Vaughn Roche, LCSW

Vaughn Roche, LCSW I've helped many people improve their lives, whether they came to me in crisis or simply wanting more from life. Call for a free phone consultation.

I've been a counselor/therapist for more than 20 years, and have worked for three of Utah’s largest healthcare providers: the University of Utah, Valley Mental Health and Intermountain Healthcare. I've helped people through a wide range of life struggles: depression, anxiety, social anxiety, alcohol abuse, demoralizing jobs, debilitating medical conditions, grief, self-esteem problems, and the feeling that they just weren't getting enough out of life. I've also helped professionals advance their working and personal lives, including those in the medical, legal, educational, and financial fields. For many people, the work environment can be distressing, even toxic. I've helped many develop strategies to relieve their work stress, avoid demoralization and to find a better professional path. I received my master’s of social work from the University of Utah, where I was Phi Kappa Phi and recipient of one of the school’s highest awards. My continuing education since then has included training and advanced certification at institutes in suburban Philadelphia and New York City that were started by two of the most prominent figures in modern psychotherapy. I'm a diplomate of the worldwide Academy of Cognitive Therapy, headquartered in Philadelphia.

Sometimes, you have to fold your wings, belly up to the flowering nutrition, chill and drink. Just give it a rest, if on...
08/12/2024

Sometimes, you have to fold your wings, belly up to the flowering nutrition, chill and drink. Just give it a rest, if only for a blink of the eye.

First fire of the season.
12/03/2023

First fire of the season.

First fire of the season. On a wet, misty evening.
12/03/2023

First fire of the season. On a wet, misty evening.

Snowy woodland scenes always warm me.
02/05/2023

Snowy woodland scenes always warm me.

09/05/2021

The late Abraham Maslow, one of the most influential psychologists of all time, said something like this: It is better to be a member of your species than of your local neighborhood. I’ve always interpreted that to mean that many noble ideals of life are embraced by people at large but not necessarily honored or demonstrated on a day-to-day basis by the man or woman next door, or in the next office.

People tend to be petty, as illustrated, for example, by the want to be the boss’s favorite, regardless of what the favored one truly contributes, or to have the biggest SUV on the block, regardless of how strapped the driver is financially. Insecurity drives this behavior. We seem to continue on as children: "Mom likes me best" or "I’ve got the coolest (fill in the blank) in the entire school."

Maslow understood this pettiness; he said it tended to create a "pathology of the average." He believed, or so I’ve always interpreted, that people who find something more than this pettiness — who find something truly meaningful, something that fires their passion — reach a certain escape velocity that permits them to break free of the gravitational pull of self-soothing pettiness. And, given the mass of pettiness in our world, that’s a challenge.

Maslow said the escape was possible if a person could achieve a mindfulness that focused on something meaningful and passionate to them. He referred to this state of mind as "peak experience." It is a state of mind where time itself ceases to exist because we are wholly absorbed in what we’re doing. Those of you who have found yourself immersed in a good book, an enjoyable stretch of writing, a craft project, cooking a well-seasoned stew, will relate to this state of mind.

As a longtime resident of the western United States, where great rivers have been dammed and scenic and spiritual canyons inundated behind them, I like Maslow’s metaphor for the bliss and productivity of this state of mind. He said a person at peak experience is "like a river without dams."

Indeed.

03/24/2018

You can see my main website at vaughnroche.com

07/15/2017

Many clients have come to me with difficulty taking nourishment from the daily efforts that are arguably more vital to emotional health than major life accomplishments. They starve themselves of the sense of worth, capability and gratification that can be gained by acknowledging and absorbing daily achievement. They often believe a fulfilling life won't be theirs until they reach the major goals they strive for, or worse, only wish for. It is a formula for unhappiness, even depression. What if our strategy of physical nourishment were to go without eating for days, believing we need no food to sustain us until we sit down to that full and lavish banquet, say, two weeks from now? We wouldn't think of depriving ourselves of daily meals, yet we readily, and often unconsciously, deprive ourselves the intake of emotional enrichment that is vital to wellbeing and life fulfillment. I recommend an exercise I've borrowed from the great psychologist and therapist Martin Seligman. At bedtime, write down three things that worked out that day. Then write down what made them work out. Consider what personal strengths, qualities, talents and skills were required. Trust me, these don't have to be big achievements. (I have in mind for myself how I managed to clear a clog in a bathroom sink and save the hundreds of dollars that I would have spent on the plumber that I was beginning to believe I needed. Without doubt, persistence was one quality involved.) The point of the exercise is to acquaint, or reacquaint, ourselves with who we are and what we possess internally that permits us to affect our world in ways we want or need. In doing this exercise daily, we begin to shed any sense of helplessness or hopelessness or just plain boredom or existential drift we might have in regard to life. It is an exercise that can provide daily emotional nourishment and sustain us until we achieve our major goals, and even if we don't.

04/23/2015

No one said building a company is easy. But it's time to be honest about how brutal it really is--and the price so many founders secretly pay.

Address

699 E South Temple, Ste 240
Salt Lake City, UT
84102

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 8pm
Tuesday 8am - 8pm
Wednesday 8am - 8pm
Thursday 8am - 8pm
Friday 8am - 8pm
Saturday 9am - 1pm

Telephone

+18017923869

Website

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