Luther Barnes

Greetings!! My name is Luther Ray Barnes I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Georgia with a Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling. I was born in Gloucester VA. My parents were not married. My mother lived in the Norfolk Area and already had two (2) children. She met my father while he was stationed in the Navy there. In an effort to assist her, my paternal grandparents legally adopted me and raised me in Biloxi MS. While growing up I spent time in the summers with my mother in Norfolk and my father in Chicago. Growing up with my grandparents afforded me many opportunities especially with travel. During my childhood I had the opportunity to travel to many of our states and to travel to Canada a few times. While in college I had the privilege to travel to Belize and Guatemala. In my adulthood I have been to the Bahamas and Mexico. I love to travel and learn of different cultures. I have a list of places I plan to travel to which includes, England, Italy, and Greece to mention a few. My undergraduate degree is in Accounting which I obtained from Xavier University in Louisiana. After working many years in the accounting field my drive for a job that would benefit me financially changed. I decided I wanted to change careers and work in an area that would provide me with the opportunity to be of more service to others, which is a great passion of mine. Having struggled with Alcohol Use Disorder for many years and overcoming it, I decided to return to school to get the educational background I needed to appropriately assist others who struggle with addiction. Thus, I decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling with Liberty University Online and I completed that degree in 1983. My next educational goal is to return to Liberty to pursue a Doctoral Degree Program in Counseling Education and Supervision. Since graduation I have worked with the Fulton County Accountability DUI Treatment Court and now work with their Veterans Treatment Court and Drug Court in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. I have worked with individuals, couples, and families to include children and teens. I believe in looking closely into each individual I work with having the intent to provide a therapeutic approach that maximizes beneficial service for that individual rather than utilizing a stereotypical, “cookie-cutter” approach. Working with Fulton County has afforded the opportunity and experience to work with a multicultural population to include various races/ethnicities, genders, gender identities, ages, and homelessness. Although I am familiar with and have utilized the various therapeutic approaches, I identify as a “CBT’er”. I love Cognitive Behavioral Therapy because it motivates an individual to have awareness of faulty cognitions, values, and beliefs, to focus on the root causes of these, and to work on restructuring them. I believe if we change our perspective and worldview it changes our patterns of behaviors. Changing your thoughts will change your behavior; changing your behavior will change your life. From early childhood, my grandparents and parents taught me [by example] to meet people where they are, to embrace them, accept them for who they are with no judgment, and at all costs look for the good in them. They further taught me never to tear anyone down but rather build them up. And this is who I have always been because of their example. As a professional counselor, I stand by one of our mantras which reflects these principles and that is: Do no harm. My greatest joy in life is to walk with others on their paths of overcoming substance dependency/disorder or any other unhealthy behaviors.