Introducing Depth Psychotherapy Learning Community for Professionals

May 20, 2023
growth, personal growth

Mark your calendars and register soon for a new offering for professionals.  We are forming a depth-oriented learning community next fall to continue growing to better serve our community.  We believe the best therapists never stop reflecting on themselves and their work through their own therapy and continued growth process, no matter how long they have been practicing.  Come join our learning community to continue your growth from a holistic depth oriented frame that includes many different modalities.

Depth Psychotherapy Learning Community Flyer

More details and instructions to register

New Podcast: My Life is the Medicine

My Life is the Medicine is a new podcast hosted by Chuck Hancock.  Chuck sits down to have conversations with people to look at how life has provided numerous lessons and initiations already that we sometimes overlook. Instead, we get lost seeking new, bigger, or better experiences.  

In the age of abundant experts and gurus, we take the subversive stance that you are actually the only expert you need for your own life. By looking closer at your own life experiences – both the ones that felt good and the array of challenges you had, you can harvest all the wisdom and medicine you need to guide your unique life and offer your unique gifts and wisdom to the world.  We have conversations with ordinary people to look closer at how everyday experiences of living life have shaped us and taught us profound lessons.  Often we don’t think much of our choices and experiences, but in reality, they all have a profound meaning.  Instead of just moving from one thing to the next, we can slow down and pause to integrate the initiations that life has already provided, to become even more whole, balanced, and able to bring the medicine of our life, the medicine we’ve already been given, into the world.  

Found on most major podcast players including Spotify, Apple, and Google.  You can find links to these and other players on the podcast page here: https://mylifeisthemedicine.buzzsprout.com/

Or listen directly below:

Adding to the Team

March 9, 2021
change, growth, hiring

Contract Therapist and Growth Facilitator Job Description

Inner Life Adventures, LLC provides licensed psychotherapy to individuals, families, and relationships of all genders age 13 and up. We are growing a community of helping professionals working to enhance the mental wellbeing of kids, adults, families, and couples in our community through a combination of evidence-based practices, cutting edge innovative treatments, and creative outside-the-box programs both indoors and outside. In our ever-changing times, we are challenged to provide healing services outside the traditional models, so partnering with the abundance of outdoor opportunities in our area that Reconnecting to Our Nature, LLC provides such as coaching, retreats, and educational programs Guided by Nature. We are assembling a fun, dynamic, and collaborative group of clinicians, who are compassionate, skilled, energized by helping to improve the health and wellness of our communities through a wholistic approach to services.

The ideal therapist candidate will provide outpatient individual and group therapy to clients of both Inner Life Adventures and Reconnecting to Our Nature in our midtown Fort Collins office, using HIPAA secure telehealth software and in outdoor settings. Clinical therapy services include treatment of adults, adolescents, couples and families. We are looking for a clinician that enjoys working with older children, adolescents, young adults, couples, families, trauma, EMDR, and group facilitation with experiential methods. The initial need is for licensed or soon to be licensed clinicians with the ideal candidate interested in expanding to nature-based coaching and group facilitation.

Reports to: Clinical Program Director.

Minimum Qualification Requirements:
• Master’s Degree or Doctoral Degree in counseling or social work.
• Active, unrestricted license (PhD, PsyD, LCSW, LMFT) in the State of Colorado or able to obtain a full license within 6 months of start date.
• Available to hold at least 10 client sessions per week.
• Knowledge of laws and ethics of practicing psychotherapy in Colorado.
• Ability to conduct risk assessment and evaluation of mental status to determine appropriateness for services and provide referrals, if necessary.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:
• Perform on-site, telehealth, and outdoor clinical counseling services to patients of Inner Life Adventures and/or Reconnecting to Our Nature as scheduled, and in accordance with company policies.
• Perform all functions of clinical counseling and psychotherapy including conducting intake interviews, diagnosing (if necessary), formulating treatment plans, scheduling, and billing for services.
• Regular, timely, and reliable attendance is required.  Keeping scheduled appointments with minimal rescheduling is the goal.
• Be properly licensed, maintain license in good standing, hold liability insurance, and abide by all laws, rules, regulations, and codes of ethics that are binding upon or applicable to the services performed.
• Respond to patients’ calls or requests for service within 24 hours (excluding weekends and holidays), whether such requests are made in person, by phone, voicemail, etc. or through the website.  Respond to such requests by meeting, evaluating, and providing services to appropriate patients.  
• Communicate with a patient’s treatment team (i.e., PCP, psychiatrist, school counselors, etc.) as necessary.
• Completion of written records for each patient including, but not limited to, intake notes, progress notes, treatment plans, termination notes, contract notes, and other forms or documents which may be needed or required from time-to-time by Inner Life Adventures, Reconnecting to Our Nature, or third parties in conjunction with the treatment of the patient within a timely fashion (by Friday of each week).  Keep patient files accurate and up to date.
• Charge and collect payments from patients for services provided consistent with the policy and rate guidelines for such services.• Communicate with a patient’s treatment team (i.e., PCP, psychiatrist, school counselors, etc.) as necessary.
• Attend mandatory staff meetings and trainings 1-2 times per month.
• Conduct counseling services, prospective client, and current client communications in a professional manner to maintain and increase the good will and reputation of Inner Life Adventures.  Be respectful of, cooperative, communicative, and collaborative with co-workers including proper use of electronic communication during and after hours.
• Collaborate with other community providers via phone and email to coordinate care with other service providers in the community.
• Other duties which may by assigned and mutually agreed upon by clinician, Inner Life Adventures, and/or Reconnecting to Our Nature. 

