Southwest Family Services: Simonson Dan

Dan was one of the first counselors I saw and by far the best. I have lived further away from his office for several years now and have tried other counselors in the Minneapolis Metropolitan area for comparison.

I have found Dan the most intuitive when it comes to therapy. He uses his ability to show emotion appropriately and effectively in situations where patients need to feel empathy. He is democratic and his listening skills inform him when creating treatment plans for his clients. If a client needs more talk therapy, he will accommodate them. If they need more behavioral tasks to accomplish he will emphasize a different model within the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy spectrum.

When I was a client, I understood what Dan was teaching me and I still use the skills he taught me in therapy to this day. The thing that really sets Dan apart is his rapport building. I have not seen a therapist that does it better than him. Part of it is that he has a human quality that goes beyond pure diagnosis of a problem and a set of operations to solve it. He doesn’t view me as a set of diagnosis codes, and I appreciate him for that! I realized after I tried other therapists how important and special his approach was and is.

I recommend him to any teenager and/or adult that is struggling with the weight of life and wants a therapist to help augment their psychiatry/medication treatment!