Meet Ashlea

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Belinda knew that her path direction was set early, as her father was a US Army Vietnam war veteran. Growing up with a father who was career Army, Belinda became well acquainted with military life from a young age.

With a desire to serve her country herself, Belinda enlisted in the US Air Force and discharged after 6 years of service to pursue her Master's degree in counseling. Upon graduation, Belinda was able to serve military service members and their families as a volunteer counselor on the various installations she was attached to with her then spouse who was active duty Air Force. With her continued desire to help returning veterans and their families, she began working for the Department of Defense, counseling children of military service members.

After another relocation, she began working as a Behavioral Health Counselor for the Department of the Army at Fort Rucker, where she counseled active duty military, veterans and their families for 11 years. Noticing the impacts of combat, Belinda transitioned to the Department of Veterans Administration serving as a Readjustment Counselor at a Vet Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. She joined a team specializing in treating veterans who have had issues returning from combat deployments and/or have experienced sexual trauma. 

Belinda's vast experience, coupled with her desire to serve those who serve others are valuable assets. A great majority of first responders have military experience and we are very excited to have another culturally competent clinician serving our member agencies! 

Cheryl  is a Registered Nurse who has been in the field for over 25 years. Her passion is to walk alongside people who are trying to find their way through life's hardships.    

Over the past decade, Cheryl has been blessed to be a part of helping others pursue healing. Her passion is to serve within her nearby and global communities. She has encouraged and guided medical teams and communities in East Africa, as well as facilitated "The Journey Group," a biblically based program that helps lead the participant through their own stories of pain, disappointment and abuse, equipping them to share the care they receive with others.    

Cheryl's heart is especially tender towards First Responder families because she has been married to her firefighter for 20 years. She has learned through her own personal journey as a fire wife that the families of First Responders need support, and often feel left behind as their loved one is recovering and healing.    

She believes in sharing and listening authentically, practicing good self-care, and seeking to love with empathy and forgiveness.    

Cheryl is FRTC peer support certified and looks forward to walking beside FRTC's families and creating a safe environment where they can feel heard, loved and supported.

It isn't any wonder that Jarah has developed into an industry leader in Crisis and Trauma counseling for both individuals and families. Jarah began her career in emergency departments for two large hospital systems in northern Colorado. However, the true desire to serve the First Responder/family population runs much more deeply and personally.

Jarah grew up around the First Response community as the daughter of a law enforcement officer and sister of a combat veteran. Visits to her grandmother brought additional tales of emergency services. Her grandmother was a 911 operator and was involved in the Fire Service, and marrying a law enforcement officer ultimately set her path. The pride of assisting others and seeing firsthand the emotional toll emergency service took on her loved ones, their families, and her coworkers opened the doors of empathy and care and helped Jarah create her own slant of mitigating trauma in others. Seeing First Responders in the emergency room, meeting with patients, and witnessing the toll the calls were taking on them deepened her commitment to serving the behavioral health needs of First Responder communities.

Jarah has been successfully serving the behavioral health needs of others since 1997. With her unique history and skill set in the emergency services,  First Responder Trauma Counselors is proud to add Jarah as another culturally competent, EMDR and FRTC National Peer Support Academy trained therapist.

Jeff is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Addiction Specialist in the state of Colorado, practicing as a therapist since 2009. Jeff has practiced in a variety of settings and, along the way, acquired additional training in several modalities that address trauma, substance use, and couples/family counseling. 

Someone can feel perplexed by disruptive habits or patterns in their lives, which can include but is not limited to depression, anxiety, substance use, relational struggles, and the lingering affect of trauma. All of these concerns can be shaped by social-cultural aspects of one’s identity and lived experience, and Jeff is sensitive to including

this when the person/couple feel it is important. 

Jeff believes that counseling is effective in discovering an open and transformative place where old ways of feeling and living can loosen and carry forward into new, enhanced ways of living.

Jess is an EMDR trained and National Board Certified Licensed Professional Counselor. They received their master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lamar University and are currently working on becoming a Certified Addiction Counselor. Additionally, Jess is an FRTC trained peer supporter.

Prior to becoming a mental health counselor, Jess worked as a medic in EMS and Humane Law Enforcement, as well as in an emergency veterinary clinic. They had the honor of working with a Community Mental Health Crisis Team for 3 years before opening a private counseling practice in Greeley, Colorado.

Jess enjoys meeting with a variety of clients, including those struggling with rediscovering their life path, those dealing with PTSI, trauma, suicidal thoughts, shame or other struggles that hold them back from fully living the life they desire. They also work with people experiencing mental health issues resulting from a head injury and those struggling with somatic symptoms. 

Jess provides a straightforward, trauma-informed approach for those who need a large space and want results. Their eclectic, "custom designed" approach incorporates elements from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, mindfulness, the Enneagram, and other models as needed. 

Following their own head/neck injury, Jess was partnered with their mobility support/medical alert Service Dog, Kindynos. Kindynos is a Dutch Shepherd who likes to keep watch over counseling sessions when they are not actively working. Jess and Kindynos consider it a privilege to be members of the FRTC team.