Hours:
Work hours and schedule may vary depending on patient and clinic needs. Hours include some nights and/or weekends, more if you want to work at those times. Therapist is not guaranteed a minimum number of patients or sessions per week. Therapist workload will be partially dependent on efforts to market services. It is expected that Therapist will be available to hold at least 10-15 sessions per week, provided such sessions are available and referred/scheduled by Inner Life Adventures.

Other Qualification Preferences:
• At least 8-12 months prior experience in a private practice setting and/or similar outpatient clinic experience.
• Completed at least one specialty training post graduate school (i.e.: EMDR, IFS, RLT, Gottman, Sandtray, EFT, etc).
• Ability to communicate your preferences for clients in at least one niche market of counseling services (i.e., children, teens, trauma, anxiety, grief, anger management, etc.).
• Flexible availability with at least 2 weeknight and/or weekend days available.
• Familiar with the benefits of group therapy and able to refer to groups, co-facilitate groups, or develop group curriculum.
• Experience or interest in ecopsychology, experiential therapy, or outdoor counseling.
• Have existing relationships and/or willing to market and build relationships in the community by communicating about your services and group programs.
• Desire to become an in-network provider for at least three insurance panels. We will assist you with this process, if you are not already in-network.

Compensation and Benefits
• $30-$80 per clinical hour based on percentage of collected service fee. Percentage is based on experience in field and length of time at Inner Life Adventures. Opportunities available to renegotiate rate every 6 months based on performance.
• Clinical supervision available at a highly discounted negotiable rate, if needed.
• Company required meetings and approved marketing efforts paid at $20/hour.
• Stipend provided for the first 2 months of employment while building up caseload.
• Bonus opportunities: $100/month for 15 clients per week all four weeks. $200/month for 20 clients per week all four weeks. Able to be doubled twice per year if applied to professional development.
• Payment for connecting within the community.
• Flexible schedule. Decide your own hours and the number of clients you wish to see. Ability to work in-person as well as remotely.
• Team case consultation meetings.
• Administrative Assistant for scheduling, document editing, sending invoices, and other administrative tasks.
• Business VOIP phone line accessible from anywhere to keep your personal cell phone and business separate.
• Paid subscription to EHR software for record keeping, client portal, intake paperwork, billing, invoicing, credit card processing, insurance claim submission.
• Quarterly community social gatherings.
• Commitment to developing a healthy, supportive, growth-oriented environment to help you thrive and have a fulfilling career as a counselor.

To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter outlining your interest and fit with our organization to [email protected].

5 Foundational Tools and 200 Coping Skills Everyone Should Have for a Balanced Life

February 24, 2021
anger, anxiety, exercise, feelings, goals, growth, meditation, mindfulness, personal growth, priorities, relaxation, self esteem, shame, stress, stress reduction, therapy

Here are the 5 Foundational Tools and 200+ Coping Skills Everyone Should Have to be able to self-regulate

Our mental and emotional stress ebbs and flows throughout life as our schedules, routines, and work tasks change.  Because of this, I highly recommend that we all do a daily check in – two or three times per day even with our current mental, emotional, physical, and stress levels.  The human body can only handle so much, and our mental, emotional, physical, and relational stress all take a significant toll on our nervous system.  

