Felix M. Scardino, MSW

OLIVIA TOPETE _{on Google}

Jul 22nd, 2017

Felix has been an absolute blessing. His therapy is unique and very effective. Often, our seesion will fly by in what may perceived, in the moment, as pleasant conversation (THAT, in itself is something that many if us lack after having fallen into a deep depressive episode; isolation is a common response). However, I find myself leaving his office with new perspective regarding the relationship I have with many of the difficult emotions/feelings I struggle to cope with on a very frequent basis.
I have never had much success with talk therapy. In fact, I was very skeptical and initially felt I was wasting more time (I had fallen farther than I could ever imagined and wasn't able to find that 'reset button' so many of my friends and family felt I could just push and bounce back. So, in desperation, I decided to force myself to sit through at least one hour with Felix). As I implied above, the time spent with Felix doesn't FEEL like 'talk therapy.' HOWEVER, that first day and every following appointment, I rarely recall the walk down the long set of stairs leading from his office and to my car. This is typicalling when you will realize that you have just acquired and internalized a new skill(s) that is relevant and applicable to your current challenge/struggle.
Almost as prevalent as a fad diet are the fad behavioral therapy 'systems.' (CBT, DBT....). Felix takes the buzz words out, breaks the concepts applicable to YOU down into easily understood, internalized and applied skills. The 'new' buzz word in the world of oncology is 'precision' when referring to treatment. Well, I would describe Felix's style as ''precision' therapy. To often, therapists fail to connect with their clients because they will over genaeralize the skills and concepts that may be key in our healing process. Unfortunately, such a generic approach often leaves us with trial and error application in our lives. For someone suffering from depression, succes (even the smallest victory) pushes us in a positive direction. Unfortunately, if we leave our therapist armed with only a very general understanding of a skill that could potentially be vital to our healing process, attempt to apply in life and the result is less than positive... the 'failure' seems monumental. Felix will NEVER leave your probability for success to duchbchance. Most impressive is the fact that you will likely be entirely unaware that he has just gifted you with another vital life skill - making it almost a reflex (practice is also needed but the time it takes to make a behavior, response, etc inherent is very tied to the initial method of introduction).
Again, I walked into Felix's office in desperation but also with a tremendous amount of negativity and doubt. Felix will be the first to admit that the efficacy of talk therapy really isn't very impressive. Well, Felix Scardino is truly the outlier.