Michael Salas, MA, PLMHP, PLADC

My name is Michael Salas and I am a Provisional Licensed Mental Health Practitioner and a Provisional Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor. I also possess the credential as a Certified Dementia Practitioner. The theory that I specialize in for counseling is Rational Emotive and I also have training in validation techniques for work with confused clients who live with a variety of forms of dementia.

I was born and raised in Scottsbluff Nebraska where I graduated from high school. I attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where I earned by Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, I then began my graduate education at Doane College where I earned my Masters of Arts in Counseling.

Throughout my career I have served as an advocate for elderly and developmentally disabled populations. Depression, dementia, coping with loss, adjusting to disabilites, learning to live with disabilities, dealing with physical and emotional pain, inability to work and accepting death are all focuses of my treatment interests. My training with the elderly has included a holistic approach, which looks at the entire person and family as much as possible. Although counseling is a main focus of mine, education on aging, death and dementia are also in my area of expertise.

I also have an interest and focus on Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Trasngendered (GLBT) counseling. This is a population that deserves to have a place where they feel it is safe for them to disclose information and cope with changes and problems in their lives. At Parallels we believe that we can better help people cope with stressors that a person is living with in relation to their sexuality. It is our goal that GLBT members feel non-judged and accepted when participating in any Parallels program.

More recently, grief support and counseling for medical issues has become another interest of mone. In late 2008, I was diagnosed with a form of kidney cancer called a Wilm's Tumor, which is a type of pediatric cancer. I underwent six months of chemotherapy and am now cancer free. Throughout my treatment it was time to use the rational emotive skills that I had been teaching others to help me through this crisis. As a cancer survivor, I learned how these skills can help beyond by adjusting to the uncertainty surrounding the diagnosis of cancer, treatment and survivorship.