It doesn’t have to take too much time, a simple traffic light works great: 

  • Green – I’m good, great even perhaps!  Keep going (if you want to)!
  • Yellow – I need to be careful, use caution, pay close attention, consider slowing down.
  • Red – Stop right now or harm will come.  

Or if you are more numbers focused, a 0-10 scale also works great where 0 represents calm and relaxed and 9-10 signifies stop right now, I can’t take anymore. 

So once you start monitoring your nervous system and recognize that you need to reduce stress, what do you do?  There are 5 foundational tools all supported by research that are very effective in reducing stress as well as difficult moods like anxiety and depression.  Having these tools in your back pocket are great when you need to reduce your stress levels or even better, build into healthy life routines to maintain a sustainable pace as much as possible.

Mindfulness – Find several flavors of mindfulness exercises that work for you.  See my resources section, YouTube, or apps like Insight Timer, Calm, or Headspace have many guided practices.  Some key practices are focusing meditation (on your breath, music, candle, object in nature, etc), listening to relaxing music or binaural beats, body scan meditation, walking meditation, and loving kindness meditation. My personal favorite is walking in nature paying attention to your 5 senses.

Exercise – Any exercise will do – walking, running, bodyweight fitness, calisthenics, weight lifting, stretching, yoga, martial arts, sports.  Get your body moving and heart rate up with activities that are appropriate for your body and skill level.  Even doing pushups, jumping jacks, burpees, until you can’t do any more for 5 minutes makes a difference!  You don’t have to commit to a full training program!

Nature – So much has been written on the benefits of nature.  See here for a brief introduction.  Go outside and use your 5 senses (hear, smell, sight, touch, taste – well, be careful what you taste outside).  It can be just outside your home, your closest park, a patch of grass, your closest favorite trail, or a wilderness destination.  Just get outside!

Communication – Communication helps you get beyond yourself to connect with other people, nature, pets, or the transpersonal (spiritual) realms.This is a big topic, but for now, know that being able to effectively communicate to connect with others beyond yourself so you can express yourself creatively and effectively is another essential skill.  There are many effective communication skills and strategies that you can learn, and there are many blocks to communication that can happen in yourself or with others.  Taking time to develop the ability to communicate your wants, needs, ideas, requests, and feelings is essential for a healthy balanced life.  Which leads to:

Emotional Intelligence – The definition of an emotion in the Psychology 101 textbook I used to teach from is that it is a subjective physiological experience.  That is, your feelings are yours, and they happen in your body.  The foundation for knowing yourself, effectively communicating with others, and managing your stress is emotional intelligence.  Some people say that our thoughts control our feelings, which has some truth, but really our emotions are often way more powerful than our thoughts.  Our minds create stories to make sense of our feelings at least as much as our thoughts create our feelings.  Knowing what you are feeling, to what degree, and being able to be honest with yourself and the right others is an essential skill for being human.  Research shows that no matter what culture, education level, or level of industrialization of your community, all humans feel the same 5 basic emotions:

Mad (also known as frustrated, annoyed, etc)

Sad (also known as down, blue, moody, etc)

Glad (also known as happy, joyful, content, peaceful, etc)

Fear (also known as anxious, nervous, tense, etc)

Shame/Guilt (pretty self explanatory, but helpful to distinguish between Guilt – a healthy emotion of I did something wrong and feel bad about, and Shame – I am bad)

Being able to identify our basic feelings is a foundational step to a healthy balanced life, understanding yourself, and relating to others. I invite you to add onto the traffic light or 0-10 scale exercise above by naming the feeling that goes with it and where it is happening in your body.

When the above 5 Foundational Tools are well developed, it will go a long way to help you manage your life more effectively and live with greater wellness and health.  Getting skilled at using these tools takes time and practice.  Our team of therapists can help you learn and refine these skills.  Further, when you need a break because the stress is just too high (you are at a “red light”) and none of these foundational tools are working, it’s time for something more basic.  That’s when the coping skills below come in handy.  Use the ones that seem helpful to you, ignore the rest.  Everyone is different and likes different things.

So there you have it – 5 Foundational Tools to develop and 200 coping skills to help you live a healthy well balanced life.  If you get good at all of this, are living life effectively and are content, then give yourself a big congratulations!  That is something!  For many of us though, these skills are just the tools that make deeper exploration possible.  It’s difficult to do deeper therapy without these skills, but these skills are not the end of the road.  Once you are ready to understand the bigger picture patterns that create unneeded stress and keep you repeating the old patterns, you know it is time to seek an Inner Life Guide – a therapist skilled at depth work.  That is our specialty!


