Shara Brun
Core Candidate Assistant Professor
MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Somatic Counseling and Dance/Movement Theories & Practice Concentrations
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Dr. Shara Brun (PhD, LPC) offers depth psychotherapy and clinical supervision through her private practice Resonant Self Counseling in Boulder, CO. She currently serves as a Core Candidate Assistant Professor in the Somatic Counseling graduate program at Naropa University, teaching subjects including research methods, and foundations in Body Psychotherapy. Shara’s training includes clinical study at the University of Colorado in Denver, the Boulder Psychotherapy Institute, and decades of study in music composition, improvisational jazz and West African rhythms and dance. She completed her doctoral study in depth psychology and somatic studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where her dissertation explored music in arts-based research and depth psychology. A book based on this dissertation entitled is set to be published in 2023. Shara especially enjoys inquiry focused on creative improvisation, cross-cultural transmission, and working to stretch academic forms toward more expressive and inclusive translation. She also loves spending time cooking with her 14 year old son Faya and taking walks with her dog-friend Taco.
PUBLICATIONS:
- 2021: Doctoral dissertation, grounded theory music-arts-based research, “Sonic Stretching: Listening for Shadow in Depth Psychological Inquiry”
- 2018: Participated in the Body Stories research project led by Rae Johnson; used music as a tool of analysis with the raw data, and offered soundscapes for the final production
- 2017: Co-authored “Differences in Faculty Research Motivation: How Gender, Tenure Status, Years in Higher Education, Rank, and Type of Degree Impact Productivity” with Dr. Nancy Leech, published in Studies in Higher Education
- 2017: Heuristic ethnographic fieldwork “In the Fire of Exchange: Tempering Cross-Cultural Transmission Through Somatic Practice” at Pacifica Graduate Institute
- 2014: Conducted qualitative grounded theory research and data analysis to hone effective strategies for therapeutic group-work. “Multi-Modal Analysis of ‘Sounding Our Voices’ Workshop Efficacy”
- 1999: Conducted ethnographic fieldwork study for honors thesis in Sociology on experiences of local women in Jazz
