ABOUT JOHN CORDRAY
John Cordray is a Licensed Professional Counselor and the host of The Mental Health Today Show. John is also the founder of the Mental Health Community, an online community for mental health professionals to connect, network, and find jobs in mental health tech. John is a telehealth therapist and is licensed in three states (Washington, Missouri, and Kentucky).
He holds a Master's in Professional Counseling and he has been a Licensed Professional Counselor since 2007.
John has seen all ages of clients, but his passion is working with children, adolescents, and families. John started to see clients virtually online in 2016 (pre-COVID) when telehealth counseling was very new.
John's Story:
I didn't initially set out to become a therapist, in fact, I dreamed of becoming the next David Letterman and having my own show. I graduated from the same college as David Letterman, and I earned a degree in Radio and TV production. But, I didn't become the next David Letterman, but I do have my own show!
I met my wife, Julie, in college and we got married two weeks after graduation. Over 29 years later we're still going strong!
Fast forward several years after we married, Julie and I moved to St. Louis, Missouri (with two little kids in tow), for me to attend seminary. My love for God and for helping teens with hard and difficult issues compelled me to pursue youth ministry as a career.
Three years into my seminary degree I realized my true calling was to become a therapist. I wanted to learn how to help people who struggle with so many mental health issues.
So, I spent another couple of years earning my master's in professional counseling at a local university in St. Louis.
After I became a Licensed Professional Counselor I started a private practice and later worked in a school district to help the staff work with traumatized and abused students.
John's Credentials:
2005 - Master's in Professional Counseling
2007 - Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
2010 - Board-certified counselor (NCC)
2019 - Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC)
2021 - Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)
After I became a licensed therapist I wanted to do something bigger - something that could make a big impact. I wanted to help more people who needed encouragement with their mental health.
But, I thought that dream would never become a reality, just like my dream of becoming the next David Letterman.
Live on Periscope
Then I discovered Periscope, the live-streaming platform acquired by Twitter. Periscope is no longer operating, but you can still view my Periscope replays here.
I was intrigued that people could watch someone talk live from around the world - Wow! Then it hit me, "What if I could use live-streaming as a platform to help a lot of people who struggle with mental health?"
Would people be interested in a therapist on Periscope talking about anxiety and depression? Yep!
In fact, I was invited to speak at the Periscope Summit in San Fransico to speak about how live-streaming can help promote mental health.
SXSW
A few months later, I spoke at South by Southwest (SXSW) in San Antonio, Texas. The message of helping people with mental health issues was taking off more than I had ever thought possible.
I discovered podcasting (2015)
As I met people in the social media space I heard about podcasting. Not too different than live-streaming, only it's not live and you're behind the mic, instead of in front of the camera.
After listening to and learning from the likes of Pat Flynn, John Lee Dumas, and Chris Ducker, I decided to launch my own podcast in 2015. Again, I wanted to reach as many people as I could who struggle with mental health.
I started recording in my office after seeing clients, it was a pain to load up my equipment, set it up, and then take it down again, every time I wanted to record an episode. But I did it, and I fell in love with podcasting.
I couldn't think of a name to call my podcast, so I named it The John Cordray Show. But later I changed it to the Mental Health Today Show so people would know what it was about, just by reading the name.
It was fun seeing my podcast be listed on iTunes. I even hired someone to do my intro music and voiceover. That's my show on the bottom right.
Many episodes later I was invited on Chris Ducker's podcast to talk about how I was building my personal brand around mental health. You can listen to the episode How One Entrepreneur Became a Branding Building Machine with John Cordray.
And then I had Chris Ducker on my show talking about burnout as an entrepreneur. Chris even talked about things he hadn't talked about before. You can listen to the episode Overcoming Entrepreneur Burnout with Chris Ducker.
I haven't been on John Lee Dumas's or Pat Flynn's podcast yet, but who knows, maybe one day!
I later changed the name of my podcast to better reflect my mission and vision to the Mental Health Today Show. Right away, you know exactly what my show is about.
Watch on Amazon
In 2016 I had the incredible opportunity to launch Season 1 of The Mental Health Today Show on Amazon. It was surreal to see The Mental Health Today Show on my TV. Wow, how cool is that!
It's been a tremendous experience to be able to help thousands of people work on their mental health. I can't wait to see what more can be done to dismantle the stigma of mental health.
In 2018 I accepted a position in a rural school district to help the schools learn how to support students (PK - 12) who were affected by trauma and abuse. I helped the school district identify the students who were suffering from severe abuse and trauma by using Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
I also trained the school counselors on how to use the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) to better identify students who were displaying suicidal ideation and to prevent unnecessary visits to the hospital. I was also successful in partnering with a community mental health agency to provide a therapist and case manager in every school. Then COVID hit (we all know what this did to our world), and after almost 4 years of working in the schools, my contract ended.
I'm now working remotely as a virtual therapist and I'm able to set my own schedule and see clients from the comfort of my home. One positive thing that COVID provided was the normalcy of people being able to get help online, so telehealth is much more accepted today than it was in 2016.
I love how my clients are able to have their sessions from home, and even be able to do so before they go to work. Telehealth has made it super convenient for both therapists and clients.