About Joanne Dougan, M.Ed. Creator of Plan C Strategies
About Joanne Dougan, M.Ed. Creator of Plan C Strategies
My family September 2023
Education
Walden School, NYC, 1973
Bard College, B.A., Women’s Studies, 1977
University of Massachusetts/Boston, M.Ed., Counseling/Psychology, 1988
What I want you to know about me
I am an experienced and caring therapist who has been on a transformative journey my entire adult life.
I launched my private therapy practice back in 1988 out of my apartment until I was able to move into my own office at 7 Marshall Street (aka The Boston Stone Building. The point from which all distances in Massachusetts are measured) in downtown Boston. Over the years, my practice flourished.
My approach to therapy goes beyond more classic modalities of therapy. Many smart and sensitive people who walked through my door for deep, introspective experienced profound change in how they felt about themselves and their lives.
In addition to single women, couples and a few families, I led a monthly group beginning in 1990 which ran for 7 years — the Goals and Empowerment Team — where women came together to support one another and learn many of the techniques that I use today.
In the mid-2010s, I felt compelled to let go completely of doing classic therapy with people and began to share the techniques I used in my own mind with a wider audience. Everyone knows about Plan A…and a lot of people ask what your Plan B is…but what’s after that? Plan C! That is the best way to describe Plan C Strategies. Answers to the questions you have when you have already done things to create change.
It has been a true honor to witness the incredible growth and empowerment that occur when smart, sensitive people embrace Plan C Strategies in their daily lives.
On a personal level, I have delved into individual therapy, couples therapy, and even a transformative family therapy session with my own parents. My journey has been enriched by various healing modalities like yoga, EFT, acupuncture, and meditation, alongside copious reading.
My strengths lie in active listening, skillful reframing of perspectives, and asking thought-provoking questions that guide conversations forward.
With a deep well of empathy and a sprinkle of humor, I strive to create a safe and supportive space for navigating the complexities of your life.
Let's journey together towards growth and empowerment.
Want to know more?
I'm a devoted wife and mother who helps people, especially kids and women. My views are influenced by the women's movement from the '70s and changing attitudes about women. Growing up, I loved the hippie scene in Central Park during high school. My parents, successful professionals from Ivy League schools, instilled a love for learning in me, shaping my path in life.
Upon reflection of that memory, my predominant recollections are centered around my father's narcissistic and rage-driven tendencies and my mother’s enabling of his behaviors.
An anecdote I often recounted in therapy was the routine scenario where I sat in my room, the most distant from the apartment's entrance, diligently working on homework. Every weeknight at 7 PM, I awaited the unmistakable jingle of keys in the lock, bracing myself for the uncertainty that followed as my father returned home from work.
One question endlessly swirled in my mind - was he in a good mood, or would his arrival herald another evening engulfed in anger?
I struggled with anxiety and depression while growing up, facing challenges exacerbated by comments from my mom about my weight. and height. She would go tsk tsk as she would say to me, “You’ve got a pretty face, but the rest of you…”. To add to the already complex situation, I was given hormones to halt my growth, a decision made so I wouldn’t be “too tall to find a husband”. Note: my father was 6’5” and my mother was 6’ tall.
Throughout this turbulent period, I grappled with panic attacks, shedding countless tears along the way, all while managing to barely maintain an average academic performance. Finding solace in music and my friends, particularly playing the guitar, diving into books and films, and exploring the intriguing world of museums offered fleeting moments of respite amidst the tumult of my daily life.
I read the NY Times, Boston Globe, People magazine, Daily Beast, Meidas Touch and New York Magazine every day. I LOVE politics and news about politics and government.
I love water for swimming, soaking and drinking. Always a swimmer, I swam five days a week in a Master’s Swim group 1991 - 1997. I went twice weekly to cold plunging at Walden Pond in Concord, MA. Sept 2023 - June 2024. Every summer, I join my local town pool and “bounce” for an hour several times a week. It’s my own “water yoga aerobics” program. I drink hot water in a Yeti cup every day, all day.
I love yoga and began my practice in 1977. I move and stretch all the time.
I love to cook and do it every day and am known for making delicious salads.
While I have not travelled to many of the typical places, I have been around the world and visited many off the beaten path places. I lived in New York City, San Francisco and Boston.
Since 2003, I an urbanite who lives in suburbia.
A volunteer since high school, I have worked in pediatric wards, as an abortion counselor at San Francisco General Hospital, a reader to kindergartners, a sous chef in a Food Kitchen and currently (2024) a driver for seniors to get to medical appointments.
I watch tv and currently stream Netflix and MAX and am a huge fan of Jeopardy.
My Meyers-Briggs Type is I/ENFP. Right in the middle of I and E. All the way over on NFP.
Still interested in more details…
February 19, 1956 My mother and me leaving the hospital 7 days after my birth. My mother pushing my 3 year old brother in the wheelchair while being tended to by a nurse and a nurse holding me.
Cold plunging is a hobby
December, 2023
August, 1961…With my cousin (her father and my mother were siblings) who is two weeks younger than me. I was VERY tall and skinny with extremely long legs.
March 23, 1991…The afternoon on the day we got married.
May 20, 1997…Two weeks into motherhood.