I was exposed to psychology very early on in my life. My parents were in counseling to work through challenges in their marriage when I was as young as 3. My father really embraced this approach and spent his evenings studying psychology and philosophy in night school and loved to share with us what he was learning. I was taught to believe through my parents’ example that one can find happiness through understanding the mind, healing the body and nurturing the soul.

I have a gift at putting people at ease. My friends often came to me for counsel and advice. As a result of counseling, I had an unusual understanding for the human condition as early as in my teens. I also was taught how to analyze dreams and was considered the expert in my family. My mother was a nurse and very open about sexuality and the physical body so my brother and I were taught to embrace our bodies and sexuality in a healthy and respectful manner. My mother became an RN when I was in grade school and brought us to college and let us look at all of her nursing books. I was fascinated with the pictures of different medical conditions and diseases.

I was only 12 when I saw my uncle, a Vietnam-era combat veteran, go into “shell shock” after a night of fireworks on the 4th of July. I was called to watch my cousins while my aunt took him to the hospital. I had never seen him this way, his eyes gray and distant, shivering and vulnerable. I later learned that this was PTSD and he was having a acute episode. I became very curious about Vietnam and the horrors of those like my uncle who were traumatized by the ugliness of war. I was fascinated by this phenomenon and learned everything I could about Vietnam and the victims of PTSD.
I studied psychology and sociology classes in high school. I was also very spiritual and sought an outlet for that need which burned inside me. With the support and encouragement from my mother, I joined church groups and youth organizations that supported my need for spiritual connection; however, this often ended in disillusionment and much disappointment.
After my travels abroad in Europe and studying in University and living amongst those who felt that believers were ignorant and mislead, I began to question my beliefs that were just given to me without any real discernment for the truth as I saw it. I began my own spiritual journey which led to many Western and Eastern perspectives in both religion and philosophy. This was a journey that took many years.

In the meantime, I worked in various jobs. These covered a wide range of roles, including auto administration, banking, processing grant funded home loans, city government contract work, substitute teaching in special education, teaching in a preschool for the deaf, working in hotels as a desk clerk, hosting home parties selling fine crystal, working in a grocery store and clothing factory in Sweden and much more. I landed a position as social worker in a nursing home after working in their corporate office. I found a niche there with the elderly and knew I had found a home. I was a social worker and eventually became the director of admissions, marketing and social services at the Argyle in Denver for five years. I have never loved a job more than I loved this one. But I was not earning enough, so I went back to school.
I started graduate school at Naropa University in Boulder where I obtained my Master’s Degree in Transpersonal Psychology. I knew that my calling was to help people, and waited a long time to make sure I was doing my work from a healthy place and for all the right reasons. I was 35 and felt ready. During my studies there I was exposed to many alternative approaches for healing trauma. Half way through my studies there, I began to do massage as a part time avocation. I was overwhelmed by the results I was getting from my clients, not to mention the money I was making! I knew there was something to this.
I made a commitment to find a career that was truly in line with my integrity and create a career that would nurture the gifts that I had come to learn about myself, as a multi-faceted being. I realized that I would have to create a new paradigm for the work I wanted to do which was based in psychology, trauma studies, religious studies, Eastern philosophy, alternative medicine as well as allopathic medicine. Through this process, Stress Management Services was born. My title as a Holistic Stress Manager was created to encompass my wide-ranging services offered.
In 2009 I decided to bring other practitioners on board in order to provide my clients with a variety of wellness services. We are now a cooperative of highly skilled and gifted professionals who are working as a team to serve our clients. Everyone on the team is an independent contractor with their own private practice and sharing their gifts with SMS.Most recently, I have moved to Golden and joined a Wellness Center to offer my expertise in Stress Management to complement a world-class team of Physicians and other expert practitioners who specialize in Longevity Medicine. I am now able to offer my services to those in the Golden, Lakewood and Wheat Ridge area as well as Boulder. For more information on my office there, please see www.GrossmanWellness.com