Meet Annie Vail | Somatic, Mindfulness & Hakomi Therapist

Hi, I'm Annie

My Commitment to You as my Client

I will create a safe, accepting, and welcoming environment for our work together.
I will see in your intrinsic wholeness and wisdom. Your unique strengths and resources will become allies in the transformation process.
I will attune to what is alive in you in the moment, and work with you from there, in mutuality.
I will guide and support the process, while honoring you as the expert of yourself.
I will celebrate and embrace you exactly as you are now, while supporting your movement towards greater well-being.
I will help you to see and understand the impact of core patterns and beliefs that give rise to your current circumstances and behavior.
I will provide honest and direct feedback, when needed, with care.
I will help you cultivate tools and behaviors that will bring you greater empowerment, joy, connection, health, creativity, and authenticity.

Credentials, Education, & Trainings

I have a deep love of learning!--everything from practical skills to contemplating big questions. I am committed to ongoing, regular continued education, so that I continue to grow and develop as a therapist.

Credentials:

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Hakomi Therapist, and a PACT Level 2 couple therapist

Educational Degrees:

Master’s Degree, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling Psychology, Naropa University
Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy, University of Michigan
Bachelor’s Degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Columbia University

Professional Development and Training:

Hakomi Body-centered Psychotherapy advanced certification training
Psychotherapist at Boulder Emotional Wellness for 1-year internship, including training in PACT couples therapy.
Hakomi Institute, Boulder 2 year comprehensive training
Hakomi Institue, assistant facilitator to two-2-year comprehensive trainings, for 4 years total
PACT-Psycho-biological Approach to Couple Training Level 1 & 2
Group Facilitator with WINGS Foundation for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse
META (Mindful Experiential Therapy Approaches) Institute, 2-year comprehensive training, including Hakomi, attachment methods, and Recreation-of-the-self Methods
Completed META’s Recreation-of-the-Self module
Portland Women’s Crisis Line 60-hour training on trauma, sexual assault, domestic violence, and oppression
Compassionate Communication aka Non-Violent Communication (NVC) 12-week intro training with Kathy Marchant as well as weekly practice groups for the following year
Mindfulness Compassionate Dialogue classes with LaSchelle Lowe-Charde, incorporating NVC & Hakomi, in relationship to attending to depression and understanding how to be in relationship with different personality types
Solsara, assistant facilitator to authentic relating 3 & 5-day workshops

My Story

In my early adulthood, mindfulness came to me through dance, snowboarding, and backpacking. My sense of spirituality was found in the cathedral of nature. Before becoming a therapist, I worked in the environmental field, dedicated to creating social and environmental change, motivated by questions related to "what contributes to a happy, healthy existence for all humans?" At that time, I was asking these questions from a socio-political level. It was a desire to heal my wounds from the past that took me inside myself. Here is where I began my focus on my own embodiment, including studying yoga, meditation and mindfulness, and authentic relating practices.

My path of becoming a therapist started on this healing journey of my own. Deeply struggling in my twenties, I was immersed in grief and pain, and bound by stuck patterns. My life took an unexpected turn when my mother died of cancer when I was 26. Meanwhile, addiction inflicted my family. Painful break-ups left me broken-hearted. My own body responded to all the stress in the form of illness and chronic pain. I found myself with one clear intention--I needed to heal from past traumas. I wanted healthier relationships. I wanted greater access to my own inner peace.

Over time, my engagement with many healing paths, time in nature and with community, I found my own sense of health, self-acceptance, and freedom from the traumas of the past. My personal therapy was the cornerstone of my healing transformation. This therapeutic work revealed to me the power of mindfulness and the wisdom of the body as a foundation to resolving and integrating deep-seated issues.

Experiencing first-hand the possibility of true healing and transformation gave way to my impassioned conviction to become a therapist myself. I absolutely love what I do, as I pay forward the gift of living in one’s full and actualized self. My path is on-going, as I am dedicated to my own self-care and personal growth.

Who I am as a therapist, as well as in the world and in relationships, is largely a result of my own journey. My therapeutic style can be described as present, compassionate, and relational. I create a balance between empathy, safety, and connection, alongside the capacity and willingness to be with my clients in the more challenging content of their lives. I bring my reservoir of insight to each client, alongside the energetic holding I provide. I see each client in their wholeness, not in their wounding. A client’s unique strengths and resources become allies in the transformation process.

Beyond my own life experience, I bring the knowledge and skill from over a decade of extensive education and training. I received my Master's degree in Mindfulness-based Transpersonal Counseling at Naropa University. I am a certified Hakomi therapist, a mindfulness-based somatic psychotherapy, and have been a part of Hakomi trainings either as a student or assistant facilitator for 8 years. I studied Non-violent communication for two years with both Kathy Marchant and LaShelle Charde. I have immersed myself in an authentic relating practice called Solsara, as both a student and assistant facilitator, since 2010.

Outside of my professional life, I cherish spending time with my husband and community. I also have a regular yoga/movement/mindfulness practice. Time in nature, traveling, and expressing myself on the dance floor are foundations of my joy.

I use she/her pronouns.