I’m the world’s foremost hip hop and electronic dance music (EDM)-influenced rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) psychotherapist. You may wonder how I qualify this bold claim.
Since before I ever attended school, I listened to rap music—one of the core elements of hip hop culture. In elementary school, I dabbled in beatboxing and breakdancing—two other central elements of hip hop.
In adolescence, I began practicing graffiti and DJing (originally referred to as turntablism)—completing the final elements of hip hop culture. Although many people merely go through a hip hop “phase,” I’ve remained a member of this international culture for just under five decades.
Similarly, I enjoyed earlier forms of EDM since I was in elementary school. As the disco era of the 70s and 80s wound down, and 80s synth-pop began, I enjoyed witnessing the evolution of electronica as a musical genre. By the time I was in high school, raving was quite popular.
In early adulthood, I added EDM to my DJ repertoire. At that time, I spun by the name “2-Nice.” Back then, I created musical mixes for the enjoyment of others by way of cassette tapes and compact discs. To this day, I’m told that people have held on to those mixes. Respect!
Concurrent with my interest in hip hop and EDM was my practice of unofficial life coaching. When residing in a children’s home in 1991, I helped other residents with an assortment of problems.
While I can’t fully understand why children chose to confide in me, I often heard statements such as, “I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” or, “I’ve never told anyone this before.” Whatever the case, I was able to offer resolution by coaching and it seemed to help people.
Not long afterward, even children’s home staff members sought counsel with me. By ’93, after having transferred to a new school following my departure from the children’s home, I began helping an entirely different set of my peers.
It wasn’t long thereafter that I began using my personal beeper as a crisis support line for local teenagers. Admittedly, most of what I offered was solicited advice. Still, it wasn’t until I began formal education for psychotherapy that I realized my style of coaching was hampered by doing so.
From 2009 to 2011, I attended graduate school for counseling. Ultimately, I earned a Master of Arts in Counseling degree. During that time, I studied REBT and understood the limitation of advice-giving.
Rather than dis-empowering people by telling them what I believe they should, must, or ought to do in a particular situation, I learned to empower individuals with a humanist approach to mental, emotional, and behavioral health care. You may wonder how this is accomplished.
REBT uses the ABC model and unconditional acceptance, along with valuing personal responsibility and accountability for one’s own reaction to undesirable situations, in order to help people free themselves from the unpleasant consequences of their irrational beliefs.
Whereas some psychotherapeutic modalities aim to help people feel better, REBT is focused on helping people actually get better. Thus, formal education shifted how I approached life coaching and psychotherapy. Now, it’s a rarity for me to give advice to anyone.
From 2012 to 2014, I again attended graduate school. This time, I studied social work and earned a Master of Science in Social Work degree. All the while, I interwove hip hop and EDM elements into my REBT approach aimed at helping people get better.
This was accomplished through popular cultural references which included content from both rap and EDM. As well, I drew upon personal anecdotes from decades of experience which were heavily influenced by elements of hip hop and EDM.
When forming Hollings Therapy, LLC in 2021, I created a company with roots, a stem, and branches grown in accordance with the positive, neutral, and negative material of historical and contemporary hip hop and EDM. After all, life itself consists of desirable, impartial, and undesirable elements.
Unlike some wellness modalities which focus on optimism while neglecting common instances of boredom and suffering which are inherent in life, REBT uses logic and reason to carefully examine truth and reality. Thus, all factors which comprise existence are taken into account.
Rap music and EDM regard life in a similar manner. Songs of struggle, hope, sorrow, happiness, and other familiar circumstances are drawn upon and featured in my blog that has over 900 unique posts at the time that the current blog entry is written.
Because of this fact, and given that there aren’t presently any other REBT contenders who perform a similar service, I’m the world’s foremost hip hop and EDM-influenced REBT psychotherapist. Not only am I the leading therapist of this kind, I’m the originator of such content.
Being that I attained advanced practicum training in REBT during 2021, and have actively incorporated elements of hip hop and EDM into my life for over four decades, there’s no telling how much further I can take my musically-informed practice of REBT as the beat of life continues.
If you’d like to join me as the ever-changing rhythm of existence moves on – taking you on a journey of joy, fear, pleasure, pain, and everything in between – I look forward to meeting you on the proverbial dancefloor of life. Let’s get this party started!
Although we may not be able to change the music being played, REBT can allow us to adapt more helpful reactions so that ours won’t be a dance of destruction. For more information, you’re invited to explore the following two blog categories:
If you’re looking for a provider who works to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As the world’s foremost hip hop and EDM-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply helping you to feel better, I want to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
Hollings, D. (2023, April 8). 2-Nice. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/2-nice
Hollings, D. (2024, May 23). A humanistic approach to mental health. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/a-humanistic-approach-to-mental-health
Hollings, D. (n.d.). Blog – Categories: EDM and REBT. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/blog/categories/EDM-and-rebt
Hollings, D. (n.d.). Blog – Categories: Hip hop and REBT. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/blog/categories/hip-hop-and-rebt
Hollings, D. (2023, July 2). Can’t go out sad. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/can-t-go-out-sad
Hollings, D. (2024, March 19). Consequences. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/consequences
Hollings, D. (2022, March 15). Disclaimer. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/disclaimer
Hollings, D. (2024, April 2). Four major irrational beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/four-major-irrational-beliefs
Hollings, D. (2023, October 12). Get better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/get-better
Hollings, D. (2024, September 24). Happy place. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/happy-place
Hollings, D. (n.d.). Hollings Therapy, LLC [Official website]. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/
Hollings, D. (2024, April 28). Hope in the future. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/hope-in-the-future
Hollings, D. (2023, September 19). Life coaching. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-coaching
Hollings, D. (2023, January 8). Logic and reason. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/logic-and-reason
Hollings, D. (2024, March 4). Mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/mental-emotional-and-behavioral-health
Hollings, D. (2024, September 19). Minimum moral integrity. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/minimum-moral-integrity
Hollings, D. (2023, September 3). On feelings. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/on-feelings
Hollings, D. (2023, April 24). On truth. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/on-truth
Hollings, D. (2022, November 7). Personal ownership. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/personal-ownership
Hollings, D. (2023, September 15). Psychotherapeutic modalities. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapeutic-modalities
Hollings, D. (2024, May 5). Psychotherapist. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapist
Hollings, D. (2022, March 24). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt
Hollings, D. (2022, October 7). Should, must, and ought. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/should-must-and-ought
Hollings, D. (2024, February 27). Suffering, struggling, and battling vs. experiencing. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/suffering-struggling-and-battling-vs-experiencing
Hollings, D. (2022, November 9). The ABC model. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-abc-model
Hollings, D. (2023, April 9). The advice that never was. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-advice-that-never-was
Hollings, D. (2022, July 11). Unconditional acceptance. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/unconditional-acceptance
Hollings, D. (2024, September 29). Well, well, well. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/well-well-well
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