Category: Announcement

The Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association (RMHCPA) recently announced that it is seeking to purchase a building and establish an institute in Colorado Springs. I am going to begin unveiling aspects of the vision for this institute in a series of announcements. Each aspect of the vision is still in development, so there will likely be some changes over time. Our initial fundraising efforts are going well, which has inspired us to continue developing this vision.

Establishing a Clinic with Low-Fee Therapy Options

Before RMHCPA was officially formed, we established our commitment to including a service component to the organization. The establishment of a low fee therapy clinic in Colorado Springs is an important development in our commitment to service. In Colorado Springs, there are few low fee therapy options. The uninsured and underinsured often struggle to find good options for therapy.

The RMHCPA Clinic would combined offices for independent therapy practices with practicum students that would see clients for low fees. The rent from the therapists will help support the RMHCPA Institute and Clinic. We will maintain additional offices that are reserved for use by our practicum students, who will offer the majority of the low fee therapy services.

Students with a primary interest in learning humanistic, existential, and transpersonal approaches to therapy would be eligible to be practicum students at the clinic. In addition to seeing clients, they would receive supervision and training in these therapy modalities.

A Volunteer Model

The established fee for therapy services would be a low fee, likely $25.00 per session. However, clients will have options to lower their rate further. If clients volunteer at local non-profit organizations for 2-hours a week, their rate would be lowered to $15.00 a session. If they volunteer 4-hours a week, their rate would be further reduced to $5.00 a session. For individuals who are not able to volunteer, such as individuals with a disability or single-parent households, there would be other options to receive the reduced rate.

The therapists in private practice in the clinic will be encouraged to provide 1-2 hours of low fee therapy as well. In exchange, they would receive lower rates for their monthly rent.

We believe this model will provide a variety of benefits. Clients often benefit from being involved in meaningful work. This provides an opportunity for them to engage in volunteering, which may have psychological benefits for clients, while also receiving more affordable therapy. Additionally, we believe this model will also benefit the community by encouraging people to volunteer with organizations that are making a positive impact upon the Colorado Springs community.

How to Support the Low-Fee Clinic

The rental and other income for the institute would support the low fee clinic. Thus, we would need to engage in ongoing grant writing and fundraising. If this part of the RMHCPA institute vision is of interest to you, we encourage you to consider talking with us about a tax deductible donation that will help for this vision to become a reality.

Louis Hoffman, PhD
Executive Director
Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association

RMHCPA Members,
I am writing to inform you of some very exciting developments with the Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association. A couple of months ago, we were approached and offered a a large donation to create an existential and humanistic archives and museum in Colorado Springs featuring the archives of Tom Greening. Since this offer, the board carefully deliberated about pursuing this opportunity and has committed to making this happen. The vision for this has grown significantly since the initial discussion. At our board meeting last night, we worked through a number of organizational changes to begin actively working toward the establishment of an institute within RMHCPA that would host the archives. For this to become a reality, it was necessary to reconfigure our organizational structure. We expanded the number of members on the Board of Directors, shifted from a president and vice president to a chair and vice chair, and established an Executive Director. I am honored to have been appointed by the Board as the Executive Director and I will be spearheading the establishment of the institute.
We are still working to establish the organizational structure of the institute. While this is tentative and likely will change to some degree over the next several months, our current plan includes four branches:

1. Archives and Museum: The Tom Greening Archives will be the first collection established in the archives; however, we hope to add many more over time and are already in discussions about several possibilities.
2. Library: We intend to establish a premiere existential, humanistic, and transpersonal psychology library. Included in the library will be the full collections of many contemporary existential, humanistic, and transpersonal psychology scholars. We will be recruiting scholars that would like to feature their comprehensive works in the library and have already begun discussions with many scholars about this.
3. Clinic: We intend to establish a clinic that will have several independent private practices and a practicum placement for students. With the practicum students, we intend for them to offer low fee and pro bono therapy while receiving supervision from therapists whose practices reside in the clinic.
4. Training Center: The Training Center will organize the annual conference, develop continuing education opportunities, and offer opportunities for supervision.

