Meet the team

  • STEPHANIE JOSEPH, LPC, ATR, LAC

    DIRECTOR

    Stephanie Joseph is a licensed psychotherapist, registered art therapist, and licensed addiction counselor with her Masters in Counseling with an emphasis in Art Therapy from Naropa University. She currently has a private practice specializing young adults, adults, couples and families. Prior to starting a private practice, Stephanie worked as a therapist at the 18th Judicial DA’s Office with the Diversion Counseling Program where she worked with adolescents and adults for over a decade. Stephanie is a graduate of GIR (2012) and a registered yoga instructor. She incorporates body awareness and mindfulness into her practice.

    Stephanie has a growing family and uses the experiences of being a mom into her therapy practices. Parenting with her husband and being a mom to her three children are her greatest teachers.

  • Michael Gay, LPC

    Assistant Director

    Michael is a licensed therapist in private practice in Boulder, Colorado. He earned his M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Naropa University with a focus in Transpersonal Psychology. Michael has worked in the field of counseling for the last 14 years as a guide, therapist, and trainer. He was a Wilderness Therapy guide for 6 years, leading and facilitating in deep transformational work with teens, adults, and families in the mountains and high desert. He has also worked extensively in the field of addiction and recovery. He specializes in work with depression, groups, trauma, PTSD, grief, and families. He currently co-creates with leaders in the field bringing men together for transformational experiences, brotherhood, healing, and empowerment. In addition to his M.A., Michael completed a 3 year training at the Gestalt Institute of the Rockies, and continues to train at the Gestalt Equine Institute.

Faculty

  • Joan Rieger, MA, LPC

    Joan Rieger, MA, LPC is a licensed psychotherapist with her Masters in Counseling from Naropa University (2001). She is currently in private practice in Wheat Ridge, CO specializing in trauma resolution, attachment issues, couples counseling, depression, anxiety, and grief. She also offers equine assisted psychotherapy to clients at Happy Dog Ranch in Littleton, CO. Along with being the current Director at GIR, Joan co-founded the Gestalt Equine Institute of the Rockies with Duey Freeman, MA, LPC. Joan taught the masters level Gestalt class for several years as an adjunct faculty member for Naropa University, and was the clinical supervisor for the Medicine Horse Program in Boulder, CO. Joan is certified as a Gestalt therapist from the Gestalt Institute of the Rockies (2002), and trained in Level 1 Somatic Experiencing.

  • Dr. Carla Clements

    Dr. Carla Clements was a professor at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, in the Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Psychology Department. She was the chair of the department for a decade, and taught Assessments, Group Dynamics, Helping Relationships, and Transpersonal Psychology. In May 2018, she retired to become the Principal Investigator of the DMTx program.
    Carla has a private practice in psychotherapy, specializing in the treatment of PTSD in women for the past 30 years. For three years, Carla was the Independent Rater for the MAPS-sponsored phase 2 study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment resistant, chronic PTSD. This experience renewed a lifelong interest in consciousness-expanding compounds which she continues to research today.

  • Victoria Story

  • Kyle Dern, LMFT, BCN

    Kyle provides mental health counseling in Moab, Utah and online in Utah and Colorado.

    He has training in:
    M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy, Regis University
    Gestalt Equine Institute of the Rockies Gestalt Institute of the Rockies
    Infraslow Neurofeedback
    Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA) https://www.bcia.org/
    Eye Movement, Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
    Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)

    P: 970-317-4290 kyle@bluejuniperpractice.com www.bluejuniperpractice.com

  • Morgan Dingle, MA, LPC, NCC

    Morgan is a Gestalt nerd. She could talk about this wondrous approach to therapy and life all day. If you’re interested in the boring stuff, Morgan received her master’s degree in counseling from Northwestern University with an emphasis in trauma-informed care. After spending many years living across the United States Morgan returned home to Colorado to start a private counseling practice. Her specialities include working with PTSD, generational trauma, attachment trauma, anxiety, and depression with interests in psychedelic assisted therapy. Morgan is also an adjunct faculty member at Naropa University. Morgan respects and supports the intersectionality of the BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities.

    morgan@morgandingletherapy.com(720) 258-6448
    www.morgandingletherapy.com

  • Ariana Griffith, LPC, EdM



    I have immense compassion for the circumstances that lead one to seek out therapy, and I commend your courage for being here. I view therapy as a safe, non-judgmental space dedicated to your healing and growth. Through this work we may explore where you feel stuck and how to get unstuck, come to understand the multifaceted parts that make up your identity, what it means to be in relationship with yourself and those around you, how to be authentically yourself, and ultimately create deeper, more meaningful relationships and experiences.

    My training specializes in multicultural psychology and through this lens, we seek to understand all intersections of one’s identity—gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, social class, ability, and body size—and the interplay of power and oppression within each part and in the greater context of society. Other areas of focus include trauma and grief (including gender and cultural trauma), attachment issues, mindfulness and somatic experiencing, career counseling and life design, and life transitions.

    I have also worked in the arts and entertainment field both as a performer and by way of counseling artists, and I am happy to work with those in unconventional life and career paths.

    I have a Master of Arts and a Master of Education in Psychological Counseling from the Teachers College at Columbia University. I also received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with an emphasis in Theatre from Hawai’i Pacific University. Additionally, I have received training from the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training in New York City, and am currently training with the Gestalt Institute of the Rockies, working toward certification in Gestalt therapy.

    Allied with LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, sex positive, body positive.