Meet Leslie Roach, LCSW
What becomes possible when you finally let something in.
There's a kind of knowing that doesn't come through thinking. Your body holds patterns — of tension, of energy, of protection — that carry real information about who you are and what you've moved through. Somatic work is learning to listen to them.
I know this territory intimately. It's where my own healing has lived, and it's what drew me to this work.
I listen on two channels: what you're saying, and how your body is holding it.
I didn't come to this work through a textbook. I came through my own thawing — a deep, sometimes difficult curiosity about suffering 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 fight. What those years taught me: the mind cannot fully heal what the body is still protecting. So in 2016 I returned to school for a Master's in Clinical Social Work — not to leave the body behind, but to bring it all together. That integration is the work now.
Whether we meet in my Boulder office or by telehealth in North Carolina, I offer a direct, gentle, relational space — and a steady presence for whatever you bring.
How i work
I don't use a one-size-fits-all model. I draw on a range of somatic and relational tools and follow what's actually happening in the room.
The nervous system (somatic wisdom). I use Somatic Experiencing and Polyvagal Theory to build physiological capacity. We track your internal sensations in real time, so your system can begin to settle out 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 you — the critics, the protectors, the ones carrying old wounds — so they can find more peace and stop fighting for control.
Key influences: Susan McConnell, Richard Schwartz, Janina Fisher, Carl Jung.
Relationship, attachment & intimacy (couples). Much of what shapes us happens in connection. I use Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Gottman, Imago, and Interpersonal Neurobiology to help repair old relational wounds and deepen trust — in yourself and others.
Key influences: Dan Siegel, Diane Poole Heller, Leslie Greenberg, Sue Johnson, Harville Hendrix.
Contemplative roots (foundation). My work is infused with 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 therapy 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 do my own ongoing work, so that what I offer you is real, not just competent. Genuine safety isn't performed. It's felt.
The places that hurt are often where the body is asking to be met — not because suffering is required, but because that's where the work wants to begin. With steady presence, things can start to move and settle in their own time. Let's begin right where you are
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
Attachment focused EMDR
Polarity Therapy
Craniosacral Therapy