Crosswinds Center for Personal and Professional Development began with a vision – to provide high-quality, responsive, culturally-sensitive, and individualized services across the lifespan.  While our main service is the provision of mental health care to persons suffering from an array of emotional and relational problems, the vision is so much broader than this.  Our staff strives to be of service to those who want to improve their performance at work or other venue; to provide the tools to explore and develop those next career options; to find ways to more effectively lead organizations.

What’s in a Name?

The paragraph above explains why we focus on development that is both personal and professional.  So, why Crosswinds Center?  Our founder Dr. Hicks is a commercial pilot, and he talks about how much difficulty he had with learning how to land the plane comfortably so that his passengers didn’t wonder whether or not the landing gear was still attached to the plane or if they had been shot down.  The biggest problem was learning to deal with crosswinds.  Just like in life, the winds rarely blow the way that we want them to and we must make adjustments in order to get where we want to go.  At times, those adjustments are relatively small – and even when we don’t do it right things still work out just fine.  At other times, those adjustments must be so significant that they tax the limits of our skill, comfort, and equipment.  Occasionally, the winds are so great that no amount of adjusting will allow for a safe landing and a new destination must be chosen at least temporarily.  Reflecting on how one must deal with crosswinds as a pilot and how things may work out in any given situation provides insight into our own personal and professional destinations, and how forcing things or not being ready can result in very hard and uncomfortable landings.