Why I Wrote 'Breaking Down the Barriers to Helping People Achieve Sound Mental Health'
By Dr. Terry Samuels
In today’s world, conversations around mental health are louder than ever, but something is still getting lost. People are scared to seek help. Clinicians are burnt out or misaligned. And far too many communities are left behind by a system that promises healing, but often delivers confusion, stigma, or silence.
That’s exactly why I wrote Breaking Down the Barriers to Helping People Achieve Sound Mental Health.
What Inspired This Book
After decades of working as a licensed psychologist with a Doctorate in Psychology, and as an LPC with master's degrees in public administration and professional counseling, as well as advanced training as in NCC, CDBT, CPCS. I noticed a pattern: people aren’t just avoiding therapy because they’re too busy or uninterested. They’re scared. They’re ashamed. They’ve been told that needing help is a weakness, or worse, they’ve had a bad experience and decided never to try again.
Meanwhile, therapists, especially newer ones, are making crucial mistakes. They’re stepping outside their scope of practice. They’re not referring out. They’re trying to be everything to everyone, and in the process, clients suffer.
This book is part wake-up call, part roadmap, and part story archive. It’s built from the real, unfiltered experiences of clients (with identities changed for privacy) and clinicians alike.
What This Book Covers
Inside, you’ll find chapters like:
⦁ No Client Is the Same in Mental Health
⦁ Why Mental Health Turns People Off
⦁ Medication vs. Psychotherapy: What Actually Works?
⦁ Eliminating Dual Relationships and Ethical Dangers
⦁ Creating a Circle of Mentors in Clinical Practice
I also introduce a concept I call transformational ignorance, the choice to remain uninformed, even when the truth is right in front of us. It’s one of the biggest threats to healing I see today.
Who It’s For
This book is for the client who walked away from therapy once, and is wondering if it’s worth trying again.
It’s for the clinician who knows they’re stretched too thin and needs a reminder of what ethical, compassionate care looks like.
And it’s for anyone, young, middle-aged, or struggling silently, who needs to hear one thing: it’s okay to need help.
Final Thoughts
Breaking Down the Barriers isn’t soft or sugar-coated. It’s direct, grounded, and built for people who want real answers.
Whether you’re in the mental health field, thinking about therapy, or simply looking to understand what’s going wrong in how we treat our minds, this book was written for you.
