Emotion Alchemy Collective

02/07/2026

✨ Meet Kristen Ward, LSW, RYT✨
Somatic + Trauma-Informed Therapist for Adolescents & Young Adults at Emotion Alchemy Collective 🌿

Kristen believes healing begins with *safety, patience, and a gentle reconnection to the body.* She creates a calm, supportive space where teens and young adults can slow down, feel deeply, and learn the language of their emotions + nervous system. Whether it’s anxiety, identity questions, stress, or overwhelm, she helps clients develop real tools for regulation, resilience, confidence, and self-trust.

Kristen also partners with parents, offering compassionate guidance around nervous system regulation and connection at home — always honoring each young person’s autonomy and voice.

Her approach is inclusive and affirming for all teens — including LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse youth — and grounded in somatic awareness, mindfulness, and parts-informed exploration.

🌱 *“Healing feels like coming home to yourself.”*

We’re so grateful to have Kristen as a guide on the journey toward regulation, belonging, and emotional well-being. 💛

Kristen is open for new clients and accepts Kaiser, Cigna, Aetna and United insurance. Link in bio to book a free 15m connection call to see if working with her feels like a good fit.

https://emotionalchemycollective.com/kristen-ward-lsw/

02/05/2026

New blog post alert.

Why Therapy Is Political — and Why That Matters at Emotion Alchemy Collective

Therapy is often framed as a private, apolitical space—one person, one nervous system, one story at a time. And while therapy is deeply personal, it is never separate from the world we live in.

At Emotion Alchemy Collective, we believe this truth is essential: therapy is inherently political. Not because we tell clients what to think or how to vote, but because suffering does not occur in a vacuum—and healing shouldn’t pretend that it does.

Mental Health Does Not Exist Outside of Systems

xperiences are not just individual pathologies. They are often reasonable responses to systemic conditions:

Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism

Economic precarity, burnout culture, and lack of access to care

Reproductive injustice and threats to bodily autonomy

Intergenerational trauma and historical violence

Climate grief and collective uncertainty

When therapy ignores these realities, it subtly places responsibility back onto the individual—as if they are broken rather than responding to an unjust world.

We refuse that framing.

Read more in our blog post www.emotionalchemycollective.com

01/07/2026

✨ **Welcome Charity to Emotion Alchemy Collective** ✨

We’re so excited to introduce Charity, a therapist and somatic guide who offers a grounded, compassionate space for deep reconnection and healing. Charity believes therapy isn’t about fixing what’s broken—it’s about remembering the wisdom, vitality, and truth that already live within you.

Her work invites you to slow down, listen inward, and create enough safety for clarity and self-trust to emerge. She supports clients navigating trauma, identity shifts, chronic illness, emotional overwhelm, and those simply longing to feel more like themselves again.

Charity blends evidence-based practices with embodied, somatic wisdom, helping clients reconnect with their bodies, honor their natural rhythms, and gently welcome back the parts of themselves that may have been forgotten or exiled. Her hope is that therapy becomes a place to unburden what’s heavy, feel more regulated and resourced, and move toward a life that feels aligned.

🌿 **Now accepting new clients**
🩺 Accepts **United, Aetna, Cigna, Kaiser**, and **private pay**

Learn more or book with Charity through the link in our bio. ✨

12/15/2025

I have seen amazing changes in people who I’ve treated with EMDR who have birth trauma. It’s exciting to see some research come out about it.

Multiple people in our collective have this training and are specifically trained in perinatal mental health concerns. I love that we can offer this to our community.

Treatment of traumatic birth experience with postpartum early eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy: a randomized clinical trial https://ow.ly/q2Ix50XJx1T

12/03/2025

A nurturing, trauma-informed psilocybin ceremony created specifically for postpartum parents who may be navigating emotional overwhelm, identity shifts, birth trauma, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, exhaustion, or a sense of disconnection from themselves or their partners. This supportive group journey offers a grounded space to gently unwind the layers of the postpartum experience—tending to grief, ambivalence, joy, fear, love, and everything in between. Moms for Mushrooms community are welcomed.

