Heather Russell Counseling
Do you feel stuck?
Do you sometimes sense that emotions are ruling your life? Do you have persistent and negative thoughts that seem to deplete your energy and rob you of fulfillment, ease, and passion? There’s hope. I’m a counselor in Carbondale, Colorado and the Roaring Fork Valley. Let’s use the outdoors to help you unravel and understand unconscious patterns holding you back so you can live more fully.
Let’s work together.
Together we can increase your awareness of thoughts, feelings, and behavior. You’ll develop new skills and greater self-acceptance so you can leave behind what no longer works and align yourself to what truly serves you.
I am a therapist in Western Colorado with a passion for helping people find the roots of self-limiting beliefs and relationship patterns using the outdoors.
The path to inner clarity and freedom is not always easy to find and sometimes we need others to help show the way. My approach to wellness is holistic and collaborative which supports growing research that the mind, body and soul are intricately woven, and wellness is achieved by treating all aspects of self.
I look forward to supporting you in connecting to your inner wisdom and intelligence, so your life becomes healthier and richer, and your relationships more intimate and loving.
“I work with people experiencing a broad range of issues including anxiety, depression, stress, eating disorders, addiction, transitions, life cycle challenges, and unresolved trauma. All genders, backgrounds and identities are welcome here.”
Heather Russell
Licensed Professional Counselor
Outdoor Therapy
Nature provides a safe space to allow you to begin to trust and open up about the challenges you might be facing.
Counseling
We’ll create a plan to reach your therapeutic goals. Your sessions can happen in the office, virtually, or in the outdoors.
Teletherapy
Using a secure and safe online platform for your counseling sessions is an option, too.
Heather Russell, LPC
I am a licensed professional counselor with a Masters of Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Utah.
I work in Carbondale and the Roaring Fork Valley using a variety of supplemental tools and techniques to facilitate change such as EMDR, meditation instruction, creative expression, cardio exercise, and exploring metaphor in nature. Each new day is a gift and opportunity to apply the work we are doing together to create meaningful change in your life. Therapy with me is highly collaborative, filled with honesty and humor, and draws from my belief that therapy is a partnership with no one correct path to health.
Sacred Cycle
A Positive Healing Cycle for Survivors.
In 2013, I founded and developed programming for a nonprofit organization based on my vision of helping women heal from sexual trauma while raising awareness for issues affecting all women.
Sacred Cycle is healing our community by empowering survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault, through therapy and cycling; creating a sacred cycle of recovery.
Red Bull
Specialized Bicycles
Adventure Cycling
Live life to your fullest.
Outdoor Therapy
I love working with people in the wide-open outdoors. For some, it’s tough to sit in an office and have someone watching you, waiting for you to respond, when really, there are few words for what you might be experiencing. Nature provides a safe space to begin to trust and open up about challenges.
Significant healing happens in nature. Above all, nature teaches self-love and acceptance. I offer tools and techniques to help amplify the healing benefits of spending time in the outdoors. Through grounding and connecting in nature, you can learn forgiveness, self-kindness, and how to live firmly in the present moment — and I will be there to guide you on the journey.
I bring a long history with nature, beginning in childhood, where I was encouraged to run around freely and organically. This love for the natural world grew into an outdoor adventure lifestyle. My background provides the ability to work with a diverse group of people and to think and react quickly and critically in many situations — a plus if you’re trusting me in the woods! The interventions I will suggest are based on growing scientific research and my personal and professional experiences.
Sessions can happen on your favorite trail, in the park, or via telehealth.
Counseling
Reaching out for help is not easy. I have a strong desire to help people increase their capacity to make choices and transform these choices into desired actions and outcomes. Together we will create a plan to reach your therapeutic goals.
We will not work from one theoretical orientation, rather interventions will match the specific needs of each unique individual based on my accumulated knowledge and experience.
Sessions can happen in the office, virtually, or in the outdoors.
Teletherapy
Do overwhelming emotions keep you from living a full and healthy life? When out of proportion, stress, anxiety, depression, frustration, anger, shame, and grief are just a few human emotions that can affect our physical bodies and cause challenges in our daily lives. Whether you have experienced a decline in health, challenges with romantic or personal relationships, career burnout, addictive habits, increased doubt, or simply feel lost and unsettled, there is hope! I can help you uncover and understand unconscious beliefs and patterns holding you back.
I have a strong desire to help people increase their capacity to make choices and transform these choices into actions and outcomes. Through integration of all aspects of ‘the self’, together we will create a plan to reach your therapeutic goals. We will not work from one theoretical orientation, rather interventions will match the specific needs of each unique individual based on my accumulated knowledge and experience.
Sessions can happen in the office, virtually, or in the outdoors.
Coaching & Mentoring
Sometimes you’re not ready to dive into the past but you still need support and encouragement. Or perhaps you need help achieving your goals or want to learn new skills and don’t want to do it alone. I am a strong and confident outdoors woman with years of experience guiding, coaching and wandering.
I’m also a certified mountain bike coach and Wilderness First Responder. What I’m saying is, you’re in good hands! Whether you want to learn to cycle, go cross country skiing, or just walk together in the woods, we will explore your life from a new landscape using out of the box solutions.
Sessions happen on the trail or in the park and differ from counseling in that we will work on present and future goals. Of course, if troubling things arise, I’m trained to address these issues and can refer you to the right professional.
“Heather’s nonjudgmental approach to counsel allows me to be honest, vulnerable, and authentic during our sessions together. I’m able to show up as myself, communicate my experiences, and leave with perspectives that push me to be a better person. Put simply, Heather has allowed me to unlock the strongest version of myself.”
My Mission & Approach
My soul’s purpose is to help others find hope and enthusiasm for life. My work is inspired by my own curiosity and the courage to turn towards the past, face it squarely, and trust that embracing pain would lead to a richer, more fulfilling life. The truth is, healing is messy and difficult, and I would never ask you to go where I was not willing to go myself. To my core I believe that if I can overcome trauma and addiction, then so can you; let me show you the path.
My work is influenced by the natural world, deep connection to family and friends, spiritual practice, and peak experiences while participating in outdoor adventure.
My approach is both trauma-informed and culturally humble and is based on my training in body-oriented psychotherapy, mindfulness practices, and a deep connection to the natural world. I have worked with people from diverse backgrounds in a variety of clinical settings including assessing inpatient psychiatric needs and those living with complex trauma. I have worked extensively on mobile crisis teams helping patients and families cope with life’s most difficult challenges. Among other things, these intense experiences taught me the skills to provide honest and direct support to resolve concerns.