Ryan studied Monasticism at the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, Louisville, Kentucky and Zen Meditation, Buddhism, and mindfulness at the Buddha Mind Monastery, Oklahoma, the Kansas Zen Center and Spirit Rock Meditation Center, California. Ryan studies yoga at Lava Yoga, Kansas. Ryan is a Reiki (level 01) student of Melissa Oroke.
Ryan earned a Masters of Social Work degree at the University of Oklahoma and a Masters of Divinity at Austin Seminary. His graduate studies included training in comparative religious analysis, pastoral care & counseling, practical theology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Narrative Therapy, and Mindfulness. Upon completion of graduate school he began working with diverse populations, from treatment and care of person’s with addictive disease to reclamation of executive assets to incarcerated people to men struggling with childhood trauma to people seeking to live lives full of peace. He completed four years of clinical supervision in Somatic Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)—a psychotherapy grounded in mindfulness and contemplative meditative practices oriented towards addressing the client’s acceptance and validation of self.
Prior to beginning his career as a therapist, he worked for more than 15 years in various Christian ministry roles, from youth pastor to global missionary to parish pastor to bouncer at a bar. He has been a truck driver, a carney, an actor, a pizza slinger, and a SEARS repair man. He earned an undergraduate degree in Comparative Religious Studies from California State University, Northridge.
2611 SW 17th Street, Suite 106 Topeka, KS 66604
(785) 580-6907
ryan@ryanthetherapist.com
. 