About

Dr. Monte Miller

Highest level of training,

26 years of experience,

Personal Life Experience

. . .

Let’s talk like good friends. Let’s be real.

Fees: $150 per 50 minute session

Cash Only No Insurance HSA is Accepted

Hours Available

Monday 8am-5pm Tuesday 11am-6pm Wednesday 8am-6pm Thursday 8am-6pm Friday 11-5pm

Well trained, well experienced, a Psychologist and Christian Counselor.

But that is not what makes for a good fit for you for a counselor.

First of all, I would like to think I am a fairly nice, normal person. Not a weird shrink. I am also not a Holier than Thou, self-righteous uptight kind of guy. I am a sinner, just trying to do my best, like anyone. I love Jesus and I love helping people use their faith in Him to face their issues and make the best out of their situation.

I do believe that I am good at connecting and helping my clients feel comfortable and cared for, while still giving good, hard advice when needed. Being comfortable with your therapist is THE most important factor.

My Professional Persona

I was 15 years old and started studying Christian relationship books. Yea, a bit geeky, I know. But I was interested in what makes people, and relationships tick. Maybe it was my parents’ divorce when I was 10, or my mother’s death when I was 16, but I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a psychologist.

I was proud to become an Aggie from Texas A&M (Whoop), then up to Chicago for Wheaton College for my Masters degree in psychology then back home to Texas in San Antonio to get my Doctoral degree from Our Lady of the Lake University (the first ever doctoral graduate at OLLU).

I do have 40 years of experience in the ministry (since I was 15). I started in Young Life, a great ministry for High School kids, and continued working with them through my undergrad at Texas A&M. I then went to a great Evangelical College, Wheaton College near Chicago where I studied Christian Psychology, getting my Master's degree.

For the first 25 years of my doctoral career (had already been doing therapy professionally for 6 years before that), I had the honor of working in Health Care settings, especially in Nursing Homes. While taking care of the elderly and infirmed, I learned a great deal about helping severe cases in dealing with depression and anxiety. I learned that if I can help people in those situations, I can help just about anyone. Almost no matter what issue a client comes to me for, depression and anxiety

Then several years ago I changed course and started doing private practice. I was working online way before it was the thing to do before COVID. I have really been enjoying working with adults of all ages, backgrounds, and lifestyles, and focusing a lot more on my first love of relationship counseling. It has been especially fun doing more sex therapy work. Sex is such an important part of life and yet one many are afraid to address directly.

I have always genuinely loved my job. I get to form meaningful relationships and have the humble honor of walking with people through the toughest times of their lives, guiding them towards the light of hope.

My Personal Persona

I adult when I have to, but I will always be a big kid.

My dad taught me from an early age to be a gentleman. My dear Mother was an amazing woman with a strong Christian faith and taught me well. Me, my older brother and sister grew up in a lower middle class to middle class environment.

I've always been one to desperately want affection and love. I am more sensitive and emotionally articulate than most men, thinking in some ways like a lot of women. However, I also try to be very logical and analytic. I always try to see the best in people and sometimes I get burned because I give people the benefit of the doubt.

Unfortunately, being a psychologist does not mean you can control other people and I myself am far from perfect. Studying relationships since I was 15, I believe I know how to be a good loving spouse. However, I stink at picking the right one for me. I always tend to see the best in people. So, I too understand divorce and how difficult that can be.

I understand personally what depression and anxiety feels like. However, I have fought hard to always remain positive and look at the bright side of life.

In my fun time I am still a gamer, an original Atari kid. Gaming is great, but has to be done in moderation. I also love hiking and reading. I love my five rescue kitties and miss my big rescue polar Bear (my Great Pyrenees).

What happens after I call?

Simple. Just text or call. I will personally get back with you that day and we will compare schedules and get you a slot.

I will then send you an email that will give you access to my software, Simple Practice, that I use for video conferencing, scheduling, and for my record keeping. The process is very simple with just a few clicks to get you going.

There will be a few forms to fill out, including a form for you to put your credit card information in. On my end, I will never have access to the full number. At the end of the session, I will then run the charge through.

I will then send you a second email with the actual link you will use at the time of the session to connect. You can use a computer, tablet or smart phone.

People meet on their couch, in the car, at their home office desk, walking in the park, even lying in bed. Wherever you are comfortable.

Grab your comfy blanket, a glass of wine, a beer, some tissues, and lets talk like good friends.

This is not a time to be uptight and formal. Speak freely and openly. Curse if you feel the need. Let’s be real.

How is a Psychologist different than a Psychiatrist, Therapist, or Counselor?

I am a psychologist. To be a psychologist, one has to have a Master’s degree and a Doctoral degree from accredited programs in psychology. Psychologists have the highest level of training for a counselor. We do psychological tests and assessments, and of course, counseling. Counseling and psychotherapy are basically the same thing.

A psychiatrist, in contrast, is a medical doctor just like any other medical doctor, except the last part of their training is in mental health, especially in medication management of mental illness. They do not usually do much psychotherapy.

An LPC, or Licensed Professional Counselor, also does psychotherapy, but just has a Master’s degree, not a doctoral degree.

Psychotherapy is like an art. You need a natural ability, but it helps to have as much training as possible. You can be a gifted counselor but not have the training. Or you can have a lot of training, like a psychologist, but not have the natural talent.

Thus, the best is someone that has both the natural gift and the most training. Add in good experiences after their training and that makes the best psychotherapist.

