Gradual Change Therapy · Online, in English

Why radical change always knocks you down: the question that replaces all-or-nothing

You quit smoking cold turkey, started the strict diet, decided that from Monday everything would be different — and a week later it fell apart. That's not a willpower problem. It's a design problem, and there's a different question to ask instead of "how do I change everything right now."

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Systemic Approach

When this is you

3 signs this pattern is yours

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You start with the drastic version

The strict diet, quitting cold turkey, "starting Monday everything changes." A good week, then it collapses — and you go back to zero.

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You read it as weakness

You tell yourself you lack discipline. What actually happened is that the change was built to break — not that you were.

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You've done harder things than this

You rebuilt a whole life in another language, in another country, from nothing — so it doesn't add up that you can't hold a routine for two weeks. It's not about capacity. It's about how the step was sized.

Ricardo De Castro King — Clinical Psychologist

Who's with you

I'm Ricardo, and you won't be alone in this

I'm a clinical psychologist with more than 15 years working with people, trained in systemic family therapy. I'm Colombian, based in Barranquilla, and I see clients online. But before any title, I'm someone who understands what it's like to hold two languages and two worlds at once. Many of the people I work with in English think in Spanish first — they carry the same instinct to overhaul everything overnight that got them through a move, a new country, a new job, and now turn that same all-or-nothing switch on a habit that needed something gentler.

Redesigning how you change is easier with someone next to you. If this feels like the moment, let's take the first step together — at your pace, no pressure.

Master's in Systemic Family Therapy

Universidad Simón Bolívar

Clinical Psychologist

15+ years of clinical experience

University Professor

16 years teaching psychology

Systemic-Relational Approach

Barranquilla, Colombia · works online

Licensed Psychologist · Professional License 106127 (COLPSIC, Colombia)
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My approach

This is how I work with all-or-nothing change in therapy

I work from a systemic-relational approach: I don't treat a failed change as proof you lack willpower. I look at how the change was designed, what surrounds it — your schedule, your relationships, the expectations you carry — and where it was set up to break.

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Why it failed, not just that it failed

A sudden change is a change with no room to absorb a bad day. We look at what made the leap too big for your actual week, so the next attempt isn't just "trying harder."

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One step, not the whole leap

Instead of asking "how do I change everything now," we ask a different question: what's the smallest next step that could actually hold for two weeks without breaking?

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A step that survives your real life

The goal isn't a dramatic transformation story. It's a step sized to your actual week — work, family, the parts of your life that don't pause for a New Year's resolution — that you can still be doing a month from now.

How we start

A clear first step, no pressure

1

You book your assessment session

Message me on WhatsApp or leave your details in the form. We'll set up a first 60-minute video-call session, at a reduced rate (50% off).

2

We look at the change that keeps collapsing

In that first session I listen to what you've tried, how far it got, and where it broke. No rushed diagnoses, no jargon — just understanding, together, what the real-size step looks like for you.

3

We design your next step together

You decide with real information, not blindly. If it feels right for you, we agree on a process built around you. If not, I'll still point you toward what you need.

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If you make a sudden change, all you're setting yourself up to do is fall. The real question is: what's the next step, to get a little better?

— Ricardo De Castro King · Psychologist

Your first step

Start with an assessment session

A first session to meet each other and shape your process. Reduced rate, so you decide with real information, not out of obligation.

US$25US$49.9950%

60 minutes · Video call · 100% confidential

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Something to try this week

A smaller step, on paper

Write down the change you were planning to make — the all-or-nothing version. Then rewrite it answering only one question: not "what's the whole change," but "what's the next step?"

A step you could keep for two weeks without it breaking. That's the only version you commit to this week.

Also in therapy

Other processes I can walk with you through

Anxiety Procrastination Self-Criticism Burnout

Prefer to talk first?

Message me and I'll answer personally

If you're not ready to book and would rather tell me a bit first, message me on WhatsApp or leave your details below. I answer personally within 24 hours, no obligation.

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📍 Online · Barranquilla, Colombia

🕑 Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm · Sat 9am - 1pm (Colombia time)

I answer within 24 hours · Your information is 100% confidential.

If you're in emotional crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, please seek help right away: in Colombia, call Line 106, or in the US call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or reach your local mental health line. You are not alone, and help is available right now.

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