You've rehearsed how you'll explain yourself

Who we are

We're a Colorado practice for people who need a therapist who can go where it's actually dark. Not a technique. Not a worksheet. A person who will sit in it with you and not look away.

Meet the team →

What is therapy at Breathe like?

First you'll notice our ridiculous wall sticker, or Frank, our robot vacuum, stuck in the same hallway he's been stuck in for a week. One of our offices is still half-painted sunset orange and lavender with the old yellow and green showing through at the edges.

We're real people and we haven't sanded ourselves smooth to fit in the box.

Next, you'll notice your intake felt like a conversation instead of an interrogation. Starting therapy is hard enough without a packet of forms and a stranger reading questions off a screen.

The person you meet with first is the person who will sit with you for the rest of it, because something worse than an interrogation is telling your story to a forms packet, then an intake specialist, and then finally to your therapist.

Your therapist will be wrong sometimes, and they'll say so out loud. They'll tell you when they don't know. They'll hear you say something isn't working and they won't get defensive, and they won't quietly start managing you to protect their own competence. That's not an accident.

Our clinicians are trained to be honest and human about the times they miss, because a counselor who's afraid to be wrong in front of you is a counselor who can't actually be with you.

We won't hand you the answer. We'll find it with you, and sometimes we'll find it by getting it wrong first.

We take your autonomy seriously in the places where other practices get nervous and start handling you. You are not a risk to be managed. You're a person making decisions about your own life, and we'll treat you that way even when it's hard, especially when it's hard.

We've done EMDR through movement when sitting still wasn't working. We've held sessions outside, over a cigar, at the forge with a client pouring everything they had into a hot piece of steel.

We can laugh together three minutes after you say the worst thing you've ever said out loud. We can argue. We can play. You can bring us the thing you've never told anyone, and nobody in this building will flinch.

If your Medicaid lapses, we don't bill you and we don't drop you. We have a case manager who will walk you through reinstating it, and as long as you're working the process with us, you keep your therapist and you keep your sessions. We'd rather wait on the money than watch someone lose their care over paperwork they didn't cause.

You shouldn't have to start over with a new stranger because a system you can't control broke.

Who we work with

You don't need a diagnosis to be here. You don't need to be in crisis, and you don't need to be able to explain what's wrong. Plenty of people show up because something is off and they're tired of pretending it isn't.

We work with adults, couples, families, teenagers, and kids. Anxiety, grief, trauma, the relationship that's been quietly dying for two years, the job that's eating you, substance use, the identity question you've been circling since you were nineteen, the thing that happened that you've never said out loud. Some people come with one clear problem. Most come with a knot.

We see clients in our offices in Greeley and by telehealth anywhere in Colorado.

How we work

Sessions are fifty minutes, usually weekly, and we'll be honest with you about how long we think this will take.

We are trained in the evidence-based approaches, CBT, EMDR, somatic work, and we use them when they're the right tool. We're just not going to hand you a worksheet and call it treatment. If sitting still isn't working, we'll do EMDR through movement. If the room is the problem, we'll go outside. We've held sessions over a cigar and at a forge, with a client putting everything they had into a piece of hot steel. The method serves you. Not the other way around.

We take Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealthcare and Optum, and every Colorado Medicaid plan. We have a sliding scale available to private pay clients. You can check your actual cost in about thirty seconds, no phone call, no waiting for someone to get back to you.

Frequently asked

What actually happens in the first session?

You talk. That's most of it. We're not going to open with two hours of intake questions, because we've found that most of what matters comes out on its own if we're paying attention. You'll meet the person who's going to be your therapist, not an intake coordinator who hands you off to a stranger later. If you want to spend the first session telling us why you're skeptical of therapy, that's a fine use of the time.

What if I don't know what to say?

Then you don't know what to say, and we'll work with that. A lot of people come in braced to perform their problem and go blank when they get here. That's not a failure, it's just the start. It's our job to know what to do with silence.

I tried therapy before and it didn't help. Why would this be different?

Sometimes it was the wrong fit and nobody said so out loud. Sometimes you got eight weeks of nodding and no traction. Tell us what happened last time, specifically, and tell us early. We'd rather know what didn't work than find out in month four. And if we're not the right fit either, we'll say so and help you find someone who is.

How long does therapy take?

Depends on what you're carrying. Some people are done in six sessions. Some come for years. On average we see people for about a year. We check in on progress regularly, and when you've got what you came for, we'll tell you. We're not going to keep you longer than you need us, and we're not going to rush you out the door.

How do I know if it's working?

You'll notice it outside the room before you notice it in it. The argument you didn't have. The morning that wasn't as heavy. It's usually not dramatic. We'll also ask you directly, and we want the real answer, including when the answer is "it isn't."

Do you take my insurance?

Aetna, Anthem BCBS, UnitedHealthcare and Optum, and all Colorado Medicaid plans. Use the coverage checker to see your actual cost per session, instantly, no phone call.

What if my Medicaid lapses?

We don't bill you and we don't drop you. We have a case manager who will walk you through reinstating it, and as long as you're working the process with us, you keep your therapist and you keep your sessions.

Do you offer telehealth?

Yes. We offer teletherapy anywhere in Colorado. Same therapist, same work.