Kelly has been working with individuals, couples and families for over 20 years. She has experience helping people who are struggling with depression, anxiety, grief, loss, PTSD, trauma, and substance abuse. Kelly spent many years working in behavioral health, including inpatient psychiatric facilities and emergency departments, and developed a strong connection and partnership with first responders. She has also worked closely with law enforcement as a child protective caseworker for Larimer County.  Kelly has built her practice working with those who are on the front line helping people in the community.   

Kelly also enjoys working with spouses of first responders to help them process mental health and emotional challenges. She utilizes EMDR, CBT, DBT, trauma-focused CBT, solution-focused therapy, and strength-based therapy in her clinical practice. She also has experience using art with victims of trauma and abuse.

Kelly will welcome you into a caring, nonjudgmental and safe space during your sessions. Her warmth and empathy will help you feel at ease and comfortable while working together. You’ll appreciate her down-to-earth spirit and feel she is someone who is easy to talk to. FRTC welcomes Kelly to our clinical team!

After completing his BA in Anthropology at UNLV, Mark moved to Colorado to attend graduate school at CSU for Human Development and Family Studies (with a Marriage and Family Therapy focus). Growing up in a military and first responder family influenced Mark to respond to 9/11/2001 by enlisting in the Army National Guard as a Military Police officer. Later, Mark volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan in 2010 and conducted convoy security, detainee operations, trained ANP, and worked alongside German MP’s and other NATO forces on various missions. After serving for 7 years and reflecting on his experiences in the military, Mark decided to change the mission of his life to be more in line with his values and experiences. After separating from the military and completing his Bachelor's Degree, Mark spent 10 months backpacking through Europe, southeast Asia and Oceania to explore and learn from other cultures, which led to him deciding to become a therapist. Mark is passionate about supporting the healing of trauma in ourselves, our relationships, and collectively so that we can learn to thrive as one species on this one planet we all call home.   

Today, Mark lives in a blended family with his wife, three children, dog and two ball pythons. Together, they love to feel/experience adrenaline and grounding on their slackline, SUP boards, bicycles, rollerblades, and longboards. Mark also loves doing yoga with his wife, Joy, who is a yoga instructor and Reiki practitioner. They are passionate about physical, relational and spiritual evolution, and love to nerd out on related podcasts and documentaries.   

Mark has additional training in Gottman Level 2 couples therapy and is currently attending the Sexual Health Alliance to become a sex therapist. Mark specializes in supporting couples in moving from gridlock to dialogue about their life dreams, insecurities, fantasies, and more. He enjoys supporting clients who practice a wide range of relationship or loving lifestyles/identities such as monogamy, nonmonogamy, kink, LGBTQIA and other marginalized or unique populations.

Mark worked for 3 years at CSU in student counseling and cofacilitated groups for anxiety and Dialectical Behavior Therapy before deciding to pursue private practice. Mark is also excited about the possibilities and future of psychedelic assisted therapy and appreciates the power of nature to remind us of who we are.

With relationships in the First Responder tribe seemingly collapsing and divorce rates rising, it has become increasingly necessary to look at how we see ourselves. How can we hope to have healthy relationships with others if our relationship with ourselves is not authentic and loving. Sometimes we just need someone to empathetically “hear us” and help assist us on our own path to being the person we've always wanted to be. 

First Responder Trauma Counselors is proud to introduce Niki Woods. Niki is a Certified Love and Authenticity Practitioner. She is also a Certified Whole Healer, which is a modality that works on the entirety of a person through Mind, Body and Soul. 

Niki is a national speaker and trainer and has been featured on radio shows dedicated to improving relationships with oneself and others. Her story about her own path to healing is uplifting and compelling, as she has firsthand knowledge on how to maneuver life’s roadblocks. 

As Niki worked through her own transformative healing, she found her calling in life and is now dedicated to helping her clients rediscover their Authentic Self. Niki believes that everyone has the capacity to heal deeply, if they so choose. The only requirement is courage and the ability to grow into the person you have always wanted to be.

Niki is the founder of Blank Canvas Ltd., a project dedicated to freeing people from beliefs, patterns and rules that were born out of fear. Niki’s mission is to assist people in choosing to discover their healthy subconscious thoughts so that they may live from a place of true awareness and courage in choosing their own healthy life paths. 

Niki is culturally aware, being married to a firefighter for over a decade, and is a graduate of FRTC's National Peer Support Academy.

Taylor is a peer support and EMDR trained Licensed Professional Counselor. She uses a bio-psycho-social-spiritual model of care which strives to affect the mind, body, spirit, social and emotional aspects of a person to bring about change. A graduate of Colorado Christian University, she incorporates Christian principles in her practice while welcoming diversity, and does not discriminate based on religion, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation.  

In addition to counseling, Taylor has worked in the emergency response field for the past 16 years as a firefighter/EMT/Captain. She is a certified ACE peer fitness trainer, CrossFit Level 2 and CrossFit Kids certificate holder, and has worked as a fitness trainer for the past 7 years. Taylor has been trained in the core skills of Motivational Interviewing and is a certified Peer Support Team member. She is currently working on becoming a Certified Addiction Counselor (CAC) and Domestic Violence Counselor.  

We are very excited to have Taylor join our regional peer support family.