I remember the exact moment I made that decision. I was in the car with my mother on the way to a dental appointment. As my mother turned into the dentist office parking lot, she asked me about attending college and I told her about what I had decided.

Although I knew I didn't want to be a preacher, I believed the Bible is full of practical wisdom that you can tap into and use to live a highly satisfying life.

True to my plan, after graduating from high school, I entered a Bible college and majored in Christian education.

During my college years, I became interested in psychology and counseling. So, following college I attended graduate school majoring in these disciplines. I wanted to be better equipped to help people and I believed training in psychology and counseling would help me accomplish that.

I earned a master's degree in counseling and a PhD in psychology.

After completing my education, I worked at Crichton College as the chairman of the Social Science Department and an assistant professor. I also began practicing psychology.

My first job in the counseling field was working for an agency counseling alcoholics and drug addicts. While working in this setting, I was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

I fell in love with the step-by-step approach of AA. However, I still believed theology and psychology offered much that was not included in the twelve-step program's approach.

I was looking for a step-by-step program that you can use to address difficult problems and that draws from theology, psychology, and twelve-step recovery literature. Not being able to find such a program, I started collecting specific tools and organizing them into comprehensive step-by-step plans.

Dr. Stanley's Approach to Helping You Find Stress Relief

Through all my research and trial-and-error experience, I learned two important facts…

First, most of the distress you experience in life comes for living a default lifestyle - that is, a lifestyle that happened because of circumstances rather than thought and planning.

Second, to live a full, highly satisfying life you have to put time and effort into designing the lifestyle that is right for you.

I saw that the stress of life causes people to often have foggy thinking. When you are hurting emotionally and/or physically, you just don't feel like putting the necessary energy and effort into changing.

You need relief and you need it quickly. Once you feel better, you are more able to handle whatever is causing your distress.

I also observed that rapid relief from stress and feeling better is not enough. You need real relief that goes beyond the symptoms and addresses the causes of your distress.

To find real relief, you must design and live a balanced life…a life in which your needs are being met in all the important areas of life.

I have seen this become the reality for many people during the 40 plus years of my career. As a psychologist, I worked with thousands of people in a variety of settings, including the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Memphis Tennessee, Christian Psychological and Educational Services, Inc., Memphis Area Addiction Clinics, St. Francis Hospital, Lakeside Behavioral Health Systems, several residential treatment centers, and nursing homes

After breaking my leg and being unable to walk without aid or drive for almost a year, I decided to shift my professional activities from psychology to life coaching.