Therapy
My Therapeutic Approach
I am an experienced clinician who utilizes an eclectic approach to working with mental and emotional health challenges. My work is informed by mindfulness traditions and practices, relational neurobiology, narrative therapy, and other forms of meaning-making. My work is humanistic and person-centered at its core. This means that all parts of your inner and outer self are welcome. Together we can draw from your strengths and values as we find ways to integrate these into a healthier relationship with your self and your experience.
I know the value of meeting my clients with warmth and acceptance. From the beginning, I will be ready to listen, empathize, and encourage the emergence of your own wisdom and resilience. My role is never to judge, blame, or collude with the forces in your life that have caused you to struggle or feel shame. Therapy is a fundamentally relational process, which means that at its core, healing emerges from connecting with another human being. I am here to accept you just as you are, while fostering the emergence of your inner sources of strength, clarity, and healing.
If you’re struggling, and would like to explore ways to grow into a version of your self and your life that is more balanced, meaningful, and fulfilling, I encourage you to reach out! Let’s talk.
Stephen’s Background and Therapeutic Perspective
I received my Master’s of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. My focus was on Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology.
I have years of experience supporting people’s healing, recovery, and growth in the realm of mental and emotional health.
I have worked with clients of all ages, colors, sizes, persuasions, and beliefs.
Ultimately, my life experience and training suggest that everyone is capable of healing and “waking up” to their own inner wisdom, and using this innate quality to alleviate the sources of their suffering.
We all contain the seeds of wisdom needed to help us heal from our past, and to be more fully alive in the present.
It is our birthright to live fully, present to each precious moment, in our own bodies, relating genuinely with ourselves, with others, and with the world that we share.
We all deserve to be loved and treated with compassion… especially by ourselves!
I currently am offering therapy and counseling services through Teletherapy only.
Teletherapy
I currently offer teletherapy services to adults located anywhere in the State of Colorado. Sessions are conducted using a confidential, HIPAA-compliant version of Zoom.
Initially spurred by the necessity of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, I am continuing with telehealth as a way of doing therapy that feels safer, as well as more convenient, accessible, and sustainable.
If you’re skeptical about doing therapy through a computer screen — I get it! It’s certainly not for everyone, especially if finding privacy in your living space is not an option. But you may be surprised to find that it works. I know I was.
To be honest, before March 2020, I had no interest in offering teletherapy. I was not convinced that “real therapy” could happen through a screen. And yet, as the pandemic year(s) went on, I found myself surprised and humbled to discover that it worked. I was able to forge deep, meaningful, transformative relationships with my clients through Zoom. Some clients initially expressed reservations about meeting this way, but adjusted to it rapidly. Many found it easier and more convenient. Who knows? You might too.
Interconnection, and Healing the World through Healing Yourself
A lot of people are experiencing anxiety, depression, and general discomfort that they experience as a personal problem—unmoored and disconnected from others, a private shame, a hidden struggle. I want you to know you’re not alone in feeling grief, angst, fear, despair. We can find connection and solace in the fact that we’re actually not alone in our suffering; we’re intimately connected through the suffering in our external world.
If you’re feeling grief and anxiety about the state of the world, and wondering where to start, where you can bring about healing and change, the answer might lie in coming into deeper, more authentic relationship with your own self and others around you. I believe the road to collective transformation requires a revolution of the self, which emanates outward through how we show up in our lives. We’re truly in this together.
Many people would like to find support with the following:
There are many other Reasons to Choose Therapy, so please reach out and ask if you think I would be a good fit for you!