So, reach out when you are ready.  Whether you are at the beginning of the trail, haven’t yet left your home, or are deep in the wilderness, we’ll meet you where you are and guide you to greater health and wellness!

Big List of 200+ Coping Skills

Cognitive

  • Self-monitoring
    • Identify your stress level 
    • Identify your emotions
    • Identify how this shows up in your body
  • Cognitive restructuring
    • Challenging the truth/assumptions of your thoughts
    • Refram with positive self-talk/reassurance
    • Say something kind to yourself
    • Say “I can do this”
    • Make a list of positive affirmations
    • List your positive qualities/strengths (and refer to it often)
    • Compliment yourself
    • Act opposite of negative feelings you’re experiencing
    • List things you are proud of
    • Make a gratitude list
    • Keep a daily positive experiences journal
    • Start a notebook with different inspirational and meaningful quotes
    • Make a “forget it” list
  • Setting and managing goals
  • Decision making pros and cons
  • Brainstorm solutions to a problem you are facing
  • Keep an inspirational quote with you
  • Read a magazine
  • Write a thank you note
  • Take pictures
  • Write a list
  • Schedule time for yourself
  • Write a story
  • Blog
  • Count to 100, then do it backwards
  • Do a crossword or sudoku puzzle
  • Play a word game on your phone/computer
  • Plan a trip
  • Write down your thoughts
  • Identify a positive thought
  • Make your day’s schedule
  • Make a to-do list
  • Write 
  • Journal
  • Plan a dream vacation
  • Research a topic of interest
  • Start your memoir
  • Start a blog
  • Research your family tree
  • Look at pictures you’ve taken
  • Start a dream journal
  • Do a puzzle
  • Write a short story or poem – refrain from self judgement or critique – give yourself permission for it to be really bad if necessary
  • Count backwards from 500
  • Think of 3 foods for every letter of the alphabet
  • Play a video game
  • Visualize a stop sign
  • Notice and name 5 things you can see, hear, and touch.
  • Color a mandala or a page from an adult coloring book
  • Practice playing an instrument

Emotional

  • Cry
  • Watch a funny video
  • Name your feelings
  • Name the triggers to your feelings
  • Watch a sad movie/video
  • Laugh
  • Scream into a pillow
  • Smile in the mirror
  • Move anger through movement, slamming pillows, or throwing or breaking rocks
  • Find a way to amplify your feelings to catharsis
  • Feel fear, remind yourself you are safe (if you really are safe)
  • Make a list of things you are grateful for.  Feel the feeling of gratitude.  What does it feel like?
  • Tell someone you love them
  • Tell yourself you love and care about yourself

Somatic (physical)

  • Deep breaths – 10, then 10 more if needed
  • Progressive muscle relaxation – systematically tense and relax all your muscles
  • Do a positive activity
  • Play sports
  • Stretch
  • Take a walk
  • Practice yoga
  • Give yourself or someone else a massage
  • Ask for a massage
  • Go for a bike ride
  • Play with clay
  • Crawl and roll around on the floor
  • Visualize your favorite place
  • Listen to music
  • Eat a healthy snack
  • Jog in place
  • Do pushups, squats, jumping jacks, or anything to exhaustion
  • Hum your favorite song
  • Clean something
  • Use a stress ball
  • Dance
  • Sexual self pleasure
  • Build something
  • Play with clay
  • Rip paper into pieces
  • Chew gum
  • Paint your nails
  • Garden
  • Paint
  • Drink some tea and pay attention to the temperature, flavors, and smells
  • Pet an animal
  • Organize something
  • Listen to nature sounds
  • Take a bath/shower
  • Use aromatherapy
  • Put on a face mask
  • Sing
  • Go for a drive
  • Watch television
  • Go shopping
  • Blow bubbles
  • Squeeze or suck on an ice cube
  • Sit in the sun and close your eyes
  • Throw rocks into the woods
  • Suck on a peppermint
  • Do the dishes
  • Make (and listen to) an upbeat playlist
  • Move your body to music
  • Scream into a pillow
  • Swim
  • Use nicely scented lotion
  • Get a massage
  • Play hacky sack
  • Stargaze
  • Give yourself a facial
  • Play a video game
  • Watch sports
  • Wear soft/comfortable clothes

