News & Events

The Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association is pleased to endorse Dr. Kirk Schneider for president of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Schneider is a leader figure in humanistic psychology and the leading voice of existential-humanistic psychotherapy. His many contributions to humanistic and existential psychology speak for themselves.

While we are excited what Dr. Schneider’s presidency could mean for elevating an awareness of existential and humanistic psychology, this is not the only reason we are endorsing him for APA president. Dr. Schneider has many years of experience in leadership, including serving as president of the Existential-Humanistic Institute and the Society for Humanistic Psychology (APA Division 32). Additionally, Dr. Schneider has served on APA council. His success in these leadership roles demonstrate his preparedness for the role of APA president.

Dr. Schneider’s vision is the primary reason we are endorsing him for president. We currently are experiencing turbulent times in the United States and the world. Psychology has a role to play in healing from these difficult times. Polarization within the United States and much of the rest of the world, and within the field of psychology, has become an increasingly evident problem. Dr. Schneider’s experience, knowledge, and skill in working with polarization is greatly needed in the field of psychology. Furthermore, his call for a Psychologist General in the United States is sorely needed. As people in the United States suffer from the consequences of polarization, poverty, unhealthy amounts of work, racism, sexism, homophobia, and many other challenges, we need leadership rooted in the dignity and humanity of all people. We need leadership that is rooted in empathy and compassion.

Many of our board members know and have worked closely with Kirk. We know his integrity and compassion, and we know his vision for the field of psychology. We believe in his ability to help bring about the change and transformation that is needed. Dr. Schneider is the leader for professional psychology at this time.

If you are a member of the American Psychological Association, we strongly encourage you to consider voting for Dr. Kirk Schneider. You can find out more about his platform at this link: https://kirkjschneider.com/platform-for-apa-president/.

Written by Cathy Calvert, PsyD

It is with great sadness that I share with the Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association (RMCHPA) community the loss of one of our members. Nicole (Nikki) Hohl, PsyD, died on Tuesday April 7, 2020. She leaves behind a husband, 8 children, and 2 grandchildren. Nikki was not only a fellow RMCHPA member and colleague, but also was a supervisee of mine. I had the good fortune to be her very first supervisor in her first practicum. She arrived in practicum as a quiet and gentle person who did not say much, but when she did speak many times what she had to say was perceptive and thoughtful. As a new trainee she provided her clients with a space for exploration in a stillness that was filled with respect and safety. She started her training with some of the more difficult clients at the clinic and would hear from her cohort how “lucky” she was and how “brave” she was to be working with some of her clients. Nikki never saw her clients as difficult or that she was “brave.” She, in a very human way, saw her clients as those who needed someone to listen and be present in their pain. Our paths crossed again during her training and I had the opportunity to be her final supervisor at the end of her Psychology Internship at UCCS. Nikki continued to have a similar presence like she had at the beginning of her training—the kind of presence that created space for her clients to see themselves in a different way, a way that could create change for them. Through a compassionate approach, her clients felt cared for and supported while they experienced change. At the end of her training, she had become more confident and less quiet. It was if she had finally found her “pou sto” – gently hold a space for another.

Nikki was a wonderful clinician and knowledgeable psychologist and yet there were parts of her that even colleagues did not know. She married young, and she and her husband, married 31 years, had 8 wonderful children.  While Nikki was in graduate school getting her doctorate in psychology, she was also homeschooling all 8 children. She became a published author of a fictional novel during graduate school. Nikki had a dream to go to graduate school, get her doctorate in psychology, and work in a private practice. She completed all her coursework, post-doctoral residency, and as of March 2020, became a licensed psychologist and opened her own private practice. She reached her goal! Those that knew her personally were richer for the experience and those that she helped along the way were given a gift. I will miss Nikki and am grieving the future we would have had as colleagues. I believe our profession will miss her still, gentle spirit of healing as well.  

Click here to read Nikki’s obituary.

This past week, the humanistic and transpersonal psychology communities lost one of our long time leaders, Sue Wallingford. The Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association mourns her loss and wishes to express our condolences to the many family, friends, colleagues, students, and clients who cared deeply for Sue.

Sue was a professor at Naropa University for 25 years and served in many capacities, including as faculty member in both the graduate Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling and Transpersonal Art Therapy programs.  Sue’s many accomplishments include founding the Naropa Community Art Studio-International and Partners for Social Justice, an organization that brought art therapy to international populations. For the last many years, Sue led international trips to Cambodia, bringing support to those impacted by domestic violence, poverty, and sex trafficking. 

