Tansey Kurth
Hello, dear one, and welcome. I'm so glad you're here. Through my private practice Roots to Rise, I work with those who feel everything: the ones who need more recovery time than everyone around them, who've been called "too sensitive" or "too much." You're not too much. Your nervous system is doing what it was built to do. Many people come to me with anxiety that won't quiet down, depression that's settled in like fog, trauma that keeps showing up in the body, exhaustion that doesn't lift no matter how much they rest, or the kind of burnout that happens when they've been rewarded for ignoring their own needs for too long. For some, it's meant holding everything together: the high achiever, the one everyone calls for advice, the one who looks fine while running on empty. For others, it's meant leaving a faith that no longer fits, questioning who taught them to distrust their body and intuition, or untangling the belief that they must earn their rest, prove their worth, or make themselves small to keep others comfortable. My approach moves through grounding, witnessing, processing, reclaiming, and integrating, drawing on narrative and somatic work, IFS, ACT, DBT/CBT, and mindfulness. Rather than following one fixed protocol, we let your history, relationships, pace, and goals shape the mix. We work with more than your thoughts. Your body remembers what your mind has tried to outrun, so we pay attention to both. When I'm not in session, you'll usually find me outside. I'm a Colorado native who feels most like myself in the mountains, with my hands in the garden, or out wildcrafting. On quieter days, I'm inside crafting, or curled up with a book I can't put down. That same groundedness is what I bring into the room with you.
Strengths
My therapeutic strengths come from two places: my clinical training and my lived experience. Clinically, I bring deep empathy and a natural sense of connectedness. I pick up quickly on what's happening beneath the surface, the unspoken worry, the old belief driving a new problem, and I have the training to help name it and address it clearly, using narrative therapy, IFS, trauma-focused approaches, and somatic work. I also take a holistic approach, treating mind, body, and belief as one system, not separate problems. Personally, I bring the perspective of someone who has lived both sides of the question. A childhood spent on the farm and in the church taught me, twice over, that worth had to be earned. I know what it feels like to seem fine while quietly falling apart, to mistake productivity for worth, and to fear that questioning anything makes you bad. That means I can usually tell the difference between a client who is genuinely at peace and one who has learned to sound peaceful. I can see it because I used to live it. That experience also shapes how I work in the room. I hold space, and I hold it well. Empathy is one of my defining strengths, and I won't rush anyone past what they need to feel. But I'm not only quiet. When I notice a client repeating an old, inherited script, especially one about worth, perfection, or obligation, I'll name it and gently push back. I ask the questions that were once forbidden in my own life, because I know what it costs to never ask them. What makes sessions with me unique is that flexibility: steady enough to sit in silence, direct enough to challenge a belief that's keeping you small, and always working at your pace, never mine.
Treatment methods
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
I pair Acceptance Commitment Therapy ( ACT) and Motivational Interviewing to help you make room for difficult thoughts and feelings without letting them run your life, and to take steps toward what matters most to you. I blend MI and ACT to help you navigate the messy reality of behavioral change. When you are facing a big change, it is completely normal to feel stuck in a tug-of-war. Part of you might desperately want things to be different, while another part feels exhausted, overwhelmed, or afraid to let go of what is familiar. I combine these two powerful approaches to help you break through that exact "stuckness". We move at your pace. My job isn't to lecture you or force change before you are ready. We will look at your mixed feelings without judgment and uncover what truly matters to you. You drive the car; I help navigate. We build practical skills. Change brings up discomfort, anxiety, and self-doubt. I will teach you real-world mindfulness tools so you can stop fighting your internal battles and start focusing your energy on what you love. We take action: We won't just sit and talk about change. We will work together to take manageable, steady steps toward building a rich, meaningful life that is fully designed by you. Whether you are navigating a major life transition, managing a health challenge, or simply ready for a new chapter, you don't have to figure it out alone.
Trauma-Focused CBT
When painful experiences keep shaping how you think, feel, and react today, I use trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT) to help you heal at a pace that feels safe. We start by building grounding and coping skills so you feel steady. When you're ready, we gently work through what happened and how it has affected your beliefs about yourself, others, and the world. The goal is for the past to feel less present, so you have more freedom in how you live now. I use a trauma-informed approach that assumes that you have had experiences that have changed how you react to certain stimuli, and we work to avoid retraumatization in our work together. I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help you notice how your thoughts, feelings, and actions affect each other. Together we find patterns that keep you stuck, like harsh self-talk, worst-case thinking, or avoidance. Then we test those thoughts and try more balanced ones. CBT is practical and goal-focused. You'll leave sessions with concrete tools, and sometimes small practice exercises, to help with anxiety, depression, and stress in everyday life.
Narrative
I use Narrative Therapy to help you look closely at the stories you tell about yourself and your life - you are not the problem; the problem is the problem. When you've been struggling for a long time, it's easy to start believing things like "I am a failure" or "I'm just an anxious person." That's a dominant story that has taken over, and we'll work to separate it from who you really are. Many of these stories didn't start with you. They were shaped by family, culture, religion, and systems that taught us who we were supposed to be, often based on gender, race, class, or other identities. That means we gently take apart the messages you absorbed, notice whose voices they really belong to, and ask whether they still fit. We treat anxiety, depression, and shame as outside forces trying to run your life, not as your identity. As we step back from those old scripts, we can recover the parts of your story that got overlooked: your strengths, your resilience, your cultural and ancestral roots, and the times you resisted and won. Together, we write a truer story, one that honors where you come from and gives you the freedom to decide who you want to be.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
I integrate Internal Family Systems (IFS), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), and Emotion Focused Therapy (EFS) to help you get curious about the different parts of you, like the inner critic, the part that works so hard to keep everyone happy, or the part that shuts down when things feel like too much. Instead of fighting these parts, we learn what they're protecting and why. With time, they can relax, and younger, hurting parts can finally be cared for. IFS is gentle and deeply respectful. It helps you reconnect with your calm, compassionate core Self and treat yourself with more understanding. I use Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) to help with shame and harsh self-criticism, especially that inner voice that says you're never enough. Together we look at where that voice came from and how it has tried to protect you. Then we build a kinder, steadier way of relating to yourself. We might use practices like calming breathing, imagery, and self-compassion exercises. Over time, these help your nervous system feel safer and make it easier to meet hard moments with warmth instead of judgment. I use Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) to help you understand your feelings and trust them, instead of pushing them away or getting swept up in them. Emotions carry important information about what you need. Together we slow down and notice what's underneath, like the hurt under anger or the grief under anxiety. Then we give those feelings space to be felt and understood. When painful emotions are met with care, they often shift, and that opens room for relief, self-compassion, and clearer choices.
Somatic
Stress and trauma don't just live in our thoughts. They live in our bodies too, showing up as tension, exhaustion, a racing heart, or feeling numb or on edge. I use somatic, mind-body practices to help you notice what your body is telling you and gently build a sense of safety from the inside out. We might slow down to track sensations, practice grounding and breathing, or explore small movements that help your nervous system settle. We always go at a pace that feels manageable, so you stay in charge. Over time, your body can learn that it's safe to rest, to feel, and to respond with more conscious, intentional choice.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
Top specialties
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Licensed in
- ColoradoLicense CSW.09933577