I'll keep this biographical as there is ample information on this site about my approach, philosophy, and the services I offer. I have been a psychotherapist, trainer and organizational consultant for more than 30 years. After graduating from the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work in 1977, I worked "in the trenches" treating adolescents and their families within the community mental health and social services systems.
After a few years I was hired by the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center to develop training courses for fellow healthcare professionals - physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, counselors, etc. - about the psychological dynamics families experience when one of their members has a serious developmental and/or medical problem.
After a few years I was hired by the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center to develop training courses for fellow healthcare professionals - physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, counselors, etc. - about the psychological dynamics families experience when one of their members has a serious developmental and/or medical problem.
During my time at the Medical Center I started a private practice seeing individuals, couples and families utilizing a brief therapy model. Along the way I studied the work of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy pioneer Milton H. Erickson, MD. This led me to the work of Steve deShazer and Insoo Kim Berg and the practice of solution focused therapy. There was something about these non-labeling, possibility-based, client-centered approaches that transformed me from thinking less like a "shrink" and more like an "expander." Informed with a new way of thinking, I co-founded an informal therapy team of like-minded therapists, the Solution Group, with the purpose of collaborating and exploring the possibilities offered by this new therapeutic model.
Currently I have a practice in Denver, Colorado, in the Cherry Creek section of the City.
The team saw couples and families (using a one-way-mirror), learning ways that we could best fit our therapeutic interventions to help them construct successful and lasting solutions. The team met almost every Friday for more than 20 years. In addition to our own learning, team members made numerous presentations, publish books and journal articles and even appeared on CBS television’s 48 Hours.
One of the team members, Denise (Denny) Webster, Ph.D. and I decided to write a book, Recrafting a Life, about chronic pain and illness. We were motivated by our own various, and often painfully unsuccessful, experiences within the “care” system. We wanted to sensitize fellow health and mental health professionals to the struggles sufferers experience. We also wanted to introduce professional caregivers to a variety of new interventions made possible by the integration of Erickson hypnosis and hypnotherapy with solution focused therapy.
I have trained and supervised health and mental health professionals in North America, Europe and Australia in the areas of hypnosis, hypnotherapy, and solution focused therapy. I also have worked as both a clinical and organizational consultant to a variety public agencies - County Welfare, Health and Community Mental Health departments, etc.
In the early 1990's, in an effort to add a little fun in my life, I started taking improv comedy classes. I was immediately struck by the similarities of the rules of Improv and the best practices of psychotherapy. They virtually parallel each other with an emphasis on aggressive listening - being totally in the moment with clients; not scripting - refusing to make assumptions or label clients; and continually looking to expand on the possibilities other actors and clients present.
I co-founded an Improv group and began to include teaching a few basic skills in my training of healthcare professionals. The enthusiastic response convinced me to expand the application to organizations and corporations. I founded Creativity Engineering in 1995 emphasizing training teams to learn to: "Act outside the box!" Combining these parallel universes - psychotherapy and improv - has enabled me to approach team building, change management, and conflict resolution issues within a creative, non-threatening framework built on generating possibilities and positive humor.
One of the team members, Denise (Denny) Webster, Ph.D. and I decided to write a book, Recrafting a Life, about chronic pain and illness. We were motivated by our own various, and often painfully unsuccessful, experiences within the “care” system. We wanted to sensitize fellow health and mental health professionals to the struggles sufferers experience. We also wanted to introduce professional caregivers to a variety of new interventions made possible by the integration of Erickson hypnosis and hypnotherapy with solution focused therapy.
In the early 1990's, in an effort to add a little fun in my life, I started taking improv comedy classes. I was immediately struck by the similarities of the rules of Improv and the best practices of psychotherapy. They virtually parallel each other with an emphasis on aggressive listening - being totally in the moment with clients; not scripting - refusing to make assumptions or label clients; and continually looking to expand on the possibilities other actors and clients present.
I co-founded an Improv group and began to include teaching a few basic skills in my training of healthcare professionals. The enthusiastic response convinced me to expand the application to organizations and corporations. I founded Creativity Engineering in 1995 emphasizing training teams to learn to: "Act outside the box!" Combining these parallel universes - psychotherapy and improv - has enabled me to approach team building, change management, and conflict resolution issues within a creative, non-threatening framework built on generating possibilities and positive humor.
Denny Webster
