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Meet Adriana Balentine of Strength in Motion in Boulder

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriana Balentine.

Adriana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I always knew I wanted to be in the field of human services. Healing through connection with others has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. My path was clear so I went on to pursue an undergraduate degree in Psychology followed by a Masters in Social Work. I continued to be fascinated by human behavior and had so much hope and belief that anybody could heal, no matter what their circumstances were. Post Masters degree, I spend a good part of a decade in a variety of settings such community mental health centers, hospitals, schools, in and outpatient treatment facilities.

The work was so deeply important to me but the way I was engaging in it wasn’t supporting my own health and wellness. I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching and it was impacting me negatively. I was working long days, with multiple jobs in the mental health and wellness fields and my body was starting to show signs that this wasn’t working. It was at this point that I realized that I needed to do things differently, more sustainably. I opened my own private practice in August of 2014.

My office backed up to some beautiful hiking trails. I loved the opportunity to move with clients, and to explore mindful based practices outdoors where they could connect more deeply to themselves. I loved the work I was doing, but I also knew this wasn’t it. I craved community both for myself and for the clients I was serving. So pretty quickly and completely organically, Strength in Motion grew from being just me to a full clinical team. The birth of this community felt like it was bigger than me. Others were feeling the same way I was, they wanted to be of service but needed their lives to be more balanced as they too were feeling burnt out.

Our clinical team holds a firm belief in the power of movement, meditation and other embodied approaches to healing. At the time we were being quite creative in the one small office we shared to incorporate these modalities. As we continued to grow, I knew it was time to expand our vision. In September of 2017, I opened our holistic wellness center. What I have learned both from my own healing journey along with the journeys of others that I have treated is that it often takes a collaboration of complementary approaches to heal. Often times we need the support of multiple practitioners and modalities working together to facilitate the healing that we are seeking.

The journey and continual growth of SIM have been beautiful and exciting and continues to evolve into something more special than my wildest dreams. It’s a community where practitioners continue to learn from one another and hold one another accountable around our own self-care practices. We even offer movement classes to all of our staff as one of our benefits so that they are able to engage in these practices in our own movement studio. There is nothing better than completing your workday and staying for a yoga class right there at work! We are proud to be a community where our clients and community members have a place to feel safe, be seen and belong just as they are.

Has it been a smooth road?
Like anything that is new, it comes with its challenges. Honestly, I have taken anything that hasn’t gone as expected as an opportunity for growth. I trust that everything happens for a reason and when I experience the unexpected I ask “what’s the lesson in this?”

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Strength in Motion – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Strength in Motion is a holistic Wellness Center with a clinical focus. We understand that healing and well being often requires an exploration of different yet complementary approaches to achieve the best results. However, we know that it takes time and expertise to develop such a plan. Our unique approach is rooted in making this process easy and comfortable for people who are seeking support. Rather than trying to piece together a wellness path for yourself or your family, Strength in Motion has gathered a collective of different businesses and practitioners that work collaboratively to address and meet your individual health and wellness needs. We are your one-stop-shop on people’s journeys to support them in truly thriving.

We believe that a combination of psychotherapy, movement and meditation practices, acupuncture, Reiki and other complementary services can all contribute to one’s healing journey. We are proud to have a team of expert practitioners in each of these fields under one roof who can provide you with the most up-to-date and comprehensive insight into how their treatment might suit you. We support our clients in determining what approaches will best serve their needs.

Our clinical team specializes in working with tweens, teens, young adults, adults, and parents struggling with issues related to anxiety, depression, addictions, trauma, un-serving behaviors, family and life transitions. We offer individual, couples, group and family therapy. We also offer clinical trainings, workshops and events for people to come together to learn and connect in community.

We acknowledge the courage, honesty and awareness it takes to know when to ask for help. We are here to support people that reach out to make that request and are very committed to connecting them to the very best person and treatment to suit their needs. Our intake team is committed to making sure that each client lands in the right hands and is a resource to them along the way. We collaborate with practitioners in house as well as with our community partners to be sure that people have a treatment team that they can trust, as we see the relationship as a crucial component in healing.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
What I love most in my role as a clinician is witnessing clients starting to trust themselves and their own unique path towards healing. I love sharing proud moments with clients when they reveal experiences of finding their voice and feeling heard. When they start to trust guidance from the healer within, I know that they are well on their way. I feel honored to witness this incredibly beautiful transformation in people.

As the founder of our wellness center, I feel very proud to be a part of such an incredibly talented group of professionals with such a strong commitment and dedication to health, healing and wellness.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
We love Boulder and feel very grateful to have so much at our fingertips! Personally, we love the outdoors, so we appreciate all the trails, open space and sunshine. We also appreciate the abundant opportunities to engage in wellness, conscious eating and living, environmentally conscious action and conversation and all the natural beauty that the mountains and surrounding areas offer. Where we are located just on the edge of town, so we are thrilled to be very accessible to people traveling to us from outside of Boulder as well.

One of the challenges with Boulder is the cost of living which makes it less accessible to people with limited resources. Accessibility is an important topic to us and is something that we continue to address within our community and our offerings.

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