With experienced guides, Dr. Laurel Hicks who specializes in perinatal mental health, and Tali Wertheimer who brings her lived experience as a parent and therapist, participants are held through intentional preparation, a safe and reverent ceremony, and thoughtful integration. The journey invites deep nervous system restoration, reconnection to intuition, healing of birth-related wounds, and renewed capacity to show up with presence and compassion—for yourself and for your baby.

This will include group preparation and integration sessions as well. These will be virtual.

Prep Call: March 29, 10-11:30am on Zoom
Prep Call: April 12, 10-11:30am on Zoom
Friday April 17th – 6:30-8:30pm in person
Saturday April 18 – 10-5
Integration call: Sunday April 19, 10-12pm on zoom

Natural Medicine Facilitators: Laurel Hicks, PhD, LCSW, PMH-C & Tali Werthiemer, LPCC.

11/27/2025

A sacred, skillfully guided psilocybin mushroom ceremony designed specifically for therapists, medical professionals, and healers. This immersive group journey offers a rare opportunity to step out of the caregiver role and into your own deep healing—restoring intuition, releasing emotional weight, and reconnecting with purpose. Through intentional preparation, ceremonial ritual, and compassionate integration, participants are supported in accessing profound insight, nervous system restoration, and expanded states of awareness. This experience nourishes the healer within, strengthens your capacity to serve, and honors the transformational power of the mushroom with reverence and ethical care.

✨Limited spots available

✨Location: Etc Hospitality | 16500 S Golden Rd, Unit 105 | Golden, CO 80401

✨Hosted by: Dr. Laurel Hicks & Tali Wertheimer

Link in bio.

10/30/2025

🍂New on the Blog: Healing Birth Trauma with Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) 🍂

Birth can be powerful, raw, and life-changing. But when the experience brings fear, loss, or overwhelm, those moments can stay with us long after the body has healed. 💔

At Emotion Alchemy Collective, we’re seeing incredible healing unfold through Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) — a powerful therapeutic approach that helps soften protective layers around painful memories and open pathways to deep emotional release and compassion. ✨

In our latest blog post, we share:
💫 How KAP supports healing from birth trauma
💫 What to expect in a KAP session
💫 Why this approach is especially supportive during the postpartum period
Many of our therapists are trained in both KAP and perinatal mental health, offering a uniquely holistic space for postpartum healing.

🌸 Read the full post at [link in bio] to learn how KAP can help you reconnect with peace, presence, and your inner strength.

10/01/2025

✨Pregnancy as Transformation: ✨
✨ A Nature Immersion Retreat ✨
October 20–23, 2025 | Dao House, Estes Park, CO

If you are navigating the liminal space of pregnancy and long to feel held in community, reverence, and connection, this retreat is for you.
Adventure therapist-in-training and full spectrum doula Alyssa Coleman, alongside therapist (LPCC) Jaycee Cole, are hosting a three-day experiential retreat for those in their second trimester of a medically uncomplicated pregnancy. Together, we will weave nervous system regulation, nature-based practices, and rites of passage work to honor pregnancy as the deeply transformative threshold experience it is.

Held at the stunning Dao House in Estes Park, this retreat offers space for healing, reflection, and community—while also contributing to groundbreaking maternal mental health research. Sliding scale pricing ($300–$800, meals and lodging included) ensures accessibility.

Link in bio

09/30/2025

🌿 The Second Half of Life Workshop Series 🌿

This January, we’ll begin a 10-week journey through by Angeles Arrien. Together, we’ll explore the Eight Gates—archetypal passages that invite us into deeper meaning, creativity, and authenticity as we step into the second half of life.

Each week, we’ll open a new Gate: welcoming the unknown, re-imagining old roles, reconnecting with intimacy and embodiment, deepening our relationships, reclaiming creativity, living with authenticity, finding grace in nature and silence, and practicing the art of letting go. These wisdom teachings offer a powerful map for moving through midlife transitions, perimenopause, menopause, and beyond—into a more grounded, soulful elderhood.

