Dan Halpern
MA LPC
Somatic Trauma Therapist +
Spiritual Integration Specialist
Healing is the process of giving yourself permission to be who you are. I help adults release the burdens of trauma, anxiety, negative self-talk, and self-sabotaging behaviors in order to connect with their true nature of inner strength, resilience, and wisdom.
I’ve spent most of my life supporting others’ well-being while simultaneously exploring the nature of reality through direct inquiry and experience. I began meditating in 2005 after reading Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse and Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
After experiencing a spiritual emergency and existential crisis in 2008 while studying philosophy at Ithaca College, I immersed myself in different world religions and mystical traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, mystical Judaism, contemplative Christianity, animism, and more, seeking to understand my place in life. This led me to earn a BA in Religious Studies from Naropa University in 2014.
While spirituality has been a central guiding force in my life, I’ve also found immense personal meaning and purpose in assisting others. Friends naturally came to me when they were going through challenges growing up, and I’ve translated that quality into working on a crisis phone line, volunteering with hospice, and working for several years supporting adults with developmental disabilities. I earned an MA in Counseling from Regis University in 2019 and have been providing counseling to adults ready to let go of limiting beliefs and behaviors and step more fully into embodying their authenticity, potential, and life purpose ever since.
Outside of counseling, a great day for me is sitting by a river with an insightful book, a journal, and a meditation cushion, and dancing to live music. I live by the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on traditional lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho people with my wife and 2.5 year old daughter.
SPECIALTIES
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Trauma: Recent and Childhood / Complex PTSD
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Parts Work
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Spiritual Emergence/y and Existential Crisis
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Anxiety & Depression
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Relationship Issues
WORK
GROUP FACILITATOR for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse at WINGS Foundation
RESIDENTIAL COUNSELOR AND CAREGIVER for adults with learning and developmental disabilities at Imagine! and Camphill Village USA
CRISIS LINE OPERATOR with the Samaritans of Greater Boston
HOSPICE VOLUNTEER with Family Hospice
CAMP COUNSELOR for children and teens at Camp Tel Noar
TRAINING
- Somatic and Attachment Focused (S.A.F.E.) EMDR model, Personal Transformation Institute
MASTER OF ARTS IN COUNSELING, Regis University
BACHELOR OF ARTS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES, PSYCHOLOGY, AND WRITING, Naropa University
SOMATIC SOUL-BASED TRAUMA TRAINING Certificate and Assistant, Katie Asmus & Wilderness Therapy Institute
INTEGRATIVE SOMATIC PARTS WORK Certificate, The Embody Lab
FOUNDATION STUDIES IN ANTHROPOSOPHIC SOCIAL THERAPY Certificate, Camphill Village Academy
SPIRITUAL PRACTITIONER, Kedumah / Primordial Light Mystery School
TESTIMONIALS
Dan possesses a unique gift for holding space for difficult emotions and offering tools and processes to explore deeper levels of what is emerging. It was an honour to work with him and I highly recommend him to anyone who wants to dive deeper than traditional therapy while held in wise compassionate witness.
I feel very fortunate to have worked with Dan. He is compassionate, insightful, and most of all works in an intersectional framework, which put me at ease when building a trusting relationship with him. I feel that in the time I worked with Dan I made a lot more progress than I had with prior therapists