spiritual counseling
“Our true journey in life is interior.”
-Thomas Merton
When Life Asks Questions the Mind Alone Cannot Answer
There are seasons when the frameworks that once held us simply stop working.
You may be questioning long-held beliefs, recovering from spiritual injury, navigating a “dark night of the soul,” or integrating experiences that feel mystical, destabilizing, or profoundly reorganizing. Illness, grief, trauma, psychedelically adjacent states, meditation intensives, or spontaneous awakenings can fracture the familiar story of who we are — and in doing so, invite something new to emerge from deep within.
Spiritual counseling is for people who want to meet these experiences psychologically, somatically, and symbolically — without bypassing the human work required to live them well.
“The soul does not grow in the absence of the difficult.”
What Is Spiritual Counseling?
Spiritual counseling is not religious instruction or pastoral care.
In my work, spirituality refers to the human search for meaning, purpose, connection, and coherence — how we orient ourselves toward suffering, mystery, love, death, vocation, and belonging.
People come from every imaginable background: atheist, agnostic, interfaith, mystical, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, pagan, spiritual-but-not-religious, or quietly curious. No belief system is imposed. Inquiry is the center.
This work blends psychotherapy, psychoeducation, and contemplative practice to help you:
• make sense of spiritually charged experiences
• steady the nervous system during periods of upheaval
• integrate insights into daily life
• metabolize fear, awe, grief, or existential disorientation
• clarify values and vocation
• cultivate self-trust and discernment
• translate awakening into grounded embodiment
Who This Work Is For
Spiritual counseling may be a fit if you are:
• navigating a spiritual or existential crisis
• integrating a mystical, visionary, or near-death-adjacent experience
• recovering from religious trauma or spiritual abuse
• questioning inherited belief systems
• drawn to contemplative or depth-oriented paths
• experiencing kundalini-type phenomena or energetic shifts
• facing mortality in a new way after illness or loss
• sensing your inner life reorganizing
• seeking meaning beyond symptom reduction
My Background & Orientation
I have been studying and practicing Buddhism since 2004, with training across Theravada, Zen, and Dzogchen traditions, and long-standing involvement within diverse Buddhist communities in the United States. These lineages profoundly shape how I understand suffering, impermanence, compassion, and liberation.
I am also a Reiki Master Teacher and a Depth Psychotherapist with Jungian orientation, trained in integrative medicine mental health, neuroplasticity-based brain retraining, Positive Psychology, and contemplative science.
Alongside clinical work, I hold a deep fascination with near-death experiences and what they reveal about consciousness, mortality, and why human beings feel compelled toward meaning. I sometimes describe my own history as shaped by “near-life experiences” — periods of illness, spiritual intensity, and psychological descent that radically reorganized how I understood existence, purpose, and resilience— defining life experiences with a clear before and after.
These experiences — personal and professional — have taught me how to sit calmly in spaces where ambiguity reigns and certainty collapses, identity loosens, and new symbolic worlds emerge that feel difficult to define with words.
I work comfortably with people from every background, including skeptics, mystics, scientists, clergy, creatives, healthcare workers, and those simply asking honest questions about what it means to be alive.
Spiritual Crisis, Awakening & Transformation
Spiritual openings are not always blissful.
They can arrive as panic, grief, disorientation, insomnia, depersonalization, existential dread, or a sudden collapse of worldview. In psychology, these states are often called spiritual emergence or spiritual crisis — moments when the psyche is reorganizing faster than the ego can keep up.
Rather than pathologizing these experiences or romanticizing them, we slow the process down, stabilize the nervous system, explore symbolic meaning, and support integration. This is the long arc of post-traumatic growth: turning rupture and experiences of separation into coherence and belonging.
Spirituality Without Bypassing
I hold a strong boundary around spiritual bypassing.
We do not leap over grief, rage, fear, or despair in the name of transcendence. We work directly with the human body, the emotional field, and relational life — because genuine spiritual maturity expresses itself in how we live, love, choose, and serve.
Psychotherapy & Educational Consultations
I offer this work through:
• ongoing psychotherapy
• educational consultations
• “Ask Me Anything” sessions for spiritual inquiry
• post-traumatic growth integration work
Some people come for long-term depth work. Others seek focused consultation around a specific spiritual transition.
What I Do Not Provide
Spiritual counseling is not appropriate for:
• acute psychosis or mania
• imminent risk of harm
• crisis stabilization
• active substance-use disorders requiring residential care
If you are in immediate distress, I will always prioritize helping you find the right level of care.
In-Person & Telehealth
My practice is primarily in-person in Burlington, Vermont, grounded in the belief that nervous systems co-regulate most effectively through shared physical presence. Telehealth is available when clinically appropriate or for accessibility for folks out of state or out of the country.
Interested in Exploring This Work?
If spiritual counseling feels aligned, I invite you to begin with my:
Exploring Fit — Initial Inquiry Form
Estimated time to complete: 10–15 minutes
This brief onboarding step helps determine whether my approach and current capacity match what you are seeking before scheduling a first conversation.