Inward Arts

Rachel Hirning, MA, LPC

Meditation Instruction

Counseling 

Art Therapy


What do we live for, 

If not to make life less difficult for each other? 

- George Eliot


I have 20 years experience as a counselor and art therapist. I'm your therapist if you are feeling anxious, overly sensitive, stuck, or have had trauma. While it is true that life will always hold challenges, sometimes they just feel excessive and overwhelming, which makes it hard to feel like yourself. 


I want you to to feel confident, clear, and compassionate toward your self and the world. I believe every living person deserves that. It is your birthright.


In session, we would likely do a lot of talking, creating imagery (art therapy), exploring meditation/mindfulness practices, doing EMDR (a method to clear out trauma), and challenging your thinking patterns. I like these particular methods because they are gentle, yet powerful agents of change.


With over 20 years of experience, I bring a compassionate and straightforward approach to help you live a life you want. You are the expert; I’m here as a skilled and supportive guide to walk this path with you. If you’re ready to quiet the overthinking, release the past, and step into a life that feels like home, let’s connect.

Change is possible, and it starts with this first step.


Working Together 

As an Art Therapist, Meditator, and Counselor, I am able to create a depth in session that is critical for your growth. All three skills combine so I can do what I do best – helping you develop self-compassion, a clear vision of what you want, and integrate the essential tools to get you there. Many of my clients have said I’m direct, yet playful in session. I think that is true, and these practices in particular allow those qualities to come through. Also, I embrace a non-judgemental approach which creates a safe space, making any failures, insecurities, or fear, fabulous opportunities for your personal growth.


Mindfulness & Meditation Instruction

I offer a contemplative and practical approach rooted in Buddhist principles. While meditation provides significant self-help benefits, it can also lead to profound awakening and a deeper engagement with life. In our sessions, I might introduce mindfulness-based practices, meditation techniques, guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, breathing exercises, or somatic awareness activities. Many of these techniques have practical applications you can seamlessly integrate into daily life.

These practices help quiet the mental chatter, allowing you to tune into your inner world with greater clarity. By focusing less on distractions, you gain heightened awareness and access to valuable inner resources, fostering a sense of spaciousness and trust. This makes decision-making easier and more aligned with your authentic desires.

Mindfulness/Meditation can be a stand-alone service or it will be incorporated into counseling sessions. For those only seeking mindfulness and meditation-focused work, I offer customized 6–12 week plans tailored to your unique needs, with accountability built into the process. Mastering this skill can be transformative, significantly enhancing your quality of life.


Art Therapy

As an Artist and Art Therapist, I’ve seen the powerful effects of making art in a non judgemental, therapeutic way. In session, creativity can look many different ways. For example, sometimes I ask clients to create work using only lines, shapes, and colors according to how they feel in that particular moment. Sometimes clients create an image of their inner critic. Other times, using the material is enough, like engaging with a material you’ve never tried to build confidence with new experiences. Art is also a great way to ‘see’ your problem objectively. It is non-threatening and can yield a great deal of insight in a short matter of time. You do not have to be an artist to do Art Therapy.

E.M.D.R.

E.M.D.R. is an acronym for Eye Movement and Desentization and Reprocessing.  It is a method of asking your brain to store negative memories in a more healthy adaptive part of your brain. Neurobiologists believe that activating your right and left brain using back and forth movement while focusing on a disturbing thought, unlocks pathways in your brain. These pathways allow that memory to be processed. Basically, the disturbing memory comes out of the fight or flight zone and get stored with the rest of your neutral thoughts.  For you, this means that memories you’ve held for a long time, and the negative thoughts you’ve carried about yourself because of them, lose their grip. Your relationship to those memories change, and so do you. You are free from them. 

Mindset/Cognitive Shifts

I use a lot of talk therapy to learn how your mind is working, and which thoughts are serving you well and which ones aren’t. Changing the thought can have a positive effect on your feelings and outlook, which in turn, changes your behavior. Training your mind to think differently takes awareness and practice. I am here to simplify this process, with practices that make this change easy and acceptable, so all parts of you can ‘get on board’ with the new way of thinking. 

I only work with folks who I think I can help. 

Schedule your free 20 minute consult: 

*Current clients: You can also use this button to book your next appt. 

I offer online sessions only for adult residents of CO.

Fees -

55 min session: 145.00

Insurance: 

I take Region 1 Medicaid 

(Western slope counties - Moffat, Routt, Delta, Ouray, San Miguel, Grand, Summit, Eagle, Pitkin, Garfield, San Juan, Dolores, Archuleta, La Plata, Monetzuma, Hinsdale, Montrose, Rio Blanco, Jackson, Larimer, Mesa)

If you would like to use insurance, and have out of network benefits ("OON"), I can give you a SuperBill to access those. You take that bill to your insurance and they review it, and reimburse you later. Usually, clients receive 30-50% back of each session cost. 


Express When Words Fail

Free Yourself From Constraints


Find Your Calm

About Me 


I graduated from Naropa University in 2005 with a dual Master’s degree, in both Transpersonal Counseling and Art Therapy. I have always been a lover of the arts and psychology, and feel blessed that my profession, is a hybrid of the two. The word creativity is wide and expansive, and the metaphors inherent in the term, can be applied to any person, anytime, in any stage of development. Simply stated, we are all creating our own lives, ‘one stroke at a time’ much like a painting gets created, ‘one stroke at a time’. It is these small, but incremental and consistently made choices, that determine what our life looks like. The metaphors in creativity, and the process of art making itself, ground the work I do. I am passionate about helping you discover and master your own creative spirit.

My background includes 20 years working with individuals of all ages and in diverse settings. I spent time at Aurora Mental Health’s Early Childhood Program in Aurora, CO., where my oldest client was 3 years old, and I worked as a home-based counselor for Catholic Charities of Denver, working with adolescents and adults. When I moved to Routt County 17 years ago, I worked at Advocates Building Peaceful Communities and Mind Springs Health. In 2007, I started Inward Arts, LLC, my private practice. In addition to individual therapy, I've held contracts with Colorado Mountain College and provided workshops for Yampa Valley High School.