Experienced guides
Clint Clark - website
LPC, EMDR- Trained/Qualified
My passions are as diverse and varied as the places I’ve called home: Chicago, Miami and the foothills outside of Denver. I love music, motorcycles and hiking, mountains and the ocean, my dogs and cats, sitting in someone’s traumatic story in the comfort of my office as well as treating a traumatic injury in the back of a moving ambulance. This used to bring me a fair amount of shame. Why can’t you settle on something? Why can’t you be happy doing one thing? The true answer returns because I was made for adventure. We are all given a giant map of our lives and the invitation to explore it. Our past, our present, and even our future are laid out before us. We can get stuck in certain areas, for sure. Trauma from our childhood or paralyzing fear of what lies ahead in our journey can consume us. Understanding the wide-open map is challenging; there are innumerable routes for us to take. Some take a route over the peak; others might follow the meandering river while a few prefer the most direct path to the destination. I’ve tried them all. Without question, I’ve learned from them all. I’m excited about the opportunity to explore your map with you!
Jonathan den Hartog - website
Registered Psychotherapist, EMDR- Trained/Qualified
I have always been fascinated with people. Especially with odd people. And most certainly with the ones who tell good stories. As a little boy I could sit for hours and listen to the big people tell “tales”. I am a story-listener, “container”, and storyteller. I love books and poetry – words woven together that capture my heart. I love art and design. I love beauty. And I love intensity. I am mesmerized by fire. According to Chinese medicine I am fire - drawn to the extremes. So I have a highly addictive bent. I have to watch myself closely and take care of my heart and body. It’s why I listen, connect, fly-fish, snowboard, and now run a lot. I know 1stand 5thgears really well but struggle to find the middle ones. So I am well acquainted with shame. And depression. But more importantly with grief. And gratefully…with laughter and joy. And most importantly with passion. I have four sons whom I adore whose mom I’ve been married to for 22 holy, yet at times unbearably painful years. I graduated from the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology in 2005. I have since had the absolute honor of walking with a whole bunch of wild yet broken souls. Folks who let me see them. To help them connect, interpret, grieve, and ultimately embrace a story and “way of being” that is worthy of their existence.
Amy Au - website
Registered Unlicensed Psychotherapist
I’m a native Texan who took a 17-year detour through Asia with Cru International before putting down roots in the beautiful state of Colorado. I’m a lover of words and images who explores with curiosity the adjectives people use to describe themselves, mines wisdom in Oscar-nominated movies and seeks solace in the poetry of David Whyte. Currently, I am editing my first book, a historical novel on the life of Hagar, with ideas for two more works exposing how the heart of God can be found in Biblical stories of trauma. I believe well-told stories set our souls free because they invite us to exchange of the shame of survival for the grief of powerlessness. In my own journey as an incest survivor, pursuing healing has felt like standing at the edge of a cliff and finding the strength to dwell there for a season. The vista on the horizon is hopeful, but the view down into the ravine of pain can be terrifying. As a counselor and story group facilitator, camping out on the edge of the cliff with those committed to finding freedom from shame is my greatest joy.
Erik Petersen - website
LPC, EMDR- Trained/Qualified
I am a big extrovert. I love people and crave deep relationships with others. I have not always been an extrovert, this only came when I challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone, which was not comfortable at all, but more of a place of shame and fear as a result of some childhood experiences. When I started my quest to find my true self and the things that interested me I discovered the world is full of beauty and found a new hobby in international travel. I come alive when I am able to experience another country and embrace its sites, history, culture, and people. At the same time, I discovered this part of myself, I experienced a significant loss in my life with the death of my father. The grief from this and many other different varieties of loss I have experienced in life has led me to find meaning in my pain.
