Nathan Paer (he/him), MA, LAC, LPCC

I am a third-year graduate student at Naropa University, where I am pursuing my MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling within the Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology program (class of 2022). My studies, clinical experience, and life experience nourish my unwavering trust in the innate brilliance, wisdom, and basic goodness that all human beings possess at their core. I view my work as a contemplative psychotherapist as none other than supporting others in recovering or discovering altogether their own inner wisdom, wholeness, and sense of connection to others and the world. From such a place, human beings may face their difficulties with clarity, courage, kindness, and compassion as empowered experts of their own lived experience. In my current professional and internship roles, I am privileged to work with a wide variety of different populations across the lifespan and other sociocultural lines, including students, elders, individuals experiencing crisis, individuals experiencing extreme states of mind, individuals experiencing houselessness, etc. My work spans across a variety of different helping relationship contexts, such as crisis counseling, outpatient therapy, academic coaching, and caregiving. Across these varied contexts, my work is informed by mindfulness-based, trauma-informed, client-centered, humanistic, attachment theory, and existential lenses, as well as the explicit recognition and exploration of dynamics of power, privilege, and oppression in clients' experience of embodiment and relationship. At the heart of my work lies the recognition that no one has to face their suffering alone, and that community and connection are integral to all forms of growth and healing. Previously, I worked for the ArtistLed and Music@Menlo LIVE recording labels and the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival and Institute, both under the artistic direction of founding cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han. With a background as a former professional orchestral bassist and bass teacher and an interest in all kinds of music, I possess a deep understanding of the music industry and an unerring commitment to the performing arts at large, coupled with a strong, supportive sense of teamwork and highly nuanced interpersonal skills.