Existential Therapy
For the Questions That Don't Have Easy Answers
Some of the most important questions we carry aren't problems to be solved. They're invitations to live more deliberately. Who am I, really? What actually matters to me? Why does my life feel like it's missing something I can't quite name? These aren't signs that something is wrong with you. They're signs that something deeper is asking for your attention.
Existential therapy creates space for exactly that. At Path of Purpose, this work is for anyone who has ever sensed that the standard answers aren't enough, and that something truer is waiting underneath.
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What Existential Therapy Actually Is
Existential therapy isn't a technique. It's an orientation. Rather than focusing on diagnosing what's wrong or managing symptoms, it starts with the reality of your existence and works outward from there. What does it mean to be you, living this particular life, with these particular circumstances? What are you free to choose, and what weight comes with that freedom?
The questions existential therapy holds are the ones most therapy skips. Meaning. Purpose. Identity. Mortality. Freedom and responsibility. These aren't abstract philosophical exercises. They're the territory most of my clients are already living in, often quietly and alone, without a space to bring them.
This work doesn't move fast. It's not designed to. It's designed to go somewhere real.
Presence as the Foundation: How Mindfulness Shapes This Work
My training at Naropa University was grounded in a mindfulness-based approach to therapy, which means presence isn't just a skill I teach. It's the foundation of how I work. In Boulder, where mindfulness practice is woven into the fabric of the community, many of my clients already have some relationship with contemplative practice. Existential therapy meets that naturally.
Mindfulness in this context isn't about calming down or becoming more productive. It's about developing the capacity to be with what's actually true, even when what's true is uncomfortable, uncertain, or unresolved. That capacity is exactly what existential work requires.
If you've been searching for a mindfulness therapist in Boulder who works at this depth, rather than at the surface level of stress management, this is what I offer. The kind of presence that makes it possible to sit with the hard questions without needing to resolve them immediately.
How an Existential Session Moves
Existential sessions follow the questions rather than a structure. I won't be moving through an agenda. I'll be tracking where you come alive, where you go flat, and what surfaces when you're given genuine space to think out loud without needing to arrive anywhere.
I draw from a Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling framework, which means I'm tracking not just what you're saying but how you're being as you say it. Where do you come alive? Where do you go flat? What happens in your body when you speak about what matters most? Those signals are part of the conversation too.
This work integrates naturally with Gestalt therapy, which I also practice, and which brings the same commitment to presence and direct experience. Together they create a space that is honest, exploratory, and genuinely oriented toward who you are becoming.
The Questions We Actually Work With
Existential therapy doesn't have a fixed agenda. But these are the kinds of questions that tend to surface and that we have the space to stay with:
What do I actually want, beneath what I've been conditioned to want?
Why does my life feel meaningful in some moments and hollow in others?
What does it mean to be free, and why does that feel frightening?
How do I live with uncertainty, loss, and the things I can't control?
Who am I when I'm not performing a role for someone else?
What would I choose if I weren't afraid?
How do I grieve what could have been without losing what still is?
What kind of person do I want to become, and what would that actually require?
Who I Work With
I work with adults who are navigating the questions that don't fit neatly into a diagnosis. Identity shifts, grief, major transitions, the quiet sense that the life they've built doesn't quite fit who they're becoming. Existential therapy tends to draw people who think deeply, feel the weight of their choices, and are ready for a space that takes those questions seriously rather than trying to resolve them quickly.
I've worked with artists, creatives, and deep feelers who have often felt there was no one to have these conversations with, and with adults at crossroads where the old map has stopped working. My practice is trauma-informed, justice-centered, sex-positive, shame-free, and proudly LGBTQIA+ affirming.
This might be right for you if...
Existential Therapy
You're going through a major life transition and the old map no longer fits
You've done therapy before and feel ready to go deeper
You think deeply about life and sometimes feel there's no one to have those conversations with
You're less interested in managing symptoms and more interested in understanding yourself
You're grappling with grief, loss, or a sense of what could have been
You have a strong sense that your life is supposed to mean something, but you're not sure what
You're asking questions about identity, purpose, or what you actually want
You feel the weight of freedom and aren't sure what to do with it
Training Grounded in Depth and Presence
I hold an Existential Psychotherapy Certificate from the Noeticus Counseling Center and Training Institute (2026), alongside a Master's in Clinical and Mental Health Counseling from Naropa University, with a concentration in Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling. Naropa trained me to sit with uncertainty rather than resolve it prematurely. For existential work, that's not just useful. It's essential. The questions this therapy holds don't have answers you arrive at quickly, and my training gave me the patience and presence to stay in that territory without flinching.
Beyond that, I hold certifications in EMDR, Somatic Psychotherapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Trauma, and Integrative Gestalt Therapy. What that training gives me in existential work specifically is range. The ability to follow a question into the body, into the relational pattern, into the grief underneath it, without needing to stay in one lane.
Sessions and Pricing
I'm private pay only, which means our work is never shaped by insurance timelines or approval requirements. Sessions are $140 for 50 to 55 minutes. A free 15-minute consultation is available before any commitment. You can reach me at (720) 663-0334.
start with a free 15 minute consultation
Discover your path forward...your next chapter starts here
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Existential therapy is for anyone grappling with questions of meaning, identity, purpose, freedom, or what it actually means to live a life that feels genuinely yours. It's not about fixing symptoms. It's about going to the level beneath them. If you've ever felt like something deeper is calling for your attention, this work is designed for exactly that.
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My training at Naropa University was grounded in a mindfulness-based approach, which means presence is the foundation of how I work, not a technique I add on top. Existential therapy requires the ability to sit with difficult, unresolved questions without rushing to solve them. Mindfulness develops exactly that capacity. For clients in Boulder who already have a contemplative practice, this work tends to feel like a natural extension of it.
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No. Existential therapy is a clinical therapeutic practice with deep roots in psychology and phenomenology. It's not advice-giving, intellectual discussion, or goal-setting. It's a relational, depth-oriented process that takes your inner life seriously and creates conditions for genuine change. The questions may feel philosophical, but the work is deeply personal and embodied.
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Sessions run 50 to 55 minutes and cost $140. I'm private pay only, which keeps the structure of our work entirely between us without third-party involvement. A free 15-minute consultation is available before any commitment.
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You can reach me by calling (720) 663-0334, emailing jacqui@pathofpurpose.org, or booking a free 15-minute consultation through the website. Path of Purpose is located at 1895 Bluff Street, Boulder, CO 80304. Telehealth sessions are available for Colorado residents throughout the state.