About Richard
Richard Furr has guided over 400 people through intensive trauma healing and recovery through one-on-one guidance. His unique methodology relies on deep inquiry into underlying patterns, using both somatic modalities and non-ordinary states of consciousness to inspire lasting life change.
Trained (and formerly licensed) as a Psychotherapist, Richard now works as a guide and consultant for individual and group development. This professional designation allows him to work with a variety of methods on the cutting edge of trauma, healing and personal development. His clients include medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, scientists, entrepreneurs, executives, and military veterans.
Richard believes that finding greater meaning to past experiences is only possible when individuals begin to see the source of their hurt as part of a larger narrative—one in which they have agency and choice. His approach acknowledges that the mind, body and spirit are intricately connected, and that no one aspect can be addressed in a vacuum. To this end, he is passionate about exploring psychedelics, staying on the forefront of research and development to mitigate the risks and maximize the potential benefits of these medicines. In group work, he analyzes and addresses the powerful hold of group dynamics—particularly family dynamics—offering a path for expanding healing beyond the individual, and into community and society.
Speaking, Writing, and Group Work
After over 25,000 hours of client-facing work, Richard has begun to share what he’s learned at the forefront of holistic wellness on a larger scale. He is currently developing professional trainings for psychotherapists who seek to understand and support clients as they integrate shamanic, visionary and initiatory experiences.
Richard has spoken at the Federal University of Acre in Rio Branco, Brazil, on the topic of “Case Studies and Harm Reduction: Psychological Hazards of Ritual Ayahuasca Use,” and at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, on the topic of “Bridging Ayahuasca and Psychotherapy: A new model for psychotherapeutic integration in the 21st century.” He also co-founded a community studying group dynamics that still operates in Boulder, Colorado. The lessons learned there inform his work with professional and family groups today.
Personal Background
Like many professionals working with these topics, Richard has also been through his own powerful journey of healing trauma. He struggled with addiction, chronic illness and paralyzing anxiety as a teen. Overloaded with medication and mostly bedridden, daily life felt painful and meaningless. After a close encounter with death, he quit drinking, stopped smoking, changed his diet and exercise regimen, and immersed himself in nature and the contemplative tradition of Rinzai Zen Buddhism.
He went on to train in cognitive-behavioral therapy, transpersonal psychology, bioenergetics, gestalt, authentic relating, primal therapy, somatic trauma release and shamanic modalities. During his short career in traditional psychology, he began training in-person with Dr. Stanislav Grof, which led him to the healing practices of mestizo curanderismo in Peru and the Santo Daime of Brazil.
Today, Richard has a deep appreciation for life itself. He is curious about what it takes for each of us to be clear, at the moment of death, that we have lived well. Richard enjoys bringing the raw depths of his own experience together with the best parts of the varied methods that helped heal him, creating an enriching path to both personal and community healing.