Phil Guistwite

Master of Divinity, Master of Science, LMFT, Clinical Fellow AAMFT
Company Chaplain
Clinical Director of Mental Health Services

Phil is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist as well as an Approved Supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. His experience includes over 45 years as a pastor and counselor with churches, as well as serving as a U.S. Army Chaplain on active duty for 20 years. He has worked as a psychotherapist for thirty years. His education includes two master’s degrees—one in Divinity from seminary and one in Marriage and Family Therapy. Phil has also completed advanced studies in two doctoral programs, as well as a myriad of specialized trainings in therapy.

Phil’s certifications and training include trauma-informed therapy in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), as well as an outgrowth therapy from EMDR called Brainspotting. Both of these are used to process trauma and mitigate PTSD symptoms, with Brainspotting offering an often faster technique to accomplish healing. Phil is also trained and certified in Critical Incident Stress Management; Prepare-Enrich Instruments of Life Innovations for communication, marriage preparation, and marriage therapy; PREP and Christian PREP of the Personal Relationship Enhancement Program; PAIRS Communication Skills; and Couple Communication Resources in Englewood, Colorado. Good couples and family work requires specialized training, as LMFTs offer. He is also sensitive to persons in the LGBTQ community and treats individuals with sexual identity issues and all forms of sexual functioning concerns for people of all ages.

Phil is an integrative therapist utilizing a wide variety of therapy models, including person-centered, psychodynamic, systemic, cognitive-behavioral, solution-focused, narrative, internal family systems, structural, and metaframeworks approaches. For clients who so desire, he is also trained in Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy and Christian-specific counseling.

His practice of therapy is based on the belief that people are never broken—they are simply challenged by life’s struggles and traumas. His work with trauma survivors is framed as a strength-based approach, grounded in the belief that the brain can heal itself when given the opportunity. Using a brain-processing-informed model, he also treats depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, other mental health conditions, adolescent struggles, parenting dynamics, familial conflict, marital stress, divorce concerns, ADHD in school-aged children as well as adults, and other neuro-atypical issues such as autism. He also provides support for grief management, anger management, personality disorders, men’s and women’s issues, life transitions, work stress, and addictions—and he is trauma-informed in all of the above.

Phil works with each client to design a respectful, positive, and integrated approach to accomplish their specified goals. He is grateful and honored to work with anyone who desires to improve their life journey.

Phil has been married for 53 years, and he and his wife, Jeannie, have three grown children and two granddaughters. For fun, he enjoys model railroading, travel, birdwatching, and reading.

Phil also serves as the Company Chaplain for One80 Counseling and has been an ordained clergy member for 49 years.