Transpersonal/spiritual

  • Pray
  • Meditate
  • Attend a church service, group meditation, or yoga class
  • Listen to a recorded inspirational or spiritual talk
  • Get out in nature and talk to a natural object, plant, or animal
  • Do self generated ritual or ceremony
  • Talk with your deceased loved ones or ancestors

Behavioral and Social/relational

  • Behavioral activation
    • Complete something you have been putting off
    • Try a new recipe
    • Create a vision board
    • Make a bucket list
    • Call or write your senator to discuss an issue that’s important to you
    • Learn a new skill
      • Learn how to play an instrument
      • Learn how to read sheet music
      • Learn how to code
      • Learn 10 new words
      • Learn photography
      • Study and learn a foreign language
      • Take a class
    • Slow down, breath as you are doing things
  • Research something you’re interested in or would like to learn more about
  • Get enough sleep – keep a sleep log if sleep is a challenge
  • Take a nap
  • Volunteer
  • Go to library
  • Go for a picnic
  • Watch a movie
  • Draw/doodle/color
  • Ask yourself “What do I need right now?”
  • Play a game
  • Ask for and take a break
  • Enjoy a hobby
  • Shoot hoops
  • Shoot a bow and arrow
  • Dake a day for self care
  • Play an instrument
  • Reward or pamper yourself
  • Create art
  • Go for a relaxing drive out of town
  • Destroy something (that you can afford to lose)
  • Sew, knit, crochet
  • Make a collage of your favorite things
  • Work on the car
  • Cook or bake
  • Paint a room
  • Make a gift for someone.  Give it to them.
  • Give a small gift to a random person
  • Restore furniture
  • Play with a pet
  • Listen to music with a friend
  • Feed ducks/birds
  • Visit an animal shelter
  • Make your bed
  • Clean your room, kitchen, or whole house
  • Clean out your car
  • Turn on all of the lights
  • Fly a kite
  • Join a book club
  • Talk to a friend
  • Give someone a hug
  • Tell someone you are thankful for them
  • Express your feelings to someone
  • Smile at others
  • Meet a friend at a park, home, coffee shop, or restaurant
  • Get dressed up in a nice outfit
  • Put on makeup – fun, funky, creative or fancy and beautiful – your choice
  • Schedule an appointment for therapy

Tying it all together with practice accepting the things you cannot change,

Cultivating the courage to change the things you can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Chuck Hancock, M.Ed, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of CO. He has completed comprehensive training in the Hakomi Method of Experiential Psychotherapy, a mindfulness mind-body centered approach. Chuck guides individuals and groups in self-exploration providing them with insight and tools for change. He also incorporates nature as a therapy tool to help shift perspective and inspire new patterns.

A Tale of Two Businesses – Counseling vs Coaching

July 17, 2020
goals, growth, nature, Uncategorized

We are continuing to Grow and Offer More Ways to Explore, Heal, and Connect!

In 2020, Inner Life Adventures turns 10 years old!  The past 10 years of serving Northern Colorado – Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Cheyenne, and Laramie has been an amazing experience.  Hearing so many stories of challenges and growth has shaped me tremendously. I want to thank you for your support in the last decade.

In the book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell suggests that reaching the 10,000-Hour Rule, which he considers the key to success in any field, is simply a matter of practicing a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years.  I’d argue it also takes self reflection, improving the process, learning new ideas, and getting coaching or guidence.  Either way, I’ve learned so much from the experience of serving our community.  Knowledge combined with experience is really what creates mastery.

Never content to stay stagnant, in the last decade I’ve continued to train and learn the most cutting edge modalities, as well as some of the oldest and most ancient that modern day has forgotten.  In order to offer more non-traditional approaches, I have formed a separate company that offers nature based programs, including retreats, workshops, rites of passage, and connected coaching.  This new business is named “Reconnecting to Our Nature.”

Inner Life Adventures will continue as it has, offering mindfulness based somatic counseling psychotherapy.  In fact, Inner Life Adventures is growing in 2020 hiring clinicians in line with our mission and values.  We’ll be offering more couples and family sessions to help with your relationships and child behaviors.  We’ll also be increasing availability so you won’t have to wait weeks or months to get in.  I apologize to those who have wanted to get in that I have not had the time for.  Hopefully this change will make these services more available to you.

Reconnecting to Our Nature will be growing alongside Inner Life Adventures offering more coaching, retreat, and workshops to help you find your own path to growth and healing.  Reconnecting to Our Nature is informed by my training and experience with the nature connected work of School of Lost Borders, 8 Shields, Jungian Psychology, and the initiations, Rites of Passage (such as vision quest), Ritual, and council I’ve experienced through training and apprenticing with men’s organizations and various idiginous elders.  Guiding you to become the leader of your own life. 

