Testimonials from Clients and Their Families
Among the many things I’m grateful to my son’s coach for doing is putting us in touch with you. You’ve given D. a lot of the tools that he uses on a daily basis now, whether in hockey or life, and they are a tremendous asset I’m sure he’ll appreciate more and more as he matures. –MH
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I can’t praise Steve Walker enough. During a very difficult period he taught me practical techniques for changing the way in which I interpret and deal with various events in my life. And it didn’t take years. His way of integrating therapeutic principles with spiritual values made it easier for me to identify more appropriate responses to life’s challenges. And above all, he always exhibited immense caring and compassion. It’s been about four years since I last saw Dr. Walker professionally, and his wise counsel during the time he treated me still serves me well.
–DH
Thank you Dr. Walker – for your gift of light; for giving us the ability to visualize more clearly who we are and who our souls want to be; for your ability to make us see what is desirable, necessary and in our highest good. I was deeply touched by your powerful thoughts and words. No matter what the outcome of this relationship will be, I feel at peace with myself and the process.
Sincerely, LH
My wife and I had a rather unconventional arrangement in our marriage when treating with Dr. Walker, and it was a bit uncharted. We had a difficult and rather challenging blended family with children on both sides and a couple with special needs that added to the mix. Steve I attended more to our individual needs in that situation . . . and didn’t resort to any preconceived notion about what “should” happen. He was respectful of our circumstances enough to help craft a functional, albeit unusual living arrangement. Our marriage now is just awsome!
–NE
I have to thank you for helping me to build the courage to face my fears, for making me admit that I can’t do it all and most of all for helping me through the emotional roller coaster I call my life. I can honestly say that without your help and guidance I would not be standing as straight and tall as I am now. Life has always been tough but you have made mine that much easier. For that I will be eternally grateful and consider myself lucky that I have you in my life.
–MM
Steve provided warm support in a caring, relaxed environment. He helped guide me through many life experiences and taught me how to draw lessons from them that I have put to use in the years that followed. Steve encouraged me to tap my love of rock climbing as a source of stability and peace.
HP
Dr. Walker, My name is HH. I was your patient for a couple of months about ten years ago. As a reminder I mention that I was a rock climber, I was having a problem with drinking, I worked at Turley’s, I was trying to finish a thesis and I had been dating Mary, another former patient. I thought of you out of blue as I was researching golf psychology and thought I’d say hello and thanks. When you treated me, I was a mess and while my life isn’t perfect, your advice and techniques have stuck with me and helped me. You taught me how to practice mental health. I have been teaching English as a Second Language at the high school level. I am recently married, just broke 100 for the first time and am having a good life. Now if I can only fix my slice!
Thank you, HH
We first consulted Dr. Stephen Walker approximately two years ago and although we had worked with other professionals before him, our situation was challenging to say the least. Dr Walker has been very open to meeting with my wife and I to understand what our expectations are, what our long terms goals were, and develop a plan to meet these needs. Dr Walker has been very informative about what we might expect, how we might approach these situations, and what our reactions might mean to our son.
Prior to seeing Dr Walker our son was very angry every evening. Any words said to him would likely lead to an angry outburst, hateful comments, hurting himself, and a disrupted family unit.
Since our son started to see Doctor Walker we have found a vast improvement in his ability to work with the family unit. He now is “approachable” in conversations, touching his shoulders, two way conversations, and his participation in family functions such as evening meals, camping trips, and such.
It is very encouraging to see the progress we have experienced and we know that with out the full support of Dr Walker we would not be as happy as a family. We feel very blessed to have had the support of Dr Walker over these past 2 years and are anxious to see and experience the continued progress that is yet to come.
–DI
Dr. Walker’s services were very valuable to me in the last few years. He provided a special combination of kindness, strength and coaching. The reason I came back to him when I didn’t go back to others was because in my experience, many psychologists didn’t seem interested in challenging me. Instead, I felt they were just agreeing with everything I said and giving in to my excuses. Stephen Walker persevered to coach me to better myself, instead of let me feel sorry for myself. Yet at the same time, he was forever kind and patient. That is an ability that I think is uniquely “Dr. Stephen Walker.” Not everyone can find a balance between kindness/empathy and the toughness of a good coach.