Cool God Story

I was around 15 years old. I woke up after having the strangest dream, or was it a vision? Had an image in my head of me and the future. I was looking down on myself and I was in a wheelchair but I was at someone's bedside and I was ministering to them. My first thought was “Oh no! I don't want to be crippled.” thought I thought, “Okay God. If this is what you want then okay. I'm not happy about it, but I'll do what you want me to do.”

I was not sure if this was just my own dream and Imagination, but it felt more real than that. A few years go by and I get into a car wreck. A driver ran a red light and smashed into the front driver side of my car. If he had hit a few feet to the right he would have smashed my legs pretty badly. But I walked away from it okay. I thought that the vision was just a dream, because if God was going to make me crippled, that would have been it. I did not think about the vision for a long time.

Fast forward 15 years in the future. I got through my 10 years of college to be a psychologist and was working in nursing homes. A friend at church suggested me reading this one book that talked about all the different ways that God can speak to us, subtly or not so subtly, and I started thinking about all the different times in which I felt like God has spoken to me.

And then I remember that vision. And it hit me like a ton of bricks . . .

And doing my job oh, a lot of times my clients we're in bed. There was often no chairs for me to sit on. So where would I sit? I would sit in their wheelchairs.

This was it!! Several hours a day I was sitting in a wheelchair by someone's bedside ministering to them. God had shown me my future, way before it happened. I just assumed me being in a wheelchair meant I would be crippled but I was reading more into it than I should have. I never had any idea that I wanted to work in health care or nursing homes until I actually graduated.

But He knew.

Another Cool (though sad) God Story

I was 16 and my mom comes in before bed and handed me a book on God. It was titled Understanding the Will of God. When I eventually read it, I realized that it really helped to understand why bad things happen to good people. There is a lot more to the teachings of this book, which I often use in therapy. It looks at the different ways to see God's Will. There is His Ideal Will, His Circumstantial Will, and His Ultimate Will, along with the nature of our Free Will.

The cool, but sad part is that my Mom gave me this book the night before she had a stroke and soon died (She was only 47). No one knows beforehand when a stroke is coming. She had no way of knowing that the end of this life was near.

This book helped me to cope with her death. It also was very important in helping me work with people going through severe losses in life - the main point of my whole 30 year counseling career!

God did not stop her from dying, but He did intervene to give me strength to help me cope with it and help others.

My Faith

Best definition of Faith: A reasoned trust. None of us ever want to be illogical. None of us want to put our trust into something that does not make sense and thus will let us down. I use cognitive behavioral therapy and my practice as I believe logic is the best way to get through life as healthy and happy as possible. One’s view spirituality should be the same. Unfortunately most of us put our faith into something without truly looking into it. Being Catholic, Baptist, or even being an atheist, just because our parents or friends told us to do so, is blind faith, not genuine, logical Faith. Exploring, in earnest, all perspectives and seeking truth wherever it may take us, is the best way to approach spirituality.

I am a Scientist. I believe there's much more evidence and rationality for believing in the Bible and Christianity than there is in Atheism, or any other belief system. Science is not contradictory to the Bible of Christianity. It is the study of God's Creation. I believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. I believe God loves each and every one of us more dearly than we could ever imagine. He loves you so much that He willingly chose to die for you, even with all your scars and faults. However, keep in mind that Christianity is not just a set of beliefs, like being a Republican or Democrat. Christianity is first and foremost a relationship with a real person.

Yes, sin is wrong. God hates us sinning, turning away from Him and His wise advice. Sometimes we must confront the sin and selfish behavior. But we must do all things in love (I Cor 14). However, who am I to judge? Just another sinner trying to do my best and help others. i believe a sinful life is an unhappy life. I do not see you as a sinner as a bad person, just as one who has chosen to find your happiness in the wrong things.

If you disagree with this, that is perfectly fine. My job as a psychologist is not to convince you of my worldview. If you share this world for you and I will use it to help in therapy but if not that is perfectly okay.

While I am a literalist, I'm not a legalist. I believe the stories of the Bible are all true and really happened. I believe Jesus is not looking at a check mark list to see if you need enough points to get into heaven, but He is looking at your heart.

How can I be a Christian and a sex therapist? Easy. I believe God made our bodies and our emotions to respond strongly to sex. As my pastor, Max Lucado, once said, Christians should be having more and better sex than anybody. Christians do not have to be all prim, proper and uptight all the time. Jesus loved hanging out with the low lifes of his day, and they loved hanging out with Him. In therapy, I invite everybody to be genuine and real, to curse and address openly their true feelings, even if not seen as “proper.” Let's be real with each other, okay?

Again, no one will get any kind of negative judgmentalism or preaching from me. You will get only acceptance and love.

Specialties

Adults Teens (If Self-Motivated)

Depression
Anxiety (Overthinking)
PTSD (Trauma Recovery)
Marriage (Relationship) Counseling
Grief Counseling (Death and Dying Issues)
Sex Therapy (Infidelity, Porn addiction, Performance issues, Low libido)
Spiritual Counseling/Coaching
Motivation
Health Issues (Stroke, Chronic Pain, Cancer)
Help with Elderly Parents (Alzhiemer's, Dementia)

$150 for one 50 minute session for individuals or couples

Insurance NOT Accepted, except for HSAs. payments

Online only

Free 20 minute, one-time consult

Additional Fees may apply for evaluations, letters, court appearance.

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