Meet Cynthia St.Clair of Wild Moon Integrative Therapies

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cynthia St.Clair.

Cynthia, before we jump into specific questions about your practice, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My first career was as a professional dancer in New York City. After about a decade there, growing increasingly disillusioned with the “scene”, I decided to change course and go back to school for Dance/Movement Therapy. I graduated from Naropa University (in Boulder) in 2016 trained, not only as a dance therapist but as a counselor. I worked at the hospital where I had done my internship for two years after graduating and became a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Colorado in 2018.

Throughout all of this, I had been experiencing my own intensifying mood challenges, and in 2017, was diagnosed with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). PMDD is often described as PMS x 10, and affects 1 in 20 people with a menstrual cycle, though most people (including doctors) have never heard of it! I began to grow curious about how many women I had worked with at my hospital job with diagnoses such as “Borderline Personality Disorder” or “Rapid-Cycling Bipolar”, who actually may have had PMDD instead. I became insatiable in researching PMDD and got involved with the International Association for Premenstrual Disorders (iapmd.org). I had always been interested in women’s issues, with training as a birth doula and in prenatal/women’s yoga, and considered myself a feminist, and I began to seriously wonder why no therapist I had seen over the past decade or more (and there was a handful) had ever inquired about my menstrual cycle.

This curiosity grew into an increasing passion – not only for supporting those with PMS/PMDD – but for any number of experiences specific to those assigned-female-at-birth and/or identifying as a woman. I believe that problems belonging primarily to women (or anyone who is not a cisgender man) tend to get discarded and downplayed, and so I vowed to be the therapist that I had always wanted but could never find. Since starting my private practice in 2018, I have specialized in women’s wellness, and am committed to supporting women to find their way through PMS/PMDD, Perimenopause, Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders, the transition to motherhood, abortion, infertility, eating disorders, and sexual trauma. I have also been active in the anti-trafficking community, and work with survivors of sex-trafficking. While these issues are not absolutely specific to women, the vast majority of those who suffer identify as such, and I feel strongly that they should be believed and cared for, so that is what I do!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Haha, is it ever easy?! Well, I mentioned my emotional health difficulties in answering the last question, though there were certainly more… When I left New York, I was also going through a divorce, which made moving 2,000 miles across the country and starting a new career an even more daunting venture… Additionally, starting my own practice has been a difficult road, since I had no business experience or capital to speak of. Over the past two years, I have invested in training to help me understand how to run a private practice, yet it often still feels like a struggle, and I am a one-woman show.

Please tell us about Wild Moon Integrative Therapies.
I am a psychotherapist specializing in women’s wellness. I am becoming known for my work with PMDD, as well as in melding Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Somatic Trauma Healing for more sustainable results. I am proud of my commitment to working with the various things in a woman’s experience that can be seen as “taboo”. I integrate a feminist, systemic lens to therapeutic work, which I feel is unique and supports clients to have a context for their healing!

Further, my approach is cutting edge on several levels: first, it is based in neuroscience; secondly, it rests in mindfulness research, and thirdly, it integrates the body into comprehensive healing. I hate to say it, but all therapy training is not created equal, and honestly, very few counselors doing traditional “talk therapy” have this level of extensive knowledge! Additionally, I study directly with master teachers in the fields of women’s depth psychology and mindfulness research, including Tara Brach, Dr. C.P. Estes, Sara Avant Stover, and (the late) Marion Woodman.

One other unique part of my practice is that a portion of all profits goes to the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, a non-profit doing exceptional and much-needed work in Denver and all of Colorado. I like to think that my business model which gives back to the most vulnerable, is not only in integrity with me as the owner, but that it also appeals to the women who are drawn to me as clients.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Honestly, I wouldn’t change much! I know that even my worst “mistakes” have led me where I am today, so my shifts would be qualitative, rather than specific actions. For example, if I had to start over, I would begin by trusting more- in all ways -myself and my journey, even the dark times. I would also strive to feel less afraid of being myself, of speaking my truth, and of putting myself out there, even when it is scary -because the world needs to hear what I have to say. Further, I would stop blaming myself for things beyond my control (which are most things), because in truth, we are each subject to a myriad of forces so much larger than us that were set into motion long before we were even born. I believe when we can fully understand this, that we can finally let ourselves off the hook and free up space for the potential within us. So, in short, I believe in living by these three words: TRUST; COURAGE; COMPASSION!

Contact Info:

• Address: 1616 17th Street, Suite 379
  Denver, CO 80202
• Website: www.wildmoontherapy.com
• Phone: 718.974.6645
• Email: cynthia@wildmoontherapy.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cynthiastclair
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/WildMoonIntegrativeTherapies

Image Credit:
Lauren Slone, Peter McEwen, Kalen Bobadilla

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