My approach to therapy is to accompany my clients in rediscovering their true self, their source of self-compassion, their innate healing power, their autonomy, and their personal authority.
I believe in therapy because it has been a key tool in my own healing journey. Growing up as a gay/queer cisgender male in a conservative religious community left me struggling with worthlessness. I felt divorced from my body, my spirit, and the wider world around me. I found self-compassion and healing through my work with caring therapists, mindfulness meditation, and personal inquiry.
I collaborate with clients to address the psychology of the whole person. I work primarily from a person-centered approach and am training in techniques such as Gestalt, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and somatic interventions. When it fits the client, I like to incorporate mindfulness meditation to help clients build resilience and self-resourcing skills. I am passionate about these approaches because I’ve personally witnessed how using these techniques to integrate mind and body can enable profound healing.
Prior to becoming a counselor, I worked first as a molecular biologist, then as a software engineer. Although I found both fields interesting, I found that my real passion was exploring how my own mind worked and healing the false body-mind split. The more I discovered, the more passion I felt to share that experience with others.
I hold a BA in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology/French Language from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and am completing my master’s degree from Naropa University in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in the Mindfulness-Based/Transpersonal concentration.