What’s the difference between coaching, counseling, and psychotherapy?

The truth is, the lines are blurry.  There’s a lot of overlap with things that both good coaches and therapists do.  That’s why there are so many providers out there and a million different answers.  One of the biggest differences is the depth of background and experience.  Having a deep background and experience matters because that is the source of intuition and creativity for those situations that don’t fit the standard patterns, tools, or templates you can find online.  More specifically, here’s what we think and why we created a separate business for coaching and programs.

Counseling and psychotherapy is a regulated profession with specific laws about record keeping, relationship boundaries, scope of practice, confidentiality, etc.  Coaching is not regulated, though there are becoming more certifications and professional organizations seeking to standardize and create ethics to keep clients safer.  Those are guidelines and not laws.  There of course are pro’s and con’s to both approaches.  There are many amazing coaches out there, and also many that don’t have the experience or training to really be effective long term.  One of the benefits of counselors is you know they have standard training and are bound by the same laws and ethics to get and maintain a license.  

One of the drawbacks to a licensed counselor is the pressure from insurance companies and licensing boards on only using evidence based practices such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) or DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy). This is especially true if you are utilizing managed care (insurance) who can dictate how many sessions, what diagnosis, and audit your records to ensure the therapist is adhering to their idea of what your care should look like. These approaches work for some people in some situations, but newer research shows the long term effect of CBT is not as strong.  It’s a great start, but we are more interested in going deeper to address the core patterns for lasting long term change, not just short term gains that are lost again.  

Further, when people try counseling and the first attempt doesn’t work, they blame the counselor or worse blame themselves for not being a good enough client, rather than expand the picture to see what is really happening and what else could be effective.  That is where your provider having a broader background and skill set can be more effective.  Some of the newer modalities or older nature based modalities don’t have the evidence base as the standard fare, but for the right client can be effective.  Our approach is finding the right path for you, not forcing you to the path that research showed worked for a lot of other people.  It may work for you, it may not.    Utilizing a coach with broad experience and a variety of skills and tools to use with you can help you find the right path for you quicker rather than forcing you into the traditional models.

That said, for some people the structure of predictable weekly hour long sessions, being able to pay less by using insurance, and staying grounded with tried and true practices that have lots of evidence base is exactly what is needed.  That is why we are continuing to offer therapy in a professional office setting by licensed professionals.  And for those that would rather explore in a more open way with an experienced guide, coaching and nature based work is an option as well.  In either approach, it is up to you to decide which path(s) you are wanting and willing to go down.  We have the skills and ability to guide you in many different directions.  We won’t force you into the direction traveled by most everyone else when something else is calling to you.  Together we’ll help you find your unique way, wherever that may lead.

In town or in nature – we’ll meet you there

In short, Inner Life Adventures counseling and psychotherapy when what you need is the safety, stability, and structure of professional counseling, in an office, in town.  Reconnecting to Our Nature nature based coaching when you are ready to venture off the well worn trails, with a trained and experienced guide, into the wilderness and to learn better how to guide your own life. You don’t know what you will get with any given coach or counselor, but hopefully this guide has given you a few things to think about in making your choice with us, or whatever provider you choose if we are not right for you.

Elemental Masculinity

New outdoor nature based men’s group offering starting in March as soon as the group is full.

elemental masculinity flyer

Learn more:

Welcome Home

 

New Trauma Therapy Group Forming

October 31, 2018
anxiety, experiential, group, growth, human experience, personal growth, trauma

 

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.  ~Brene Brown

All of you is welcome here.  Living with traumatic experiences often makes us feel like we have to hide a part of ourselves because of our own shame or because we don’t believe the world will understand or support us.  Many who have experienced trauma live with depression, isolation, anxiety, addictions, or other issues. Engaging in group therapy may sound scary, but it has been my experience that healing occurs most profoundly when we can experience human connection while being with the events and parts of us with which we felt the most alone and unsafe.  You don’t have to handle difficult things on your own.

Utilizing the latest research in treating trauma, this group draws upon the work somatic psychotherapy, experiential psychotherapy, attachment, mindfulness practices, interpersonal relationship, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), DBT self regulation and distress tolerance skills, EMDR, ecotherapy, and Internal Family Systems.

