DR. PAUL | Dr. Paul Hokemeyer

Slow and Steady Wins the Race.

Issues relating to our mental and relational health are complex and frequently resistant to change. Typically, the person who most needs the help is the least willing to seek it out; or once engaged in a course of treatment, finds it difficult to stay on a healthier path. This is particularly true in the treatment of personality disorders such as narcissism, mood disorders such as depression, bi polar disorder and in the range of addictive disorders such as behavioral addictions and substance use disorders. Therefore, in the journey for mental and relational health, there’s much to be learned from the adage “slow and steady wins the race.”

#healing #hope #recovery #mentalhealth, #relationalhealth, #familywellness #behaviouralhealth

Every person is unique. Every recovery, a distinctive journey.

Issues relating to mental and relational health manifest differently, for different reasons amongst different people. Every person who comes into treatment brings a unique assemblage of identities, backgrounds, genetics, experiences, neurochemistry and neurophysiology into their recovery journey. Therefore, holistic and lasting health is best achieved collaboratively through the clinician’s thorough and respectful understanding of the mélange of variables that influence the client’s emotional, physical and relational wellbeing.

#respect #dignity #uniqueneeds #culturalcompetency

A diverse background for a complex field.

Over the last two decades, Dr. Paul’s journey in the realm of mental and relational health has followed a slow and steady path that honors the uniqueness of every client, while remaining grounded in academic rigor, empirically based clinical interventions, and demanding professional credentials. Upon graduating from college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, Dr. Paul began his career in the mortgage department of a publicly traded bank. After two years of observing the poor financial decisions people made in the pursuit of external markers of success in this position, he enrolled in law school to hone his analytical skills and seek a deeper understanding of the larger systems in which human beings and institutions operate. Dr. Paul graduated at the top of his class, was elected editor in chief of his school’s law review, and received the Dean’s Award for outstanding student service. He then went on to serve as a judicial law clerk to a state supreme court judge, followed by two years in the corporate bankruptcy department of a mid-size law firm, and lastly onto environmental justice through leadership positions in America and Europe.

#diversity #logic #complexcare #integratedhealthcare

Trauma informed care.

It was while living in Amsterdam, NL that Dr. Paul was called into the field of mental health through the terrorist attacks that occurred in America on September 11th, 2001. Although residing in Europe at the time, he was profoundly impacted by the assault and suffered a crisis of being that called him back home to Los Angeles. In the cultural and personal trauma surrounding the event, Dr. Paul experienced personally and observed anecdotally how our central nervous systems can be fractured by external circumstances out of our control and how in order to heal from the fracture, we need to establish a safe, secure and nurturing attachment to another human being in a highly structured therapeutic frame. To pursue this goal for others, he left his law career and devoted his personal and professional life to understanding and treating mental health disorders through formal education and training.

#traumainformedcare #biopsychosocial #lifestylemedicine #holistichealth #lymbicsystem #contextmatters

Intellectual curiosity. Academic vigor.

Dr. Paul first obtained a master’s degree in clinical psychology with a focus on family systems. As part of this training and licensing, he completed 1,500 hours of clinical work in free clinics in Hollywood, California and New York City as well as with one of America’s oldest and most respected, not for profit addiction treatment centers. Through this work, Dr. Paul began to understand how people who live under a host of stigmatized identities struggle to find culturally competent and clinically excellent mental health care that honors their humaneness rather than demonizing or idolizing them for the labels of other that eclipse their authentic beings.

To advance thought leadership in this specialized niche, Dr. Paul applied and was accepted into a Ph.D. program with an esteemed humanistic tradition of producing qualitative research that studies unique human experiences. Dr. Paul’s Ph.D. research, in which he explored the internal psychological processes that exist in when a person lives under a socially stigmatized identity, was well received by the academic community and has been published by an academic publishing house and several peer review journals.

Mindful of the importance of grounding his work in empirically based medical science, Dr. Paul graduated from one of America’s most esteemed Ivy League medical school’s Global Leaders in Healthcare program and studied the use of digital technologies to deliver mental health services to disenfranchised communities at another American Ivy League university.

#empiricallybased #datadriven #credentialed #academicrigor #lifetimelearner #globalleaders in #healthcare

Professional Opinions and Expertise.

Over the years, Dr. Paul’s work in the field of mental and relational health has entered the popular media and he appears regularly in national and international media outlets to address contemporary topics relating to mental and relational health.

In 2019, he was approached by one of America’s most esteemed publishing houses to write a book on the unique clinical needs of patients who manifest identities imbued with extreme power and suffer from a host of mental health and personality disorders, such as anxiety and narcissism.

#author #nonfiction #media #narcissism #expert

The journey continues.

The trauma and intellectual curiosity that took Dr. Paul out of Europe after the 9/11 attacks enabled him to return to the global community as a respected and credentialed mental health professional.

Today, Dr. Paul has the privilege of working with global, multi-jurisdictional individuals, couples, families and wellness brands in the realm of mental and relational health through his London-based clinical and consulting firm, as well as through affiliations with other consulting and media groups in the United Kingdom and the Middle East.