The Enneagram Behavior Model has been used for decades as a way of helping people understand their inner motivations and finding solutions to their specific issues. Counseling psychologist Jay Brandenburg-Nau uses the Enneagram model to help his clients discover more about their inner workings and find peace and happiness more easily.
Jay Brandenburg-Nau
Jay Brandenburg-Nau has spent more than a decade helping people overcome life’s obstacles through counseling psychology and fellowship. Working primarily in Colorado, he helps clients achieve a healthier outlook on life by understanding their deepest drives and motivations. One of the most useful tools he has at his disposal is the Enneagram model, which details nine personality traits that anyone can identify with.
After earning a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Denver Seminary, Jay Brandenburg-Nau began empowering people in his community and giving them resources to grow through counseling. The Enneagram model for personality types ultimately helps his clients attain personal growth that can fuel their lives to be more pleasant and productive.
“The model helps clients align with a certain personality type–the one they connect with the most–which helps them understand deeper influences and motivations better,” says Jay Brandenburg-Nau. “By improving their awareness and introducing them to what makes them tick, they can learn how to be happier.”
One of the most famous personality models, the Myers Briggs test, helps people get to know themselves better by categorizing certain ways of thinking. The Enneagram is similar, but it provides deeper meanings to our traits and inner workings. In turn, this helps Jay Brandenburg-Nau teach his clients about their deeply-rooted needs as well as what’s needed to improve their lifestyles.
The nine different personality types of the Enneagram model represent a certain key component to your personality that dominates the others. This can include how you view the world, how you react to positive or negative stimuli, and how you manage stressful situations. The model is a lot more detailed than the Myers Briggs and helps clients connect with inner mechanisms in their subconscious.
“When my clients look at or hear all the different personality traits and what they imply, they inevitably gravitate to a handful––if not all of them,” says Jay Brandenburg-Nau. “However, the model is about discovering the one trait that you most identify with so you can learn personality-specific ways of coping with life.”
The Enneagram model helps counselors like Jay Brandenburg-Nau tune into the inner workings of their clients’ motivations and perspectives, ultimately giving him a better idea of what kind of treatment is needed. He is able to teach his clients that their behavior isn’t always an accurate depiction of their personalities and that actions or behaviors may be fueled by deep-rooted feelings or mentalities.
“Learning what influences us and motivates us will only help us understand how to achieve peace and happiness easier,” says Jay Brandenburg-Nau. “The Enneagram model can act as a sort of blueprint towards our best selves.”
