Meet Dr. Bernadette Pivarunas

Founder and Clinical Director

What is radical healing?

Radical means to affect the fundamental nature of something; radical is synonymous with thorough, comprehensive, and far-reaching. 

Radical healing was born from my belief that healing, by its very nature, is comprehensive and revolutionary. For far too long the approach to mental health has been about reducing symptoms. Symptom reduction is great and certainly makes someone feel better, but it is often short-term. I’m interested in reducing symptoms and identifying the root causes of the symptoms. We must treat concerns at the root, at their origin, rather than superficially.

As a developmentalist, I’m also interested in contexts: the environments in which people spend their lives (school, work, home, family, and so on) as these environments impact health and well-being. For far too long we’ve blamed, shamed, and labeled folks for manifesting the distress in their systems. I’m interested in understanding these systems and educating individuals that the very behaviors and symptoms that have been previously seen as “bad" are actually typical responses exhibited by human beings in high stress situations. 

Finally, radical healing calls on me, as a mental health provider, to be creative and work outside the box to develop and implement interventions and solutions that are unique to each individual. As a result, I don't spend a lot of time in the office. I’m often found walking with a client and their dog, playing at the park, partnering with a client at a psychiatry appointment, investigating resources in the community such as housing, food, and legal assistance, equipping schools to better respond to an adolescent’s needs, supporting couples in their homes where the distress actually originates, and so forth. 

CURRENT ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT

• Visiting Instructor, Naropa University, Somatic Counseling Program

EDUCATION & TRAINING

• Ph.D. & M.S., Colorado State University

• Fellowship: University of North Carolina, Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders

• Internship: Children's Hospital Colorado, Pediatric Endocrinology and Obstetrics & Gynecology

• Externship: University of Chicago, Adult Eating and Weight Disorders Program

  Trained in the following modalities:

• Big-Hearted Embodiment in conjunction with The Body Positive

• Circle of Security Parenting, Facilitator

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, and Mindfulness

• Comprehensive Bereavement Care

• Crisis Assessment & Intervention

• Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)

• Imaginal Nurturing

• Intuitive Eating, Certified Counselor

• Ketamine-assisted Psychotherapy in conjunction with the Psychedelic Research & Training Institute

• Pet Loss & Bereavement, Certified Pet Loss Grief Specialist

• Psilocybin Facilitation & Integration in conjunction with InnerTrek

• Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT), Level 2 Clinician

• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), Level 1 Clinician

  Expert testimony provided on eating disorders and developmental trauma.

CULTURAL RESUME

• Paternal grandparents were immigrants. 

• Childhood was marked by geographical, socioeconomic, educational, and relational instability secondary to my parents’ 12-year divorce. 

• Mental illness, including substance abuse, runs in my family. 

• My upbringing was influenced by strict, Roman Catholicism, sexism, racism, and rampant fatphobia. 

• What you might not see looking in: an invisible (chronic) illness, inconsistent access to comprehensive healthcare, lived experiences of gender-based violence, and traumatic & disenfranchised grief. 

• My privilege: White, cis-hetero, neurotypical, educated, citizen, thin, and financially stable. 

• Tremendous gratitude to The Adaway Group for first introducing our practice to the notion of a cultural resume.

• Additionally, I honor the Elders and Ancestors of the Indigenous North and South Americans, Central Africans, and other Indigenous people who have, for thousands of years, maintained the sacred knowledge of plant-based medicines and entheogens. I acknowledge that my presence on this land and my involvement with the psychedelic medicine community is inextricably linked to forced removal, violent assimilation, and genocide of indigenous peoples. I aim to maintain this awareness, hold deep reverence for their ancestral wisdom, and support and amplify the voices and actions of Indigenous peoples and communities. Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Ph.D. perfectly captured this in her words, “in many, many ways, all of us are indebted to Indigenous peoples and their traditions and their knowledge when we are interested in these medicines.”