DBH · MBA-E · MBA-M · LPC
Sole practitioner. More than fifteen years in practice. A clinician for clients who want a clear-eyed, direct, and unhurried conversation about the lives they are actually trying to build.
Education & Credentials
“The client drives the car. The therapist is the GPS. The destination, the timing, and the road belong to the client.”
Dr. Dace Tapley has spent more than fifteen years in practice helping people make hard choices well. His path to behavioral health was not linear, and the breadth of that path is part of what makes the work he does distinct.
Before clinical practice, Dr. Tapley served seven years in the United States Army as a noncommissioned officer, with overseas tours that included Iraq and Egypt. That period of his life informs his understanding of high-stakes environments, the discipline that performing in them requires, and the cost of trying to do so without the right support.
His academic path began with a Bachelor’s in Psychology from American Military University, which gave him the theoretical foundation, and a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Argosy University, which earned him licensure as a clinician. He then completed his Doctorate in Behavioral Health at Arizona State University — a degree that specifically marks the intersection of mental and physical health, on the recognition that the two systems are not separable and the most durable clinical work treats them together rather than apart.
Alongside the clinical credentials, Dr. Tapley holds two Master’s degrees in Business Administration — one in Marketing from Grand Canyon University, one in Entrepreneurship from American Military University. The business coursework was not incidental. It informs how he thinks about decision-making under uncertainty, organizational behavior, brand and identity, and the practical pressures facing clients in leadership and founder roles. It is also part of what makes DBSC a practice for clients who want a clinician fluent in their operating context, not just in clinical theory.
This fall, he begins a Master’s in Legal Studies (MLS). The decision to add legal coursework is intentional: many of the clients this practice serves operate in environments where mental health and legal exposure routinely intersect — executives facing regulatory pressure, founders navigating disputes, partners managing complex liability. A working fluency in legal frameworks will strengthen the practice’s capacity to support those conversations.
Dr. Tapley’s work is direct, strength-based, and forward-oriented. He does not believe that prolonged time spent in the past produces better outcomes; in his experience, it tends to deepen the rut rather than help the client climb out of it. The focus instead is on where the client is now and where they intend to go — and the gap between the two.
He draws from cognitive-behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, mindfulness practice, choice theory, and neurolinguistic programming, integrating these as the client’s work requires rather than as a rigid protocol. He sees the mind as a muscle: it grows under the right load, and weakens without one.
Direct without being abrasive. Light-hearted when the moment allows it; unflinching when the moment requires it. Clients describe sessions as candid, collaborative, and unmistakably their own.
This practice is built specifically for performance, optimization, and the work that lets capable people stay that way. Dr. Tapley’s focus areas include:
Dynamic Behavioral Systems Counseling is positioned for clients pursuing optimization — the kind of work that asks how do I sharpen this further rather than how do I recover from this. Dr. Tapley’s training spans the full clinical scope, but this particular practice is intentionally narrowed to performance work with high-functioning adults.
If your primary need is treatment-focused care for severe depression, substance use, post-traumatic stress, complex trauma, or other acute clinical conditions, Dr. Tapley is glad to point you toward the appropriate resource — including his parallel clinical practice, White Tiger Counseling, which accepts insurance and is built for that recovery-oriented work.
Dr. Tapley is a faith-centered provider. Faith-based perspectives are incorporated only when a client explicitly requests them or provides clear consent for their use in session. Clients of all backgrounds — religious, secular, and somewhere in between — are welcomed without assumption or pressure.
If what you have read here resonates — or even if it raises questions — the next step is a brief introductory conversation. There is no obligation, and no cost. The point of the call is simply to determine whether the work would be a good use of your time and Dr. Tapley’s.
