Hi, I’m Margaret Balhoff

Our bodies contain innate wisdom, and my job as a mental health and physical therapist is to use my palpation and verbal skills to guide clients in reconnecting with their bodies, emotions, and thought processes so they can experience profound and lasting relief. I listen not only with my ears, but with my hands (touch) and heart.

My Background

I often think of my career as a meandering river, as I have wandered different territories and taken many twists and turns along the way. My path to somatic psychotherapy began with my work as a physical therapist. I had always enjoyed sports, medicine, and helping people, so this path made a lot of sense in terms of my skills and interests. PT brought me face-to-face with a diverse range of clients and clinical settings, including infants/children and their families as well as adults with pain, injuries, and/or disabilities.

Through my early professional experiences, I quickly began observing how closely physical health relates to mental health. There are countless examples that I could offer from my long history in the field, demonstrating the ways in which physical conditions and pain adversely impact a client’s mood, outlook, and relationships—and similarly, how emotional pain and stress affect physical health and well-being.

This holistic understanding of how our bodies and minds are intricately connected was solidified when I started working with clients in a chronic pain program. I saw, firsthand, how early trauma had contributed to bodily symptoms and other persistent issues like depression. It was through the sum of my professional experiences in all these settings that I became inspired to go back to school and pursue a Master’s in Marriage & Family Therapy—seeking to address not just the body but the whole person.

The Modalities I Use

My specialties as both a physical therapist and somatic psychotherapist include Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (CST)[, Somatic Experiencing™ (SE),  and prenatal/birth/attachment therapies. I started using CST in the 1990s to treat pain and found that it also helped with calming my patients and reducing anxiety. This led me to learn about SE to work with trauma (including birth and prenatal trauma) and attachment. The common aim in all of these methods is nervous system regulation to help clients rediscover a state of internal balance and ease. I am also certified in Brainspotting, which helps to resolve stored trauma in the brain by working with visual exercises.

I regularly draw upon my PT background, using osteopathic methods—including Muscle Energy Technique and Strain-Counterstrain among others—to treat joint and muscle injuries. I may also prescribe at-home exercises based on my clients’ needs.

My Approach

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” – Rumi

Through bodywork and counseling, I help clients of all ages to heal from the inside-out, to find more freedom in body, mind, and spirit, and to arrive at their own answers/meaning. In guiding them towards their innate wisdom, I teach clients how to listen to their pain and other cues from their mind/body complex. Pacing is essential to this process so that clients can gradually release stored trauma—rather than being overwhelmed by it. With this in mind, I operate from the perspective that less is more, and slow is fast.

I also listen for “core beliefs” in my work with clients, allowing me to better understand where they might be limiting themselves. Observing issues through an attachment lens opens up space to challenge and repattern outdated beliefs, as well as the attachment ruptures affecting their current relationships.

I have personally benefited from CST and SE in my own life as I worked to heal certain physical injuries and traumas. Because of my own personal as well as professional experience, I am able to authentically impart a sense of hope for my clients on their path to healing.

While trauma and the “cloud” of mental health symptoms have certainly been present in my life, through a holistic, body-based approach to counseling, I have grown to realize that these challenges are a natural and understandable response to difficult circumstances. I believe, along with many trauma experts, that therapy centered on the body heals trauma in deeper and more profound ways than conventional, “top-down” talk approaches.

When I’m Not Working With Clients…

I have an immense appreciation of the great outdoors. Living in Colorado has given me the privilege of living close to beautiful hiking trails and the mountains. There is nothing I enjoy quite like setting up a hammock in the forest, looking out onto the vistas, and swimming or kayaking in nearby rivers and lakes.

I come from a family of storytellers, and I find people’s life stories to be both fascinating and full of meaning. I enjoy hearing true stories told at Moth Storyslams and have told several stories onstage myself. A big part of my work with clients is listening to the body’s stories, which often contain surprising yet transformational insights. I like to say, “Every body has a story!”

A Whole Body-Mind Approach To Treatment

As a physical therapist and somatic psychotherapist, I work with the whole “Gestalt” (body, mind, spirit, relationships) using Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (CST), Somatic Experiencing™ (SE), attachment-based therapy, and other methods to help clients recover from physical and emotional traumas. Contact me to find out more.

Margaret Balhoff is a Marriage & Family Therapy (MFT) candidate and physical therapist specializing in somatic therapies, brain and spinal injuries, and attachment therapy for clients of all ages. In addition to her credentials in physical therapy and mental health counseling, Margaret is a Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST) and certified Somatic Experiencing™ Practitioner. She is also fully trained in prenatal/birth/attachment therapy and training in Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience (DARe).

Testimonial

"Margaret is a fantastic therapist. She understands the mind-body connection so deeply that she can easily connect to your story. It makes you feel comfortable, opens your heart and healing process, with respect and patience for the journey you need to experience. She is a wonderful guide for anyone who has the courage to step into a wild river of a lifestream, with belief of safe landing in the end.” - MK