Format

This weekly group is open to all genders and will provide a safe, supportive space that teaches mindfulness, 

grounding, and resourcing skills and developing strength and resilience as a foundation.  Moving beyond skills, participants will discuss and support each other in managing current life triggers. As safety and trust deepen and when the time is right, there will be opportunities for each member to be able to process and do therapeutic work around their trauma in a group format. Harnessing the power of a safe supportive group container, people can feel even more held and safe to process events and receive support from a community of understanding people.  

Consent is key, and sometimes healing in and of itself.  Learning how to say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no is a part of every group.  You will be empowered to participate or not participate to whatever level you are ready and wanting.  

The group meets weekly and is ongoing every Thursday evening.  In order to establish safety, rapport, and trust in the group, each person is asked to make at least an 8 week commitment to the group.  Many will stay on beyond the minimum to continue building trust, healthy healing relationships, and being able to work through challenges slowly and safely.  The group will have at least 4 and at most 8 members.

To enroll
Contact Chuck ([email protected] or 970.829.0478) to setup a free 30 minute group screening and consultation.  If it seems like a good fit, you will be able to start as soon as the group feels it is ready for a new member.  It is highly recommended that you have an individual therapist as well, but exceptions may be made depending on your situation.

Cost

$50 per group.  Some insurance accepted.  Call your insurance company and ask about coverage for group therapy.  

Still not sure?

Articles for further reading on trauma specific therapy groups

https://psychcentral.com/blog/4-things-i-learned-in-trauma-group-therapy/

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-benefits-of-group-therapy-for-ptsd-2797656

 

Download the Trauma Therapy Group Flyer  to print or email to someone who may need this group.

Reconnecting to Fall

September 10, 2018
experiential, group, growth, mindfulness, nature, outdoors, personal growth, stress reduction

We are not separate from the natural world.  This myth that we are separate from nature and everything  around us is one of the greatest things causing humans suffering.  Even “visiting” nature implies we have to go somewhere to experience  it. In this day long program, we will be in nature to remember the age old practice of wandering  and listening, connecting intimately with nature both outside and inside of us to experience greater health and wholeness.  

  • Experience and connect with the season of summer in it’s unique personality and relationship to the rest of the year.
  • Find and relate to plants, animals, birds, insects, rocks, and landscape that can help you deepen into your understanding of yourself and our world.
  • Utilize Ecopsychology  and transpersonal psychology to remember your wholeness, the wholeness of our world, and experience health and healing in nature.
  • Learn about the passages and cycles of days, years, seasons, and life itself.
  • Utilize practices to help you connect deeper to yourself and your own sources of guidance, wisdom, and support.
  • Spend time together as a community in council,  gain direct teachings on nature connected practices.
  • Have solo time on the land having direct experience with these practices in your own way..

Join us.  Bring your whole self.  Bring a question, need, intention, dream, or be open to find one on your journey.  We will create a safe as possible container welcome to people of all genders, ethnicities, beliefs, and experiences age 16 to mobile elder.  We will limit the group to 10 people to maintain a tight group.

Financial Investment: $25 non-refundable registration holds your spot in the circle.  Suggested additional donation of $20-120 for programming, teachings, first aid supplies and support, organization, planning, and other energy invested in creating and holding space for you.  Nobody will be turned away for financial reasons. Let’s discuss if you have questions or needs around money.

Location and final logistics to be disclosed upon registration.  Will be within 1 hour of Fort Collins and we will coordinate a carpool to minimize impact on the environment.

Reconnecting to Summer Ad

Reconnecting to Summer – Nature Based Workshop

Utilizing deep nature connection for growth and healing is available to us at all times.  Chuck is also facilitating workshops, mentoring, and coaching in the wilderness with Reconnecting to Our Nature.

Reconnecting to Summer Ad

Reconnecting to Summer Ad

Consider joining for a day long immersion on untouched private land in the foothills of Northern Colorado.  August 18, 2018.  9-5.

For more information and registration: http://reconnectingtoournature.com/offerings/reconnecting-to-summer/

 

 

Spread Your Shame and Pain – Intentionally

How Leave No Trace (LNT) Camping Ethics Apply to Your Shame and Pain

Yes, you read that right!  Scatter your shame and pain, intentionally!  What have you been doing with your shame and pain?  If you are like most people, you hide it, deny it, or perhaps unload it on one best friend or your romantic partner.  But the problem with that is it comes out sideways, when you least expect it.  Or it stagnates and rots inside you.  Or you overburden your best friend or partner expecting too much.  So what do you do about it?

