Meet Adam Holman of Main Quest Psychotherapy, LLC and MEN.tal Health Community

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Holman.

Hi Adam, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, let’s briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My pathway to working as a therapist and owning my practice necessarily started with my mental health challenges. I had struggled with my mental health since I was a child, and all of this came to a head when I went to college. Initially pursuing a major in Computer Science, I ironically ended up with an addiction to video games that led to me failing and dropping out of my entire first two years of courses. Between failing, dropping all of my classes mid-semester, and taking semesters off, by the time I was 21, I had been going to university for three years only to receive a GPA of 1.7 and a handful of college credits. Eventually, my university let me know that I could not go forward due to my academic performance. That’s the moment I started to turn things around.

At this point, I had not told anyone that I was failing. As far as the people in my life were concerned, I was excelling and on course towards graduating. I had felt so much shame, anxiety, and worry around judgment that I concealed my struggles from everyone in my life. I dealt with these feelings by playing video games 16 hours per day, where I felt competent, where my mind was too busy to think about all these overwhelming feelings, and where I had friends who were happy to hear from me. When I was told that I was being kicked out of my university, I was filled with dread as I saw the reality of the situation and was faced with the need to change. I remember thinking, “I either need to tell everyone I’m failing, or I need to find my way out of this, and I’m not ready to tell people I’m failing.” That night I didn’t go home and immediately played video games. I walked, sat in the park, and thought about what was happening. I started understanding myself, and in the next six months, I took huge strides in addressing my mental health. In particular, I recognized that I had a massive fear of failure that was ironically causing me to fail. I knew I would need to confront that.

However, I applied to a different university and got accepted with a different major. I had always enjoyed listening to people, had a knack for understanding people, and had just successfully worked myself out of a major mental health hole. I decided to major in Social Work to work in the mental health sphere eventually. I consider myself my first client, and I thought, “I found so much relief, I want others to experience this same relief, and if I was able to get myself here, I’m sure I can guide others to find relief, too.” Between feeling less anxious, confronting my fear of failure actively, and working towards a major I truly cared about, I achieved a 4.0 on my first semester back. I sprinted to improve my mental health to be a better resource for others. I was on a mission to be the person I needed when struggling.

Fast forward to now, I spent a year working as a Hospice Social Worker before interning as a therapist at my local community mental health center. From there, I fell in love with providing therapy and continued to do so in group therapy practices for a total of 7-years of practice. A little over a year ago, I opened Main Quest Psychotherapy. I’ve specialized in providing therapy for video game and technology addictions, as well as social anxiety and relationship challenges. I can say confidently that I’ve become the person I needed when I was struggling, and it has been an absolute gift to be that person for others.

Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
I had to go through so many challenges to get started, and those challenges continue now. One of the things that changed majorly as a result of my experience getting here is that I started to view challenges differently. Instead of viewing it as a problem or a barrier, I looked at the challenge as something I would learn and grow from. Because I had been through so many challenges to get here, it was proven that challenge can be great if you lean into it. The most recent challenge I had to overcome was learning how to start a business (they need to teach you that while you’re training to be a therapist). It has been an entirely new set of skills, and on top of that, learning to balance those skills while continuing to attend to my clients.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Main Quest Psychotherapy, LLC and MEN.tal Health Community?
Main Quest Psychotherapy specializes in providing therapy to young adults who have difficulty balancing their technology/video game use, meeting their potential, finding motivation, struggling with relationships, or having difficulty with performance/social situations. I provide therapy online to anyone living anywhere in Arizona. Arizona does not have another provider specializing in tech/video game addictions. This is something that I want to see change, so I also provide training and supervision to other therapists who want to learn more about providing effective therapy and treating video game/technology addictions. Finally, I offer support for parents through courses to teach them how to parent and set boundaries around video game use effectively. I recently started a mental health community focused on young men called MEN.tal Health. As I did, many men are dealing with mental health challenges without help or support. There are many reasons for this, and MEN.tal Health is dedicated to providing resources and a community for young men to learn and discuss their mental health. The community exists on Instagram and will expand to provide educational streams and resources.

What does success mean to you?
I have a very simple definition of success; choosing to live life in a way you value. What I like about this definition is that you have complete control over your success and don’t have to sit around and wait to succeed. The way this works is that in any moment where you’re making a choice regarding how to use your time, you ask, “How could I use my time in a way that I value?” If you then go and do whatever that is, you’re instantly succeeding. If you do this repeatedly, you will build a life that you value. This simple formula brought me here and kept me moving to this day.

Pricing:

• Parenting Course: Setting Boundaries around Video Games and Tech – $29.99

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mainquestpsychotherapy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/men.talhealth.community/
• Other: https://www.udemy.com/course/parental-tech-boundaries/?referralCode=2F041FBA719F599689A7