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Burton Fullmer, LCMHC

Burton Fullmer, LCMHC
Burton Fullmer, LCMHC

Burton Fullmer, LCMHC

PHILOSOPHY OF CARE

Healing is a Journey for our Wholeness. Sometimes we intentionally set out on that journey, but most often we undertake it when something in our life stirs us up, knocks us around, and compels us in some way onto the path. We want relief from what troubles us and seek a kind of peace. We long for a deeper understanding or acceptance of what’s happened or is still happening in our lives that we can’t control.

Some challenges motivate us to change and grow, while others overwhelm us like a flood. We must stretch and shift to find the value in our struggles, which opens up the possibility for transformation. If we work with it, out of the fire arises something unexpected that can move us toward harmony with our new selves. We can grow and become who we are in our wholeness.

After working with people for many years, as well as in my own journey, I’ve come to believe there is a natural healing tendency within us all. I trust the healing response as a deeper wisdom that guides the process, like the wisdom in the acorn that knows how to become the oak tree if given the chance to grow. It’s in the background in our lives, all the time, trying to help us and bring us to our wholeness, if only we work with it with curiosity and compassion. Being human, we are also full of contradictions and paradoxical life experiences that can disturb or trouble us at times, and even coming out as symptoms or compulsions in unwanted ways. I see counseling as a space for understanding these experiences, for tuning in, and for supporting the healing process so it can play its part in the immediate challenges a person is facing and the stage of life they are passing through.

I’ve been told by many patients and colleagues along the way that I have a calming presence and a unique way of understanding. I see the counselor’s role as bringing awareness, knowledge, skill, and heart to the patient’s work and honoring the whole-person or their whole-relationship while helping them understand their struggles and symptoms in the context of their whole-being. I can provide perspective, clinical insights and experienced methods that can help people explore all aspects of
themselves and their lives. I see the essential tasks for those coming in for counseling as being open, being willing to trust and try in new ways, being invested in their own growth and healing, and being compassionate with themselves along the way. In counseling together, we can create and hold a safe space in sessions. Talking, listening, sharing, feeling, understanding, challenging old perceptions, developing new strengths, and dreaming forward, these are all part of the therapy and the Healing Journey for Wholeness.

Education and Licensure

Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor; State of Utah; 2006
Certificate in Drug and Alcohol Abuse Counseling and Treatment; University of Utah Graduate School of Social Work; 1998
Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology; University of Utah Department of Educational Psychology; 2003
Certificate in Process-Oriented Psychology; Processwork Institute of Oregon; 2011

Clinical Experience

I have over 20 years experience counseling and working in the field of mental health in Utah. I also have my own life experiences and healing journey that drew me into this work and trying to help people with their own journeys as well.

My work began in the summer of 1997 when I was working on my undergraduate degree. I worked for a year with Project Reality, an outpatient substance abuse treatment center and half-way house in downtown Salt Lake for low income/high risk adult men and women dealing with severe addictions. I later did a counseling internship with Volunteers of America with the same population and I saw first hand the devastation in the lives of people caught up in one of the worst epidemics of our times. Around the same time I worked for two years at Highland Ridge Hospital as a Frontline Counselor on a national crisis helpline dealing with suicide interventions with callers, referring people to treatment services, and also providing traumatic incident support for railroad employees. While completing my undergraduate and my graduate studies I worked for four years as a Psychiatric Technician on the psychiatric ward at the University of Utah Medical Center where I provided care and support for people going through a wide range of extreme states and suffering with mental health crises. During my graduate work I completed a clinical practicum with the University Counseling Center working with college students and a clinical internship with Valley Mental Health working with troubled youth and their families.

After graduate school I went to work for the Cirque Lodge in Sundance, which is considered to be one of the top residential treatment centers for dual diagnosis patients dealing with addiction and mental health issues. There I completed my post-graduate internship and worked for over ten years as a primary therapist in coordination with the multidisciplinary treatment team. I provided assessment, treatment, and care for individuals, groups, couples, and families. I created, facilitated, and now continue to provide group workshops focused on a variety of themes including: Centering and Healing, Vital Spiritual Experiences, Resentment and Forgiveness, Going through Death and Change, Changing Your Reality, Relating with Your Dreaming, Finding Beauty in the Moment, Transitions through Life, Making Amends, and Finding Acceptance as well as Walking a Path of Heart. In 2012 I felt drawn toward outpatient mental health work and so I became involved with the Alpine Center for Personal Growth for over five years as a Clinical Counselor doing individual and couples’ therapy. My focus has been helping people with a variety of mental health issues and life challenges including anxiety, depression, addictions, relationships, grief, and understanding their dreams among other things. I have also presented Workshops for the C.G. Jung Psychological Society of Utah and for the community on topics including Jungian Psychology Approaches to Understanding and Working with Addictions (2016) and the Creation and Use of Mandalas in Treatment as a Symbol of Inner Wholeness and Healing (2017).

In coming to work now for Corner Canyon Counseling at this stage in my career I feel that I am, in a grateful way, doing the work I felt called to and have set out to do from the beginning and hope to be doing for many years to come.

Professional Affiliations

Member of the American Counseling Association since 2003

Area of Specialty

Anxiety, Obsessive Thoughts, Stress, Panic and Overwhelm
Depression, Cycling Moods and Emotion Regulation
Confused or Scattered Sense of Self
Addictions and Recovery
Relationship Strains, Boundaries and Communication
Grief, Loss and Change
Spiritual and Existential Crises
Growth, Development and Phase of Life Transitions
Dreams, Meditation, Self-Exploration and Transformation

Trained In

Process-Oriented Psychology and Processwork
Jungian Psychology Approaches
Client-Centered Counseling
Cognitive and Dialectical Behavioral Techniques
Existential Counseling
Mindfulness Methods and Meditation
Substance Abuse Counseling
12-Step Recovery-Based Counseling
Life-Span Development Perspectives

Ages Served

Adults Ages 19 and Older