Dan Michels Psychotherapy

I am a mental health professional working in the greater Boulder area. I specialize in working with individuals and couples across a wide variety of issues including trauma, anxiety, depression and sexuality. I am a Certified Hakomi Therapist and a PACT level 2 trained couples therapist.

My approach to mental health includes the belief that all people have intrinsic sanity and part of my job as a clinician is to help collaborate with that sanity to explore the various obstacles that you face in your life and in your relationship.I have always believed in the expression that psychotherapy is "assisted self discovery."

I have always liked calling psychotherapy "assisted self-discovery." I do not focus on diagnosis or working to solve a problem but rather apply a nonjudgmental curiosity to study and explore your internal landscape in a relational way. My practice is rooted in developing our capacity for mindfulness.

Hakomi is a mindfulness-based, somatic, experiential form of psychotherapy. It is a methodology designed to uncover and explore unconscious core beliefs that guide our lives without our awareness. Using mindfulness we can learn how to witness thoughts, emotions, memories and bodily sensations without judgment and in a loving, compassionate presence.

I like to distinguish between "little t trauma" and "big t Trauma." This can also be understood as "acute trauma" or "developmental trauma." Big T Trauma refers to an intense acute experience that was to big and overwhelming for your system to handle on its own so it shifted in a fight/flight/freeze response.

It is invaluable to explore our social locations and identities and understand how to use our power with more ethics and more heart. In therapy, we can explore how your personal process is linked to larger social and cultural contexts. We can focus on building your skills in being sensitive and aware of power dynamics in your relationships to reduce harm and increase more authentic, compassionate relationships.

Intimate relationships can be the most rewarding and also most painful endeavors we embark on. All couples encounter serious difficulties. We will work together to deepen your connection, learn how to communicate better, improve your sexual lives and quite simply, get to know your partner better. We will develop your attunement and regulation skills so that you can better manage your conflicts.