In LNT principles, you minimize your impact on our environment by scattering cool ashes and scattering your strained dishwater.  Why?  You pack out trash, but you don’t want to carry dead organic material from the past with you.  That is best left to return to the earth to be broken down and fertilize the next generations of life  And leaving a pile of waste is an eyesore, attracts animals, and over-taxes one spot.  Especially if you leave food scraps in a pile, it will decompose and stink.  

Pain and shame is a natural organic human experience.  Just like the lifecycle represented with food and ashes.  Our emotional “yucky stuff” needs to be handled just like physical “yucky stuff.” It can’t be ignored, don’t let it accumulate, don’t leave it for others to deal with. Give it a proper treatment by straining out the big bits, and dispersing the small pieces where they don’t cause harm and in some cases can even nourish other forms of life.

Shame and vulnerability researcher Dr. Brene Brown advises that we handle these feelings just like we strain our dishwater or separate ashes from incompletely burned charred firewood.  First separate what you do from who you are.  You may have done something you regret, but it doesn’t mean you are bad.  Guilt is feeling bad about what you did, which can be a healthy emotion that causes a change in behavior.  Shame is saying who you are is bad.  This is destructive and causes future harm, to yourself obviously, but to others in your life as well. Shamed people shame people.  Don’t allow your shame to fester, rot, or accumulate or it will impact others by you shaming or judging them.  

After we strain our dishwater or cool our ashes, we spread them so we don’t concentrate them in one spot.  The next step of dealing with shame or pain is the same.  Find lots of people who can share a little bit of your story.  Shame lives in secrecy.  The best way to free yourself of shame or pain is to shed light on it rather than hide it.  Unloading everything on one person can be too much.  But by having good friends, a partner, family, a support group, a therapist and/or therapy group, etc you can share appropriate parts with trustworthy people, eventually freeing yourself of the burden, while not overtaxing one person.  

If you put shame in a Petri dish, it needs three things to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence and judgment. If you put the same amount in a Petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can’t survive. The two most powerful words when we’re in struggle: me too. – Brene Brown, TED Talk (linked above)

Doing what I do, I am exposed to the pain, shame, and trauma of lots of people.  And of course I’m human too and create plenty of my own!  I’m trained to work with these hazardous feelings and am better equipped than your average friend, but even I can’t hold that myself. And you too may have experienced more than your fair share of “yucky stuff,” so this tip can apply to you too. Over the years of doing therapy, I’ve assembled my own pain dispersal system.  I have my own therapist, a men’s group, mentor(s), a peer consultation group, and several good male and female friends, a great relationship with my romantic partner, and spiritual practices and rituals that I can share and disperse my own pain and “yucky stuff” with.   Due to confidentiality, I obviously can’t and don’t talk about other people’s details, but I certainly can talk about my own pain and how I am impacted by what I experience in my life.  Often that is a better way to connect anyhow.  People don’t always need to know the details, and often can’t even relate to your specific experience, but everyone can connect and empathize with the feelings you have.  Get to the point, get real, and connect on your shared emotional human experience.  And assemble a your own personal tribe of people so each person can handle a little bit, and nobody gets overburdened, especially the people closest to you.

When you don’t own your story, your story owns you.  When you own your story, you are free to edit and re-author it any way you choose.  When you don’t own your story, it controls your feelings and behaviors, often perpetuating the shame and pain. When you own your guilt, shame, or pain and spread it intentionally, it doesn’t harm you or anyone else.  In fact, sometimes it can be a gift to teach others from your experience.  But when you hold it, deny it, or repress it, it rots and overburdens you.  It gets worse and will get spread unconsciously and possibly cause more harm to you and others in your life.  With great circle of trustworthy people you can be real and vulnerable with, you can unburden yourself, without burdening others to free yourself up to write the next chapter of your life with more joy and ease.  Spread it! Carefully and intentionally.

 

Bonus Videos on the Topic:

Here’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) expert Jon Kabat Zin speaking about this topic and to use mindfulness with these feelings.

And for a lighter more humorous look, here’s comedian Kyle Cease.

 

Chuck Hancock, M.Ed, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of CO. He has completed comprehensive training in the Hakomi Method of Experiential Psychotherapy, a mindfulness mind-body centered approach. Chuck guides individuals and groups in self-exploration providing them with insight and tools for change. He also incorporates nature as a therapy tool to help shift perspective and inspire new patterns.

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