Jason Drwal, Ph.D.
Meet Jason Drwal, Ph.D.
Jason is the Founder of Evergreen Therapy Center. He is a Clinical Psychologist with over 25 years of experience.
Jason is an expert in his field, specializing in trauma. He has worked with hundreds of veterans and their families. Jason strives to promote positive changes in the lives of his clients.
- Location: North Liberty/Telehealth
- Insurance: BCBS, Medicare, Midlands Choice, Health Partners, Cigna and Private Pay
- Schedule: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday: 9AM-3PM
- Ages Treated: 18 and older
- Therapies: Individuals
Issues I Can Help You With
- Anxiety, Panic, Stress
- Depression, Low Mood
- Chronic Pain, Adjustment to Chronic Illness
- Codependency, Dependency
- Family Conflict, Parenting Issues
- Family Conflict, Parenting Issues
- Life & Career Coaching
- Life Transitions, Employment Stress
- Low Self-Esteem, Chronic Self-Doubt
- Trauma & PTSD
My Therapy Style
I think of myself as a coach, not just a therapist. What does a coach do? They take a complicated set of tasks and teach you the fundamentals. They strengthen you through training, develop complex skills through simple exercises and help you set realistic and achievable goals. Most importantly, they know what works and what doesn’t. They understand what gets results fastest and what leads to a dead end.
I’ll coach you through your problems. I’ll give you exercises to help you build your confidence and retain your self-esteem.
What I've Learned About Effective Therapy
Some people seem to be looking for a specific technique in the hopes that it will solve their particular problem. Sometimes there are techniques that seem to fit for one person vs. another. That’s important, but research shows us several things about what makes therapy effective and it isn’t the newest technique you saw on the news or read in books.
1. The therapist is far more important than the techniques. Yes, despite all the new techniques being talked about in the media, most therapies (granted they aren’t doing anything off the wall) tend to be about equally effective when carried out by competent practitioners. So when someone tells you there is only one way to treat an anxiety disorder or Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or depression, you should be very skeptical. Research from hundreds of therapy studies shows that the best predictor of how much clients improve in therapy is best predicted by who you work with – not what the therapist does. If you feel supported, understood, and encouraged by your therapist, that is the most important thing. You need to find someone who you feel comfortable with, trust, and have good rapport.
2. Therapy needs to work on the biggest problems. If you suffer from childhood abuse, you should be talking about that and not about why your mother-in-law invalidates you. Your therapist’s job is to make sure that you are dealing with the issues that are holding you back. It’s OK to talk about the day-to-day stresses but they shouldn’t be the sole focus of therapy if other issues brought you in for help.
3. Therapy should teach you skills. You should be learning cope skills, strategies, and gaining new insights into your problems. Getting things off your chest can feel good, but you should also be leaving each session of therapy with something actionable. You need to learn tools to take into your everyday life. I find that most clients who have therapists who almost exclusively listen and offer little advice or feedback tend to find therapy less helpful. Your therapist needs be giving you tools to use or new insights to approach life.
4. Therapy isn’t forever. If you’ve been working on the same problems for years with the same therapist and you think of your therapist as more of a friend or confidant than a helping professional, then the therapy has probably lost its edge. Based on research, most problems significantly improve in 10 to 20 sessions, with additional benefits from periodic sessions afterwards. That doesn’t mean all the problems are solved in that time frame ,but most people need time to put the insights from therapy into practice and change the way they approach life. After they’ve tried that, more therapy may be helpful to address further stuck points. But if you are seeing the same therapist for 10 years every week for the same problems, you should really reconsider what you’re getting out of that process.