To achieve this vision, we have three priorities that we are now shifting to focus on:

1. Purchasing a Building in Colorado Springs: We have established a Building Purchasing Task Force that will begin looking for a building to purchase in Colorado Springs. This task force is comprised of Louis Hoffman, Nathaniel Granger, Luis Vargas, Justin Walmsley, and Francis Kaklauskas. We are seeking a building that would have a large space that would serve as the archives/museum and could also be used for workshops and other training events. The facilitaty would also have several offices for private practice as well as a reception area. We are looking in Colorado Springs between downtown and University of Colorado at Colorado Springs near I-25.
2. Fund-raising: Although we are going to receive a large initial donation, we are engaging in an ambitious fundraising campaign. The initial donation is not sufficient for the down payment on a building that would meet the needs described above. Therefore, we need to engage in additional fundraising to make this happen. The more successful we are in fundraising, the more options we have to purchase a building that offers opportunities for our vision to continue to grow.
3. Grant Writing: We are beginning the process of grant writing to support the archives. We have experience grant-writers who will help with this, and are beginning to identify grants that we can apply for.

The RMHCPA board is confident that we will make this dream a reality. We believe this will be good for RMHCPA, for our membership, for Colorado Spings and the State of Colorado, and the existential, humanistic, and transpersonal psychology movement. Through this development, there will be many increased membership benefits that we will be able to offer, including access to resources, training, and leading scholars in the field.
There are many ways that the membership can help this vision become a reality. We invite members to support this endeavor in the following ways:

1. RMHCPA is now listed as a non-profit on Facebook. It has become increasingly popular for people to do birthday fundraising on Facebook. We encourage you to consider selecting RMHCPA for your next birthday fundraiser.
2. RMHCPA is also listed as a non-profit with Amazon Smile. If you go to Smile.Amazon.com and search for “Rocky Mountain Humanistic,” you can then select us as your charitable organization. When you purchase from Amazon, then be certain to go to Smile.Amazon.com to begin your search. From there, make your purchases just as you would through Amazon. The cost is the same, but .5% of all purchases go to support RMHCPA.
3. RMHCPA also has an Amazon Associates account. If you purchase books through the RMHCPA website, RMHCPA will receive a portion of the proceeds. If you want to put a link from Amazon Associates on your website, any purchases through this link will support RMHCPA.
4. Please also consider making a donation to RMHCPA. If you or someone you know might be willing to consider a large donation, please contact me at [email protected] to discuss this. We are hoping to name various aspects of the new institute and building in honor of people who make large donations to RMHCPA.
5. Be sure to renew your membership. If you have not renewed your membership for 2019, please do so soon. As we near the end of the year, please remember to renew your membership promptly to continue your support for RMHCPA and make sure that you have access to your member benefits.

We hope the membership is as excited about this as we are. Over the next several months, I will work to keep you regularly updated on new developments in this endeavor.

Louis Hoffman, PhDExecutive DirectorRocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association

The Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association wishes to congratulate RMHCPA Member Lisa Vallejos on the publication of her new book:

Shattered, How Everything Comes Together When It All Falls Apart chronicles the transformational journey of one mother, psychologist, and researcher who found the courage to truly live while grappling with the diagnosis of her child with a life-limiting congenital heart defect.

Written as a memoir (with the backing of a lot of solid research), this book offers an intimate journey of a parent facing the unthinkable—the possibility of outliving their child. Author Lisa Vallejos takes the reader along the journey as she experienced it firsthand. Ranging from despair to triumph, this book shows how facing death can truly be an invitation to live. Using both anecdotal experiences and established psychological research, Vallejos makes a case for trauma as a tool of transformation.

This heart-wrenching and passionate portrayal of the potent human spirit to overcome incredible odds and to achieve triumph, no matter the circumstances, is a beacon to anyone who has suffered, felt lost, or has been buckled under the weight of an irrevocable life altering experience.

Can be purchased here: https://amzn.to/2K3c8Pj