Cofounder of Ignite Counseling & Coaching
McKay started working in wilderness therapy in 2002, helping teens and parents overcome complex mental health issues and create a family culture of health and healing. Since then, McKay has worked in therapeutic boarding schools, the prison system, the military, and clinical private practice settings. McKay’s experience as a distinguished combat veteran, combined with his training as a therapist, has provided unique insights into both sides of trauma treatment.
McKay’s love of psychology and quest for self-mastery began at 17, when he found himself floundering as a drug addicted high school dropout. Having just enough insight to see this was not the life he wanted, McKay began the painful yet enriching journey toward recovery. After enjoying the fruits of sobriety, he began working with struggling adolescents. This rewarding work prodded him back into school to become a master’s level therapist. McKay’s authentic desire to help people reach their potential led him into a series of leadership positions, ultimately becoming the executive director of a well-respected treatment program.
The journey from high-school drop out to therapist and executive director was a rocky path that required McKay to reframe the meaning of his failures from immutable deficiencies to necessary steps toward development. This refining process extended into his parenting as he and his wife raised their four children. He learned that “perfect parenting” is neither achievable nor the objective. Instead, he discovered that we all have myopic perspectives, misleading emotions and entrenched weaknesses that we need to have courage enough to face. His studies along with his professional and personal experience helped him see that the most effective parents sought to understand their children before seeking to influence them.