Thomas S. Taylor

In His Own Words. . . .

A Personal Glimpse at Thomas Taylor

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How It All Began:

I grew up in a small town in Iowa but my view of life and the world changed forever after a semester abroad at St Olaf College. That semester abroad propelled me to circumnavigate the globe – studying, living and working in Jerusalem, Latin America, and Tokyo, Japan before getting ordained and landing in a small multicultural parish in South Shore Brooklyn 35 years ago. That same year began what turned out to be a non-stop 25 year run of post graduate training programs specializing in pastoral psychotherapy, clinical social work and psychotherapy and, eventually, psychoanalysis. 

I had the good fortune of leaving parish ministry and finishing my PhD from NYU at the same time the Lutheran Counseling Center made its bold commitment to support a full-time pastoral therapist. This included opening its 1st satellite office in Manhattan. Becoming a pastoral psychotherapist for the LCC introduced me to a close knit group of faith-based psychotherapists including Bob Mursch, Serge Castigliano and the late Kathy Hyland. The LCC offered me the chance and support to practice psychotherapy in a faith-based counseling center that, for me, was and is a marriage of two of my great passions. 

Married Life:

My other passion is my wife, Ann Tiemeyer. She needs no introduction to both the Lutheran and ecumenical world due to her 30+ years of ordained ministry in which she has served in full-time parish ministries and, recently, Interim pastoral ministries. Ann is a gifted administrator, disaster relief responder and social justice advocate who has held leadership positions with the National Council of Churches, Lutheran Ministries Higher Education (LMHE), and, in the wake of 9/11, Koinonia NYC. 

Before the pandemic hit Ann and I split our time between our apartment in Manhattan’s West Village and our home in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. However, since March we have been stationed-in-place – most the time – at our Jersey Shore home from which we are both able to work remotely. 

Hobbies or Interests:

While not exactly qualifying as a traditional hobby, I volunteer most of my spare time to guiding and training candidates in psychoanalysis at my psychoanalytic home, the National Psychological Association For Psychoanalysis (NPAP) in Greenwich Village. Among my roles at NPAP’s Training Institute, I am a faculty member and oversee NPAP’s candidates’ clinical experience and supervision in their training to become licensed and practicing psychoanalysts. 

My more traditional hobbies are traveling and photography, typically done in tandem and with Ann. Even now, locked down, I’ve discovered wherever I walk that iPhone photography is a tantalizing alternative – for now – to DSLR camera photos of Notre Dame, the Taj Mahal and the Dome of the Rock. 

Favorite quote:

Not necessarily a quote but my North Star for faith and life: 

The more I listen and learn the more I realize how much I don’t know and how much more I want to know. 

Why You Became A Therapist:

Instead of offering guidance about my future, my high school guidance counselor and I loved discussing a passion we shared in common – sports cars. We loved debating which one was our favorite: MGs, Porsches or Fiats. We never got around to me picking a college. It’s an unorthodox technique, I know. But my guidance counselor showed that in discovering another person’s passion, you not only create a bond with them you also unleash their energy that fuels and guides their future. That example taught me the underrated value of helping people discover and unleash their passion into the world. For me, being a therapist helps do that. 

Favorite Part of the Job:

One treat for my life at LCC is being a clinical supervisor, now with Alan Steinke, a very capable and dedicated former LCC faith-based counselor. Our counselors’ insights, compassion and empathy enrich and deepen me each time we meet. I count myself lucky to be involved in work that never ceases to surprise and engage me. I wake up each day hungry for more and go to bed each night spent over what I experienced. 

Here is a recent video created by Tom: https://vimeo.com/457892205

Dr. Taylor counsels at the LCC sites in Bronxville and at the 93rd Street location in Manhattan.

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