Sue was one of the authors in Shadows and Light: Theory, Research and Practice in Transpersonal Psychology edited by Kaklaukas, Clements, Hocoy and Hoffman (2019). Her chapter, “A Transpersonal Approach to Service-Learning: A Call to Right Action,” is a reflection on her Cambodian work. She grew up in Kentucky and always identified with her southern girl roots. She had a sweet drawl and was a tireless champion of diversity education, of personal growth, and learning to be a better person. For many years she and her students held 48 hour art events to raise money for the Cambodian trips or for other causes. Students would create matchbox artworks and sell them at auction parties they would host, of which many are owned & treasured by RMHCPA secretary & Sue’s dear friend, Carla Clements. 

As wonderful and laudable as her accomplishments are, what was most important about Sue is her kind heart, gentle spirit, and fierce commitment to living from her authentic core.  It was always Sue who volunteered to host gatherings at her beautiful home or take on the responsibility for creating a remembrance or celebration. She would provide art supplies (such as a basket and strips of cloth) that she would pass around the group circle, inviting everyone to tie some love or memory into the basket that would then become a gift to that person. She treated her students to magic and ritual as a way of initiation, both in and out of the program. Sue’s life was challenging these last few years, having lost both her mother and sister. The death of her son, Jayce, this past fall was devastating for her. She has been sharing the process of her grief on Facebook these few months–her writing and her art and it has been a gift to those who have witnessed her journey.

Sue’s work, influence and love live on in the spaces she created, such as Crowd Collective, a co-work studio, community workspace and small gallery. Sue is survived by her husband Jay, daughter Emma, daughter in law Janae, grand babies Zane & Ezra and the rest of the family she leaves behind. 

Sue was part of the Crowd Collective. More information can be found at https://thecrowdboulder.com/gallery.

RMHCPA Members,

It is time for members to renew memberships. If you joined before October 2019 and have not renewed your membership for 2020, we encourage you to do so soon. Our online store to renew memberships was temporary down for several days; however, it is now up and functioning again (https://rmhcpa.org/join/).
I also wanted to mention a number of exciting updates:

Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association Institutional Review Board (IRB)

RMHCPA now has an officially registered Institutional Review Board (IRB). We are pleased to welcome Heather Miller as our new IRB chair. Dr. Miller has many years of experience chairing and serving on IRBs and also has contributed to the scholarly literature relevant to institutional review boards and research ethics. We are grateful to have her as our IRB Chair! Dr. Miller is in the process of establishing our policies and procedures for the IRB and preparing the new members of the IRB committee to begin reviews. RMHCPA members will be able to utilize the IRB at a substantially reduced rate. As independent IRBs tend to be expensive, this is an important new membership benefit. We will have more information available on our website in the coming months. If you have questions for the IRB, you can contact Dr. Miller at irb@rmhcpa.org. 

Two New RMHCPA Institutes

RMHCPA has officially established two new institutes:

1. Rocky Mountain Existential and Humanistic Institute
2. Rocky Mountain Transpersonal Institute

These two new institutes will provide the organizational structure to establish our existential and humanistic archives and library as well as our transpersonal psychology archives and library. Additionally, we are finalizing a process to recognize important scholars and luminaries in existential, humanistic, and transpersonal psychology through these institutes and make their scholarship available in our archives. We will be providing more information about this in the coming months. 

RMHCPA Fundraising and Grant Writing

The RMHCPA board is shifting its focus to fundraising and grant writing with hopes to raise enough money for a downpayment on purchasing a building by the end of 2020. We had a successful start to fundraising last year, but we still have a ways to go to meet our goal. The building will house the archives as well as therapy clinic that will house therapists and counselors in private practice. We will also form a training clinic that offers low fee therapy services to the community of Colorado Springs. We are planning a few fundraisers in Colorado Springs, Denver, and Boulder over the next several months. If you are interested in getting involved with supporting these efforts, please send an email to lhoffman@rmhcpa.org. 

Conclusion

Last year was an exciting year for RMHCPA. We are looking forward to an exciting 2020 as well. Please remember to renew your membership soon to be part of the growing vision of RMHCPA! 
Louis Hoffman, PhDExecutive DirectorRocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association

Nathaniel Granger, Jr., and Louis Hoffman were interviewed by Dr. Jim Ungvarsky about the Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association (RMHCPA). They discuss how RMHCPA began, what distinguishes humanistic psychology, and developing a new institute in Colorado Springs.

Follow RMHCPA on YouTube!

Congratulations to Rocky Mt. Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association members Louis Hoffman, Heatherlyn Cleare-Hoffman, and Nathaniel Granger on the publication of Humanistic Approaches to Multiculturalism and Diversity: Perspectives on Existence and Difference (Routledge, 2019). This new publication, which was co-edited with David St. John, is an important contributions to the humanistic and existential literature. Two other RMHCPA members, Lisa Vallejos and Michael Moats, also contributed chapters to the volume. All four editors will be at the book release celebration and book signing at the social following the Third Annual Rocky Mountain Humanistic Counseling and Psychological Association Conference on October 12, 2019 to be held in Colorado Springs.