Therapist Profile & Treatment Approach

Wataru often reminds his clients and fellow therapists that the primary objectives of psychotherapy are unlearning habitual ways of creating pitfalls and learning how to be truly kind to one’s self. These two aspirations may seem perfectly reasonable and simple enough; however, upon closer examination, one may realize that consistently adhering to these guiding principles in daily life can be quite challenging. In fact, more often than not, we are unaware of mental and behavioral habits that are compromising our quality of life, causing unnecessary stress, undermining our resilience, and making us susceptible to mental as well as physical ailments. The key to learning how to be genuinely and consistently kind to ourselves by extinguishing harmful mental and behavioral habits is metacognition, also known as mindful awareness. Simply put, it is the capacity to monitor one’s internal experience at arm’s length without overidentification and reactive judgment. Mindfulness affords us a headspace where we can exercise psychological flexibility effectively and prevent ourselves from reacting to one’s thoughts unskillfully.

Modern psychotherapy continues to reinvent a variety of treatment modalities that purport to improve our mental health; however, to this day, it is still not paying adequate attention to the cultivation of metacognition as the transdiagnostic foundation of mental and behavioral health. It is not an overstatement to say that deficiency in mindful awareness (metacognition) is the underlying cause of a wide range of ailments. For this reason, Wataru primarily employs mindfulness-based treatment modalities grounded in the science of contemplative neuroscience and third-wave cognitive behavioral therapies, including MBSR, MBCT, ACT, and body-oriented therapies.

Wataru also encourages each client to closely reexamine their lifestyle and discusses the importance of alignment in relation to their long-term goals and personal vision of well-being. Because our well-being depends on how we conduct our lives each day, the pursuit of “happiness” is worthwhile only if it is grounded in the practice of cultivating awareness. By making small but meaningful adjustments to daily life using the power of awareness, we can gradually shift and transform our very being; this is how we take care of our future selves. Wataru reminds clients that the only way to feel grounded in life is to step into and stay on the path to becoming the best possible version of themselves and making tangible progress toward self-actualization (eudaimonia). Once again, for this approach to work, one must be consistently on their side by learning to be truly and genuinely kind to themselves. As Jon Kabat-Zinn pointed out, healing always involves an attitudinal and emotional transformation. Are you ready for truly meaningful change?

+++++++++++++++++++
Wataru Okada (he/him/his) is a native of Japan and has been living and working in Western New York for over 30 years. Before arriving at psychotherapy as a vocation, Wataru studied chemistry, fine arts, museology, and social science including human behavior. His engaging style of psychotherapy often draws upon his multicultural, cross-disciplinary education and background in martial arts, yoga, and Zen practice. Wataru served diverse clients in a community-based psychiatric clinics for many years and continues to educate himself and others about the benefit of contemplative neuro-psychotherapy and mindful lifestyles. Wataru is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with the privilege to practice psychotherapy in the State of New York. In addition to the extensive training in clinical psychosocial treatment, Wataru also holds a master’s degree in fine arts (MFA) as well as an undergraduate degree in analytical chemistry (BS).