In my travels and listening to my client's stories I realize that we all struggle with something within us and sometimes the most exciting, fulfilling, scary quests are the ones where we go inward. The journey where we discover what drives us and decipher whether or not we like that. The journey where we connect and feel what our divine purpose is. The journey where I discovered that grief is more than loss of jobs, people, and relationships. Grief can be experienced when our hopes, dreams, and expectations don't line up with our reality. When we are holding on so tight to things that could be different, better, or more but aren’t.
In my quest to find meaning as well as guide those in finding theirs I have worked in the mental health field for over 20 years. I graduated from Regis University in 2012 and have worked on enhancing my natural abilities as a counselor with specialized training in Grief and life transitions, trauma, and working with couples and individuals to find renewal, balance, hope, and healing.
Ann Bjork
Unlicensed Psychotherapist
I learned to read people at a young age, perhaps because I wanted approval, perhaps to keep myself safe. People pleasing and perfectionism were other tools I used to feel safe and accepted, and they worked for a long time…until they didn’t. I have deeply known the truth of each person’s intrinsic value and worth since I was a child, but it was hard to feel my own worth without achievements to prove it. Now, rather than defaulting to people pleasing, I try to think of my own needs along with others’ needs. And I have found freedom in becoming a recovering perfectionist who sometimes paints for fun and to remind myself it doesn’t have to be perfect to be worth doing. I give myself permission to be a beginner and try new things.
I like to remind my clients that they have permission to be beginners, too. They get to learn new skills, feel emotions that were not permitted, try again, and generally be in process. Being in process suggests being on our way through to something better. It values the journey and all the brave little steps that get us somewhere new. I have become very fond of little steps because they are so doable and give us lots to celebrate! I need progress to be broken down into bite-size pieces. Perhaps you do, too.
If you are ready to take some little steps forward in your life to get to somewhere better, I am happy to accompany and guide you.
David Cartwright - website
LPC, EMDR- Trained/Qualified
I’m a seasoned traveler and most would immediately think of the world, but no, my seasoning comes from the many with whom I’ve traveled amid their stories. I’ve always been fascinated with stories from the time I was 6 and 7 years old and still remember reading all that was available on the travels of Dr. Doolittle which were so delightful and adventurous which really awakened my curiosity about this world. Stories are captivating…none are less!
So, I’m now in that late 3rd or possibly 4th quarter of life…I’m still reading, but the real stories have come with being privileged to have walked with many good people through these years amid their crisis and if not that, their disruption or suffering in its many forms.
I’m blessed to be married for these past 50 years to Tina who is quite frankly the crown jewel for me. We have 4 adult children with one who has passed from this earth 12 years ago. I’m very active and love this life I have been given. Metaphorically I try not to sail too close to the shore for it can be too safe, rather I want to be curious as to what
awaits if I choose the adventure. I’m broken and whole at the same time and I’m passionate about the lives of those who intersect with mine for my heart is for their healing and knowing themselves more deeply. I know that restoration and healing await the one(s) who endeavor.
I am one of the few rare who had a childhood in Colorado. However, I don’t identify with natives as most of my adult becoming was spent while living in Europe. These experiences forever shaped me to be an always-in-between-worlds, third-culture adult. My heart is always here, and simultaneously somewhere else in the world. I most identify as a nine on the enneagram, and as most nines do, can easily see the validity in another’s perspective. But even more, my time abroad allowed me to journey alongside of people on the fringe of society – the sex-trafficked, the refugee, the Muslim, and the homeless. I was exposed to trauma, grief, loss, and so much beauty through these men and women whom I met from all over the world. My own experience of relational trauma and deep loss, also allowed me to experience firsthand the power of presence. Through this season of brokenness I came to discover my own calling as a seeker of shalom – peace, wholeness, and harmony – with God, community and self. While I’d rather be discovering another country, I’m experiencing newfound delight in hiking, snowshoeing, and soaking in the hot springs around beautiful Colorado with my husband – and we are soon welcoming a baby girl into this world with so much joy!
Please note: Not all guides are currently trained to provide intensive marriage counseling, intensive sexual addiction counseling or soul care intensives. Contact us for availability.