Earth care. People care. Soul care.
Dr. Fister offers psychotherapy, writing, and regenerative design to help people navigate life in the modern world.
A Biography of the Soul
How should we live?
James Hillman, a depth psychologist, said that the biography of the soul can only be read backward. The invisible thread that makes sense of one's journey makes no sense in a forward direction.
I was raised a pastor's son in western Montana. I spent summers picking huckleberries and catching crawdads at my grandfather's Bible camp. I went to church, played drums, and followed Jesus. Life was good, but something inside me felt unsettled.
Though we were told to examine our faith, few did so. After high school, burning questions and a fierce desire to make my faith a mission became a spiritual emergency. I saw the world ending in a dream I took literally, because that was how I had been taught to imagine such things.
So, I trained myself in wilderness survival and martial arts. This led to many wild adventures and befriending celebrities in those worlds. What ended was not the world, but my adolescent worldview. This culminated in a profound experience I didn't have words for at the time.
After completing a Bachelor's in Theatre and Drama, I earned a Master's in Transpersonal Psychology to give language to the unusual spiritual phenomena of my early twenties, studying extraordinary human experience the way William James did.
Along the way I completed a Spiritual Guidance Mentorship Training (SGMT) certificate, qualifying me to offer spiritual direction across faiths and traditions. All while working with at-risk youth in the Arizona desert and with special needs and disabled individuals across multiple states.
I landed back in my hometown as a mailman, spending several years walking routes with audiobooks on psychology, philosophy, and anthropology. My survival studies culminated with an interest in regenerative agriculture and so I pursued permaculture design as a wiser alternative to individual survivalism. With my first wife, we bought a six-acre homestead where we grew heirloom fruit, crafted massive hügelkultur beds, raised alpacas and rare Icelandic chickens, composted, made cider, hunted and butchered our own meat, fermented foods, forged, and built our own furniture. In 2020, I earned a Permaculture Design Certificate from Geoff Lawton, the global standard-bearer of the discipline.
I was also writing two memoirs, one about my wilderness adventures and another on my religious transformation. I wanted to become an author to share stories, solve big problems, and make the world better. I cried one day on the mail route when I realized this meant graduate school. I'd felt stuck for so long before finding my way again. Then, it was back to the books, in earnest.
Pacifica Graduate Institute is a world leader in depth psychology. Its motto: anima mundi collendae gratia means: 'to tend to the soul of (and in) the world.' There I trained in analytic psychology in the traditions of Jung and Freud, in a philosophy-forward program that fit like a glove. A divorce, my brother's death, and relocating for internships ripped me from the homestead life. These experiences forced me to grow as I wrestled with demanding academic work and began treating the suffering of the human soul as a clinician. I worked with Native American youth in Montana, struggling artists in North Hollywood, inpatient residents in Phoenix, unhoused and substance-affected populations, persons with eating disorders, before retraining in psychological assessment and establishing a private practice in Denver. And, I'm marrying again.
Today I offer therapy in Denver, Colorado, specializing in spiritual and religious issues alongside a range of other concerns. I'm a PSYPACT provider, licensed in 40+ states. I offer full-scale psychological assessments, which I approach first and foremost as a clinician. I provide permaculture design services to those who want them, and I still write.
Everyone can discover their soul story to find meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.
My purpose is to help people live beautiful lives.
And I want to help you find yours.
Let me help you discover your story. You don't have to navigate the next part alone.
I work with people questioning faith, grieving a worldview, or trying to understand who they fit in the modern world. The first step isn't a commitment, it's a conversation. Reach out, tell me a little about what brings you here, and we'll set up a brief consultation to see whether this is a good fit.
