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Ben
Keyes, Ph. D., LPC
 Being
in Alexandria, teaching for Regent University is not only an honor and privilege
but reunites me with my place of birth (Alexandria). Southern style was to be
short-lived however, as my father a restaurant and hotel manager and would not
return south until my teen years. Moving first to upstate New York and then to
Northampton Massachusetts; I grew up in a typical Jewish family until I was 12-years-old.
At age 12, my mother passed on from this life due to inoperable cancer and by
age 14 my father remarried adding three new siblings to our small family. My younger
brother, Seth, adjusted better than I did and by age 17, I was out on my own just
before graduation from high school in Williamsburg, Virginia. I had a conversion
experience in my senior year after an honest search for answers and identity.
I thought at that time that my relationship with God would stabilize my life and
give it focus. Instead it has been the centerpiece of an oft-times wild ride through
life but always being the stabilizing force leading me to deeper understandings
and a deeper walk. When I was eight-years-old in Hebrew School a Rabbi once told
me to "question everything" regarding faith and spirituality. "It's the only way
you can truly know what you believe and why". I have applied this mandate throughout
my life; sometimes to the chagrin of those spiritual mentors around me but always
ending up in a richer and deeper walk with God. Actually, wrestling with God is
a more accurate assessment in that I often feel connected to Jacob. After several
false starts in Bible College and junior college, I was able to go straight through
my Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling at the University of South Florida. Believing
I was too dangerous to foist on the public at large, I enrolled in my first Doctoral
program for more therapeutic training at the Gestalt Institute in Tampa and completed
in 1985 after sitting on my dissertation for five years. I have since gone on
to complete a specialization in Theology, three more Doctorates (Theology, Ministry,
and Counseling Psychology), and have received an Honorary Doctorate in Divinity
(DD). Education has been a wonderful way to expand horizons and foster understanding.
I continue to educate myself but no longer search out degrees and credits. I worked
in the field of counseling and ministry, coming up through the ranks of government
and private agencies, hospitals, residential treatment centers, partial hospitalization
programs, churches, training facilities, and private practice. I have had an extensive
career in a wide variety of venues including the classroom. Teaching and clinical
supervision have always been creative outlets for me and a deep source of joy
and satisfaction. Working with others to understand the complexities of life and
insight to self have been the privilege and honor others have allowed in sharing
their journeys with me. In the last few years, research has captured my attention
with most of the focus targeted at Dissociative Identity Disorder and both Christian
and secular applications to healing. I believe that psychotherapy is an
art from. The artist must be equipped with a variety of styles or colors to enable
them to be a catalyst for positive change. As Christian therapists, the calling
often means providing a way for clients (and sometimes ourselves) to be positively
reconciled with God. This comes from a deep place of love and respect for those
we work with and those who allow us to share in their walk and journey. My favorite
scripture comes from I John 4:8 ". . . for God is Love". I believe that we are
called to learn how to love in all its many aspects and that life itself is the
classroom in which to learn the lessons. Being a professor at Regent University
has been a long time goal of mine. I am humbled and honored to be a part of a
faculty staff that not only embodies this idea but walks it out daily. The true
fire of this staff is to convey spiritual insights and growth to assist others
to assist others to do the same. There is nothing more sacred to me than this.
I am adding this paragraph as I join the professional staff of Safe Harbor Counseling
Centers. I have been a therapist in various levels of practice since 1978. I specialize
in working with trauma and Dissociative Disorders but have expertise in working
with all major mental health issues especially with mood and anxiety disorders,
personality disorders, family and adolescent issues, and couples. I have a solid
background in working with addictions and have experience working with ADHD children.
I am looking forward to my association with the counseling center and to working
with those who feel led to work with me.
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