GP
Dr. Walker was effective in helping me to recognize how flaws in my thought processes play a role in feelings of anxiety about work and career. He taught me how breathing and meditation exercises can be effective tools for controlling anxiety and worry. These tools help me to stay in the “here-and-now” so I can better recognize what I have control over and what I do not. Dr. Walker is a positive and supportive counselor who I would recommend to others without hesitation.
–JP
Our daughter was very comfortable working with you. You provided a warm, comfortable and relaxing environment that definitely helped speed through the rapport building part of the process. This obviously made us feel more comfortable also.
You went above and beyond in learning about her sport and the dynamics of her coach and her as an athlete and as a person. She did actually enjoy coming to meet with you . . . looked forward to it. The ideas/instructions and work was well tailored to her needs and issues as well as her age and maturity level.
As parents we appreciated the brief updates you gave us on a regular basis. The work was focused, yet broad enough and even more beneficial because it applied to her on other levels not just the sports issue.
Overall, it was a very good and beneficial experience. In addition to helping with the specific performance issue I think it was good for her to experience this kind of “professional” help and know that that are people like you in the world that can help by talking these things out and offering professional guidance.
DL
Dr. Walker provided counseling services for myself and for my son. His therapeutic style includes genuine warmth and caring even as he helps his clients see that they are ultimately accountable for their actions, and he displays a commitment to serve each client with their best interest at heart.
Dr. Walker has a unique ability to collaborate with his clients to create a well defined path to facilitate resolution and clarity. He is thorough and efficient in his client interactions and is consistently available as a resource. Dr. Walker strives to integrate leading edge therapeutic techniques to provide the most current and effective restorative and proactive care for his clients. I would not hesitate to provide family and friends as referrals for Dr. Walker.
BP
I have known Dr. Steve Walker for 18 years. Throughout the years Steve has helped me navigate a number of difficult situations. Together we found breakthrough communication techniques that helped motivate me and inspire me to resolve issues that confront me. Steve has made a positive difference in my life. And I thank him for that. Best of all, he makes me laugh!
LG
Steve,
I would like to sincerely express my gratitude for your assistance and guidance during a particular low point in my life. I came to see you for marriage counseling when my marriage of ten years was near an end, and it was with your aid that I was able to understand the situation I was in and to successfully address it. I particularly appreciate your professional approach of communicating the expectations and ground rules of the sessions from the very beginning. Furthermore, I always felt that you had both my and my partner’s best interest at heart and that you maintained an honest and unbiased approach while allowing us to find the answers to our questions from within ourselves. Once it became obvious that there was no salvaging my relationship, a decision that I now know to have been a correct one, you truly showed compassion towards me and worked to provide me the tools, resources, and support to carry on in a healthy and positive manner. Today I am able to apply what I learned through our professional encounter to my current relationships – for this I want to thank you.
Warmest regards,
JW
I sought help from Dr. Walker for a bunch of problems I was experiencing in my life. I was depressed, angry, resentful, lonely, and isolated. When I began to work with Dr. Walker I told him how much I drank. I remember his look of shock. But I did not see that the issues I was dealing with were due to my drinking, nor that drinking was something I needed to stop. He was very patient with me. It seems to me now he was waiting for me to come to terms with my core issue: alcoholism. I knew it was a problem but was not ready to address it.
One day driving to an appointment with him it became clear to me that alcohol was my problem. I said this to him right away. He encouraged me to attend Alcoholics Anonymous, telling me he could not do for me what AA could do, but that he could help to facilitate that work. I began to attend AA regularly, though it took several months for me to finally stop drinking. I am working the 12 steps of AA and have just over 13 months of sobriety. I live a new life now. The anger, lack of control, sense of powerlessness, self-pity, and depression have lifted, thanks to no more alcohol and the guided self-discovery done in AA.
As I have grown in recovery I have become much more open and available to core issues about who I am, where I come from, how my family life has affected me, and how I enter into and maintain, or not, relationships. This is work that Dr. Walker is helping me with. It is beyond the realm of my step work. It is stuff I need expert guidance with. I get feedback and insight from him I don’t get from my sponsor, from meetings, from my step work.
