Naropa University has a long history of training therapists, and it has been a long-standing dream of the Dean of the Graduate School of Counseling Psychology to open a community counseling center. Deborah Bowman, the Dean, advocated with great persistence and determination, and on October 1 of 2015, Naropa Community Counseling was born. Diane Israel, faculty member, Olympic athlete and local therapist also midwifed this beautiful idea into reality.

The premise of Naropa Community Counseling is to bring the therapeutic modalities that Naropa is best known for (transpersonal, somatic and contemplative approaches) to the residents of Boulder that are struggling financially, and to do so in a low cost, therapeutically effective way. Contemplative approaches are integrated with modern clinical practice to assist our clients in reaching the highest level of emotional and mental well-being. Out of respect for the fact that so frequently low or moderate income people are asked to provide a level of documentation that more privileged people are not, Naropa Commuity Counseling operates our sliding scale on the honor system, asking each client to choose an amount that feels sustainable, down to only $30 per session.

The providers at Naropa Community Counseling are interns, meaning that they are in their third year of their graduate course of study, and are closely supervised. They receive one hour of individual supervision a week, two hours of group supervision a week, and an hour of didactic training per week. Their clinical supervisors are independently licensed, experienced, with many years of supervisory and clinical training, and review each intake for an appropriate match to a therapist in training.

The types of therapy offered are individual, family and couples, and the modalities offered include: • Somatic therapy: which focuses on the body's role in transforming behavior, integrating body awareness and movement with counseling skills • Contemplative therapy: which merges in-depth training in cultivating mindfulness and compassion with therapeutic work • Transpersonal therapy: which focuses on reconnecting the spiritual dimensions of human experience with traditional theoretical perspectives • Art therapy: which uses art and the creative process to enter into an authentic relationship with self, other, process and product. • Equine therapy: which uses horses to promote physical, emotional and occupational health • Charge theory: our interns are trained in stages of change and motivational interviewing in order to help create effective positive changes

The services that NCC offers do exclude work with people suffering from severe and persistent mental illness, primary addiction or medically complex issues, as these types of problems require a level of medical sophisticated treatment and/or case management, better offered at Mental Health Partners, the Addiction Recovery Center or People's Clinic.

There is a focus on group therapy at NCC , and the current groups running include Playing with Fear (to address anxiety), TRUE YOU (a mindfulness based approach to addressing body image issues, exercise and diet) and Seasonal Support (a drop in group to provide support during the holiday season.) Groups in formation include a Dreamwork group as well as an art therapy group for veterans.

The director of the clinic is Joy Redstone, LCSW, CAC III, formerly executive director of the Bridge House. She brings her passion for helping the under privileged and underserved into this work and is excited to be part of this project. She states "our focus begins and ends with the needs of each client."

Joy also writes for the Daily Camera and if you would like to see more about her perspective on healing, please go to http://www.dailycamera.com/columnists/ci_28623554/joy-redstone-listen-cries-help and http://naropablog.com/2015/10/06/our-stories/