Benjamin Keating, MA, LPCC

Life is hard.  Relationships can be painful, and lacking relationships is often even harder.  Sometimes we look around and it seems like everyone else is doing better.  To feel like life is meaningful, worth it, and fulfilling can seem quite out of reach.  I am here because I believe change is possible.  I have always wanted to help people and always been fascinated by human psychology!  It would be my honor to help you work with your heart and mind as you brave your way through this thing we call “life”.  I work with children, aged 11, through adults of all backgrounds, mental states, and social locations, using techniques, philosophies, and practices from around the world. My life experiences – including recovery of my own mental health, varied financial status, complex social identities, chronic health issues, and some eclectic hobbies & interests – allow me to relate to a wide range of other people’s experiences, both negative and positive.  It is my intention to offer a curious, compassionate, and totally accepting space to every person I work with.

 I find that there are few clear lines in the understanding of human mental and emotional suffering – pain and confusion are pain and confusion, and must be appreciated and dealt with compassionately and realistically.  I have also witnessed how humans have an incredible capacity for resilience, healing, and “springboarding” from trauma into a richer, greater life – and how these capacities can sometimes go underused or altogether forgotten without some help.  I love the outdoors, and animals, as well as technology, and I come from a place of great concern about other humans and for the world we live in.  My therapeutic work is heavily influenced by the “meaning making” existential Logotherapy of Holocaust survivor Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning.  I maintain a personal meditation practice and am a certified mindfulness/meditation instructor.  Mindfulness can take many forms, and I greatly enjoy helping others find personalized mindfulness practices that they find useful and sustainable, if not enjoyable.  My heart goes out to those whose hearts and minds are hurting in lonely, misunderstood, seemingly hopeless places: by now I have had countless powerful, life-enhancing experiences with clients in states of extraordinary pain and confusion, and this is what keeps my heart open and my mind engaged. I have an innate capacity to see and connect with people struggling in dark, confusing, frightening, ashamed, and lonely places, and it is my pride and joy to be able to meet and understand people no matter who or where they are in life.

My education includes a Bachelor’s Degree from McDaniel College in Philosophy, and a Master’s Degree from Naropa University in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology.  I currently hold a Colorado LPCC (Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate) as well as a CPRP (Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner) credential.  I’ve also received training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Evidence-Based Trauma Treatments and Interventions, Smoking Cessation, and Somatic Experiencing.  I work with a wide range of mental health issues, including depression, chronic and severe anxiety, psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders, PTSD and related trauma disorders, eating disorders, grief & loss, substance and other addictions, compulsive behaviors, shame, gender, spiritual crises, social oppression, and sexual issues, including sexual addiction and sexual anorexia.  I am at my best when using different ideas from different teachers and methodologies, recognizing that each person requires a unique combined picture of workable ideas and techniques.