Hello, friends and neighbors.
My name is Sarah Hills. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Addiction Specialist, and Certified ARISE® Interventionist working in private practice here in Estes Park.
In my work, I see adults in our community seeking support for a wide range of issues. Currently, it seems like anxiety, loss and grief, depression, relationship strain, fear, transitional crises, and existential questions are primary concerns for folks.
These can often become overwhelming. Utilizing unhealthy, but oftentimes effective in the short term, coping skills is also something that I work with people to improve. Those coping skills could show up in things like unmanageable emotional expression, withdrawal, avoidance, escape, substance use/abuse, relationship distress, etc.
In their efforts to provide pertinent information and resources to those in our community and pursue ongoing ways of being of service, the Estes Valley Voice is allowing me a regular space to share thoughts related to a variety of topics pertinent to mental health and well-being.
These columns will hopefully be interesting, useful, and timely. No promises, though. What is that saying about under-promising and over-delivering? I will work to under-promise and over-deliver. If I were texting you, I would insert a smile emoji here.
As noted in my introduction, I am a counselor. Not a professional writer. Therefore, before we get started, I will ask for your gentle appraisal of my writing skills. Even though my paternal grandmother, who graduated from CU Boulder in the early 1930s (and, interestingly, knew Charles Eagle Plume there, though she knew him then as Charles Burkhart), wrote articles for her local newspaper in Mitchell, Nebraska, and was a gifted wordsmith and stickler for grammar, I do not claim to match her skill. After reading that big run-on sentence, you can already see what I mean.
I look forward to beginning this process and hope you will as well.
Sarah Hills, LPC, CAS, CAI, has a master’s degree in community counseling and the certification required by the state of Colorado as a certified addictions specialist at the supervisory level. She is also a certified ARISE® Interventionist. She is office-based in Estes Park and can be reached by phone at 720-250-6610. Click here to review her website.