As Angeles Arrien teaches, “When you find the courage to change at midlife, a miracle happens. Your character is opened, deepened, strengthened, softened. You return to your soul’s highest values. You are now prepared to create your legacy.” Through images, poetry, and world wisdom traditions, the Eight Gates guide us step by step to deepen relationships, reclaim untended creative talents, and shift our focus from ambition to meaning—so we may grow into the wise elders we’ve always imagined ourselves to be.

This series is especially supportive for women entering perimenopause or navigating the menopause transition, and for anyone ready to honor their initiation into the second half of life. All genders are welcome.

✨ Join our interest list to receive updates and be the first to know when registration opens.

https://docs.google.com/forms/u/3/d/e/1FAIpQLSdO-txGRf1fRgQUN-v1kWQekD-PiRUnTohcm22O0yEKMlotng/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=112088658375660627934

This January, we’ll begin a 10-week journey through The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom by Angeles Arrien. Together, we’ll explore the Eight Gates—archetypal passages that invite us into deeper meaning, creativity, and authenticity as we step into the second half of life...

09/23/2025

Welcome to Jennifer...our newest member of the team. She brings a wealth of experience and we are so grateful she is now part of our collective.

Here are some words from Jennifer…
I believe that conscious awareness, resilience, a touch of magic, and a generous dose of humor can pave the way to a profoundly meaningful life. This philosophy underpins my approach to all aspects of my work. I integrate my clinical expertise with somatic awareness, conscious breathwork, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy to facilitate transformative, client-centered healing experiences. My practice is infused with a sense of spirituality and joy, allowing me to create a nurturing environment for my clients as they embark on their healing journeys.

I am especially called to walk with those at the threshold of life and death. To accompany the dying, the terminally ill, and their loved ones is a profound honor. End of life is not only a medical passage but also a spiritual one, filled with mystery, grief, beauty, and transformation. Through ritual, storytelling, and practices that open the heart, we bring forth what has been unsaid and unremembered, so that life feels complete, and death can be met with more peace. In this space, we honor the life that has been lived and the love that continues beyond it.

09/05/2025

Here’s a warm and welcoming social media post introducing Alyssa to your broader audience:

—

✨ Please join me in welcoming Alyssa Baker, LPC, to Emotion Alchemy Collective!✨

Alyssa is a Licensed Professional Counselor based in Colorado, offering therapy via telehealth or in-person in nature. She brings a deeply thoughtful, creative, and trauma-informed approach to healing—specializing in DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) and weaving in mindfulness, expressive arts, movement, and nature-based elements into her work.

Alyssa works especially well with folks navigating depression, anxiety, or thoughts of self-harm—providing both practical tools and compassionate companionship through difficult internal experiences. If traditional talk therapy has ever felt constricting, her creative, grounding, and expansive style may resonate with you.

She’s particularly passionate about offering inclusive, affirming care for LGBTQIA individuals—creating space where everyone feels seen, respected, and valued.

If you’re seeking someone who blends skill-building with soulful support—who will encourage reflection, growth, and maybe even play—Alyssa might be the perfect partner on your healing journey.

Learn more about her and book a connection call on our website. [www.emotionalchemycollective.com/alyssa-baker-lpc]

Welcome to the collective, Alyssa! We can’t wait to see the impact you’ll make here. 💚

— Emotion Alchemy Collective Team

08/09/2025

About this past weekend.

As part of becoming a licensed natural medicine facilitator, we need to sit with ourselves and others with the mushrooms. Last weekend was practicum weekend where we dove into holding space for each other. It always amazing me how the mushrooms have such beautiful teachings…sometimes people chat the entire time, other times it’s completely silent and internal. Each individual receives their own special and unique teaching. It’s mysterious, powerful and truly full of magic.

The ceremony begins before we enter the journey space and continues well beyond. Lessons integrating, weaving, old concepts decomposing and new ones fruiting to the surface.

Space is open for those of you desiring to work with this medicine. If you feel the mushrooms calling, I’m here to hold you in your journey.