Credentials & Safety

What you can expect — and what Christopher brings to this work

Choosing someone to accompany you through trauma recovery is one of the most significant decisions you can make. You deserve to know exactly who Christopher is, what he is trained to do, and where the boundaries of his scope of practice are. This page exists to answer those questions with complete transparency.

Clinical Certifications & Training

Christopher holds the following formal certifications and training:

CCTP-II — Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, Advanced Level The CCTP-II represents advanced-level certification in clinical trauma treatment, including complex and developmental trauma, somatic approaches, and trauma-informed care across multiple populations.

CMT-P — Certified Mindfulness Teacher, Professional Level The professional level certification in mindfulness instruction, reflecting both depth of personal practice and formal pedagogical training in the transmission of mindfulness-based approaches.

EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Formal training in one of the most extensively researched trauma treatment modalities available.

Somatic Experiencing Training in Dr. Peter Levine's body-centred approach to trauma resolution.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Training in Pat Ogden's integrative somatic and psychological approach to trauma treatment.

Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Formal training in the trauma-sensitive application of mindfulness practices, ensuring that meditation is offered in ways that support rather than overwhelm a healing nervous system.

MBSR — Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Training in Jon Kabat-Zinn's foundational evidence-based mindfulness program.

MBRP — Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention Training in the empirically validated protocol developed by Bowen, Chawla, and Marlatt, integrating mindfulness practice with relapse prevention for those in addiction recovery.

Neuroplasticity Formal training in the neuroscience of brain change — the understanding that the brain retains its capacity for structural transformation throughout life, providing the biological foundation for why the practices Christopher teaches actually work.

Nonviolent Communication Training in Marshall Rosenberg's framework for empathic presence and needs-based communication, applied in therapeutic contexts to deepen self-understanding and relational attunement.

Additional Training of Note

What follows reflects Christopher's ongoing commitment to professional development across contemplative, clinical, somatic, and empirical scientific domains — a pursuit that is not incidental but central to the integrative quality of his work.

Mindfulness and Psychotherapy — Year-long certification program offered through Harvard Medical School and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, completed 2025. An intensive exploration of the clinical application of mindfulness within psychotherapeutic contexts, integrating contemplative practice with evidence-based psychological frameworks.

Buddhist Psychology — Five-month immersive training program offered through Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Dharma Institute. A rigorous exploration of the Buddha's psychological teachings as a framework for understanding the nature of mind, the roots of suffering, and the conditions for genuine liberation — with direct application to contemporary clinical and contemplative practice.

Mindfulness Teacher Development Program — Year-long teacher training program offered through Bodhi College. A comprehensive and academically rigorous exploration of mindfulness pedagogy rooted in early Buddhist thought, with an emphasis on the precise and ethical transmission of contemplative practice in contemporary contexts.

Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy — 60-hour professional training offered through The Embody Lab. A comprehensive exploration of somatic approaches to trauma treatment, integrating body-centred awareness with trauma-informed clinical frameworks.

The Science of Well-Being — Professional program offered through Yale University. A rigorous exploration of the empirical science of human flourishing, drawing on positive psychology research to understand what genuinely cultivates wellbeing — providing scientific grounding for the resilience and positive affect practices central to Christopher's therapeutic approach.

Contemplative Training & Lineage

Christopher has practiced meditation for forty years and has been teaching worldwide since 2009. His contemplative training spans multiple traditions:

From the Mahayana Buddhist traditions — formal training in Zen (Japanese and Korean), Mahamudra, and Dzogchen (Tibetan).

From the Theravada Buddhist traditions — Vipassana, early Buddhist studies, and Buddhist Psychology.

From the Hindu traditions — Vedanta.

From the contemporary secular traditions — Secular Buddhism, Insight, and MBSR.

This breadth of lineage reflects not eclecticism but a lifelong commitment to understanding the nature of mind from multiple contemplative angles — and to bringing that understanding into service of genuine human wellbeing.

Published Works

Christopher is the author of two books:

Such Sweet Thunder (published 2016)

A Voice From the Ever Change (published 2020)

A Note on Scope of Practice

Christopher is not a licensed psychotherapist in the academic credentialing sense — he does not hold a clinical master's degree or PhD. This distinction matters, and Christopher names it clearly because your informed consent is foundational to safe and effective work together.

What Christopher brings is advanced, formally certified expertise in trauma recovery — the CCTP-II represents the highest level of clinical trauma certification available outside of licensed psychotherapy — combined with forty years of contemplative depth and extensive training across multiple evidence-based modalities.

Christopher's commitment to your wellbeing includes knowing when to refer. If at any point the work calls for support beyond his scope, he will say so clearly and help you find the right resources.

Your Safety Matters

Every aspect of Christopher's work — the sliding scale fees, the transparency about credentials, the integration of multiple modalities, the emphasis on building safety before approaching difficult material — reflects a single foundational commitment: that you are met with the care, honesty, and skill that your healing deserves.