December 2019 Voyage Denver Article
Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Aaron.
Angela, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.I would be happy to. I am from rural Maine originally. I grew up on a lake not very far inland from the Atlantic Ocean. My sister and I grew up playing in the woods and enjoying the water. We spent our summers camping, hiking and enjoying the water. When I graduated from high school I decided to go to college at George Washington University in Washington DC in a pre-law program. I wanted to get away from rural Maine, but had no idea what I was getting into. Culture shock is an understatement for what I experienced. Within six months I was not doing very well physically, emotionally, or spiritually, but I didn’t understand what was wrong. I started working at Head Start, a community action program in the heart of the city. I remember vividly the relationships I forged with those children and the positive impact I could feel I was making. I realized I needed to go back to Maine and change my trajectory, or I would keep deteriorating. I took some time off from school after that first year at GW to regroup and assess what I needed. I realized that I was suffering from the lack of time I was spending outside, from my lack of connection with nature.
During my time off I also traveled, connected with family, and got clearer on my values. I resumed my undergraduate studies at the University of Maine in Child Development and Family Studies. I became a white water raft guide, and also started leading canoe trips, rock climbing trips, ropes courses, corporate retreats, etc. It was like giving plant water. I started thriving again. The river saved my life, and started to become my favorite metaphor for life in SO many ways. I continued guiding wilderness trips on the weekends as I eventually finished my undergraduate degree.
When I was guiding multi-day trips, I witnessed the life-altering impact that time in nature was having on people, similarly to how it had impacted me throughout my life. I supported youth who had never set up a tent, slept under the stars, or cooked outside go through a hero’s journey, and when they came out the other side they had confidence, communication skills, and a connection to their peers and themselves that was breathtaking. I read Richard Louv’s “Last Child in the Woods, Nature Deficit Disorder”, and felt like a lightning bolt hit me – “yes, THIS is what it’s all been about! Other people are talking about this!”
I then started doing social work and kept guiding on the weekends.
A few years later my undergraduate advisor told me he had heard of a place called Naropa where they had a master’s degree in Wilderness Therapy and Transpersonal Psychology. I was on a plane a few weeks later to a place I had never been because a calling had occurred- I needed to know what this was. The next year I was moving to Boulder to study at Naropa University. I began guiding rafts on Clear Creek on the weekends throughout graduate school to keep my connection to the river alive.
The Transpersonal Wilderness Therapy program was transformative on levels I cannot describe. I always knew I wanted to start a private practice after I graduated and that I wanted to create an integrative wellness clinic where people could get real help. Not cookie cutter, insurance dictated, pathologized help, but real help.
A few years after graduate school I became very sick with mold toxicity and Lyme disease and spent the next 1.5 years figuring out how to heal. This was a bump in the road that I did not expect and never could have predicted.
While I was sick I learned so much more about the western medical model and all of the ways it is broken. I also started to meet amazing practitioners that were out there doing this integrative work that I believed in; I just had to look hard enough.
I have spent almost 15 years in the mental health field at this point and feel I now understand some of the ways to really support the amazing people I have the privilege to call clients. Our healing clinic opened this January and now has an incredible Naturopathic Doctor, a Reiki energy healer, a psychologist who specializes in somatic experiencing, and myself. I focus on trauma, healing chronic illness, supervising new clinicians, wilderness therapy, and groups. I facilitate women’s therapy groups, consultation groups for clinicians, offer individual and couples therapy, as well as EMDR therapy. I am also a level II Reiki energy practitioner and clinical supervisor. I absolutely LOVE supporting people on their healing journeys when they are ready to really dig in and do the deep work it requires.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?I said a lot in answering the last question, but no, it hasn’t been a smooth road. My father died during my third year of graduate school, which was a very traumatic experience for me. I had never experienced grief like that before, which felt like another rite of passage in the land of being an adult. None of my family in Maine really understood what I was doing when I left to study at Naropa either. I did not have very much support in pursuing this dream, it was too “woo-woo” for many of the people in my world up until that point to understand.
My health was also a huge hurdle. I was bedridden and did not know what was wrong and was lead down many dead ends with doctors who did not have an integrative approach many times. Eventually I found a way to heal, after endlessly advocating for myself and working outside of the western medical model. I recovered from the trauma of a major car accident and healed from Lyme disease and mold toxicity at the same time. At the time these all seemed like brutal, unnecessary experiences, and now I can honestly say I’ve learned and grown from those experiences in ways that I am still realizing. All of these hurdles have informed who I am on a foundational level, as well as informing everything about my practice and the way I work with others.
Tell us more about your business.What sets my business apart from others (I believe) is that it is truly integrative and transpersonal, encompassing so many missed aspects of medical or mental health treatment in this country. We address mind, body, spirit, nature, and community in our treatment models. I specialize in working with trauma, relationship issues, women’s work, and am now moving towards doing more training and supervision with new practitioners working to grow their practices. Really, I am passionate about working with anyone who is ready to deeply unravel whatever is no longer serving them so that they can live the life they can only imagine is possible. I feel very fortunate to have built a very successful and sustainable private practice in only a few years, and feel like I am living proof of how drastically you can change your life and just how much you can heal and evolve.
I feel endlessly grateful that the amazing practitioners I am collaborating with in our healing clinic know what healing entails. We miss the mark so often out there. For example, I can’t tell you how often a client has come to me saying they are depressed, for instance, and once I encourage them to get blood work done, we realize they have an extreme vitamin deficiency that is actually exacerbating many of the depressive symptoms. Many clinicians are quick to believe that they have the answer to whatever issue arises in their clients, and this is very shortsighted in my experience. There isn’t one person who has all of the answers, just as one modality or treatment isn’t correct for every person. We have to be more creative, collaborative, and integrative than that in our treatment approaches to really offer healing support. In the end, the wisdom, capacity to heal, and vibrant health lies within the person seeking treatment, we all just need the right container to heal within.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?Yes!! Many shoutouts. One of my primary mentors in graduate school and beyond is Katie Asmus. She was one of my professors and supervisors, and I still work with her to this day. Her belief in me and unending support has been pivotal in my journey.
My mother has also been a cheerleader in so many ways, especially since she moved out here a few years ago and started to really understand what it is I am doing in the world. I am so grateful to have family out in Boulder with me now.
My father was always a huge cheerleader and pushed me to expand my consciousness to see more than what is obvious- to think critically about the world beyond the physical realm. To touch into the spiritual realms and question how they impact us. I still feel his support even though he is no longer with us in physical form, which makes so much sense given who he was!
My undergraduate advisor who told me about Naropa, my clients who have reflected on how effective the work we do together is, many friends and colleagues, the women in my women’s groups- these and many more have made a lasting impact and have support my journey in so many ways. Many amazing therapists I have worked with along the way- I couldn’t have done it without them. And my husband of course! His support is unending and he is always pushing me to stay connected to my vision. I know I didn’t name everyone- it takes a village and I have definitely been blessed with an incredible village all along the way.