Meet Leslie Roach, LCSW
What becomes possible when you finally let something in.
There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from always being the one who holds. The one who understands, who manages, who shows up. It looks like strength from the outside — and it is, in a way. But underneath, it is often a person who has never quite learned to let something in. Who finds receiving uncomfortable, shameful, or even frightening. Who longs to be accompanied through the hard things — and whose nervous system has never quite trusted that accompaniment was safe to receive. I know this territory intimately. It’s where my own healing has lived, and it’s what drew me into this work.
I bridge the gap between your physiological cues and your emotional story.
I didn’t come to this work through a textbook. I came through my own thawing — a deep sometimes difficult curiosity about why we suffer, and what it actually takes to heal. I began in 2009 as a yoga and meditation teacher, learning how breath and movement shift our internal state. A year later I became a Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist, studying the body’s map and how the nervous system holds on to what the mind wants to escape or release. What those years taught me was humbling: the mind cannot fully heal what the body is still protecting. So, in 2016 I returned to school for my Master’s in Clinical Social Work, becoming Licensed Clinical Social Worker — not to leave the body behind, but to bring everything together. Today that integration is the work.
Whether we meet in my Boulder office or via telehealth in North Carolina, I offer you a direct, gentle, and relational space to do your deepest work. I am here to help you soften where you’ve hardened and find flow where you’ve felt stuck.
A Multi-Layered Approach to Your Wholeness.
I don't use a one-size-fits-all model. Instead, I integrate the most effective somatic and relational tools to help you feel whole again.
The Science of Your Nervous System (Somatic Wisdom)
I use Somatic Experiencing (SE) and Polyvagal Theory to help you build "physiological capacity." We track your internal sensations in real-time to unwind the trauma stored in your tissues so you can stop living in a state of high alert.
Key Influences: Peter Levine, Kathy Kain, Stephen Porges.
Your Internal Landscape (Parts Work & Depth)
Through Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Jungian study, we get to know the different "parts" of your personality. We move toward "Self-leadership," where your inner critics and protectors can finally find peace and stop fighting for control.
Key Influences: Susan McConnell, Richard Schwartz, Janina Fisher, Carl Jung.
Relational Repair, Attachment, & Intimacy (Couples)
Healing happens in connection, not in isolation. I use Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Gottman Therapy, Imago Therapy and Interpersonal Neurobiology to help you repair old relationship wounds and deepen your ability to trust yourself and others.
Key Influences: Dan Siegel, Diane Poole Heller, Leslie Greenberg, Sue Johnson, Harville Hendrix.
Contemplative Roots (Foundation)
My work is infused with the stillness of Buddhist psychology and mindfulness. What I've learned — in my own healing and in years of clinical work — is that the container itself is medicine. When it is genuine, attuned, and reliable, the nervous system finally has permission to let go of what it has been holding alone..
Key Influences: Pema Chödrön, Tara Brach, Thomas Hübl.
How I show up for you.
These aren't aspirational values I've posted on a wall. They're the commitments I return to every session — with every client, regardless of what they bring through the door. Therapy works when you feel genuinely met, not managed. My job isn't to have the answers for you. It's to be present enough, and honest enough, that you can find them yourself.
Authentic Attunement
I show up as a real person, not a distant clinical observer.
Disciplined Accountability
I hold a high standard for our work together. I honor your commitment to change with honesty and directness.
Radical Compassion
No part of your experience, no matter how messy or "unacceptable" it feels to you, is exiled here.
Embodied Integrity
I practice what I teach.
I know from my own experience that genuine safety isn't performed — it's felt. I do my own ongoing work so that what I offer you is real, not just competent
My Background & Training
Education & Licensure
Master of Social Work (MSW)
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
Massage and Body work therapy (LMBT)
Trainings & Certifications
Somatic Experiencing (SEP)
Somatic Internal Family Systems (SIFS)
Transforming Touch (TEB)
Brainspotting
S.A.F.E. EMDR
Polarity Therapy
Craniosacral Therapy
Your pain can be a catalyst for a life you haven't yet known.
Not because suffering is required — but because the body, when finally met with the right kind of presence, knows exactly how to move toward what it needs. Let’s begin right where you are.