Aaron Bilodeau, MS, LPC, NCC
Beartooth Counseling LLC
About Aaron
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor with clinical experience in mental health and emotional wellness since 2014. I have worked providing mental health care extensively in many environments including wilderness behavioral programs, juvenile detention centers, acute mental health hospitals and addiction clinics in North Carolina, Georgia and Colorado. I was raised in western Montana where I learned to love backpacking, rock climbing and skiing. The name Beartooth gives respect to the Beartooth mountain range in southcentral Montana. I now live in the Colorado Springs area with my wife and our three kids who all love the mountains and high mountain lakes.
My Story
I'm a I'm a Montana kid growing up in Helena just east of the continental divide. I loved my summers being able to backpack and rock climb and loved the winters even more being able to ski. I'm thankful that I I'm thankful that I had family and friends to teach me and demonstrate ways that being outdoors can keep us happy and healthy. These lessons I've taken to heart and try to pass on to my children.
Education
I attended college at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana where I earned a BS in psychology and a BA in outdoor therapeutic recreation. I had an opportunity to combine two things that I found fascinating and loved, bringing together my affinity for the outdoors and my fascination with how we think, feel and act.
During college I also attended the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) for their Outdoor Educator Program in Lander, Wyoming.
After several years of being able to work in the outdoor educator environment I returned to school at the University of North Georgia to earn my master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Community Counseling and become a Licensed Professional Counselor.
The Outdoor Years
During my summers in college, I traveled to North Carolina to work at Talisman Summer Camp. This unique camp is designed for children diagnosed with Autism and Asperger’s. I would return every summer to North Carolina to hike the Appalachian Trail, rock climb in Pisgah National Forest and share these experiences with others.
After college I worked for a wilderness-based program called Camp Woodson within the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Woodson allowed us the opportunity to work with youth within the juvenile court system to help teach self-regulation, peer interaction and successful coping skills.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to work in such outdoor settings to help others and get to appreciate the things that I found to be meaningful to me.
As a therapist
As a clinician I have had the opportunity to work in many different settings including outpatient drug addiction centers, acute psychiatric hospitals, and a clinic focused on servicing active-duty military service members, veterans and their families. This has given me experience working with people from many different life experiences, backgrounds, cultures and family dynamics.
