Throughout my career I have always been relatively healthy.  But, Covid almost took my life.  All through this ordeal, my teammates at work were there for me.  They bombarded my wife and I with all kinds of caring support in so many ways which were sacrificial and acts of pure kindness.  I was so humbled by their loving care, patience, and pure mercy.  I never expected the people I work with to be so awesome.

What do you hope for clinic and your clients?  I hope for the very best!  I want to see people heal and meet their personal goals.  I want to see marriages and families working well together and being happy at the same time. I want to see veterans and active duty personnel and their families thriving and embracing a higher quality of life.  It matters to me personally that people who come to therapy feel respected and treated as important.   My hope is that our clinic can continue doing the great work it is already doing so well.  If there is one aspect of our work that I would love to see change in the future is that we consider offering our clients a longer episode of care.

What do you like to do for fun?  My wife and I love playing monopoly, cards, video games, watching T.V., traveling, camping, taking walks, bike riding, working on home improvement projects and more.  Since Covid impacted our lives so significantly, it has shut us down from having people over.   But, ordinarily we love entertaining friends and going out for a night on the town.

Favorite sports team? Denver Broncos, LA Dodgers, Atlanta Braves