I now live with hope. I trust the direction I am going though I am not always sure where it is taking me. I am 42 years old and just beginning to realize how much I don’t know about myself, how much there is to learn and to experience in my life. I’m glad for the help Dr. Walker offers to me and at this point would not want to give it up because I believe it is a key component to becoming a more useful, happy, fulfilled person.
TD
When I think back to the time I contacted you; I came to you with what I thought was a work problem and came to the understanding that there was a larger life balance issue that I wasn’t addressing. The key was ensuring that I was putting as much energy into my personal life as I was into my work life. This balance made me realize that my work issues weren’t that critical and that I had a lot of other positive aspects in my life. This perspective allowed me to enjoy my life, develop strong relationships and address the work issues in a proactive way. I view the time we spent together on this journey as key to continued success in working through challenging life and work situations. These are skills that I frequently use and share.
–JB
Dr. Walker
My time with you has changed my life! I still think of things that we talked about everyday. The way you helped me with cues and checking in with myself and my emotions. The biggest thing that you helped me with was relationships with my family. You helped me to process a lot of crap, and I have finally been able to release so much resentment. It has literally changed my life. While I know we focused on running performance, it’s the stuff we did to help me understand myself that has stuck with me. And that has also helped me out tremendously as an athlete. Your online sports journal looks great. As long as you keep up with credible sources I think that people are really going to like it. All of the mental preparation that goes along with performance- that is where we all really need help and are looking for it!
KW
Steve has a genuine way of being in the world that provides a solid backdrop for his professional skills to flourish. Our sessions resulted in mature, intelligent explorations that kept rough waters in perspective, while nurturing an in-depth understanding of who I am. I entered into therapy with Steve knowing that my marriage couldn’t last and my professional life was too emotionally destructive to support me as a single person. I learned to identify healthy coping skills, deconstruct fears, and better evaluate levels of risk appropriate for making strides. After several years of regular sessions, we keep in touch occasionally and these brief conversations are affirming touchstones. My former husband and I would have celebrated our 20th anniversary last month. We’ve both moved on, finding a deeper love with our new life partners than we thought possible for anyone, and can easily express to each other the value of what we shared and learned together without regret. Steve was instrumental in helping me to bring strength to weakness, honor my sense of humor, and trust my heart, mind, and spirit. Since seeing Steve, I have become a breast cancer survivor, the work we did together, seemingly so long ago now, allowed me to go through that process with as much ease as anyone could hope for. I am thankful that our lives crossed and that he had the insight and abilities to successfully support and nurture my cultivation of a deeply rooted and genuinely sustainable life.
JTC
Dr. Walker was an extreme help for my son and me during my divorce. He did play therapy to get to the bottom of any issues and feelings my son was having during that time. My son is very shy and Dr. Walker did a great job of opening him up. He has also helped me a great deal by pinpointing some childhood issues and helping me deal with those so I could heal. I am now in a healthy relationship utilizing the techniques that Dr. Walker taught me. I would highly recommend his services not only for adults but equally for children.
SKA
Dr. Walker – I appreciate the time we were able to spend together. You helped me to keep focus during a very difficult time in my life. With your help I was able to focus on the important events and to be able to prepare for them. You were also instrumental in your advice in dealing with my children. I believe the strategies you gave me allowed me to improve my relationships with them and to help them to stay on track throughout the divorce process. You were especially helpful in strategies with my daughter who was struggling in school and with with self-esteem concerns. You helped me better relate with her and to find better ways to help her with homework without getting into arguments . . . I feel you were a great blessing to my life when things were difficult. You helped me keep my sanity when my world was falling apart around me. Thanks.
MH
When I first met Stephen Walker, I had had two heart procedures in three years, was 60 pounds overweight, ‘treading water’ in my job and marriage; in a word, depressed. Through kindness, forcefulness and true caring, Dr. Walker has brought me to losing about half the weight, exercising 3-4 times a week, looking for different, more challenging positions at work and enjoying my family and life much more than I once thought possible. His professionalism and concern for me as a person allow me to recommend him highly.
–VM
