Patrick Gaines

Koelle Simpson Trauma Life Coach

A Personal Letter to You 

I am grateful to be living an extraordinary life. I’ve been shaped and tested by more than five decades filled with diverse opportunities, fierce initiations, and heart-stirring triumphs. My second act continues to take stage in the company of a global village of friends, family and healing arts practitioners, among whom I am grateful to serve.

For more than thirty years, I’ve helped high-impact organizations transform human outcomes in healthcare, medicine, youth development, performing arts and a variety of social enterprises. I am passionate about creating unity around common and complex issues through empathy, creativity and unbridled optimism. I excel at helping navigate through the labyrinth of life’s seemingly insurmountable obstacles. I meet people in crucial stages of their lives and help them orient along unburdened and sustainable paths.

I am inspired by opportunities to share the lessons I’ve learned from an adventurous, tumultuous, and vital first half-century of life. Having survived a life-threatening spine tumor that temporarily paralyzed me from the neck down, my recovery has been fraught with severe chronic pain, which led to a nearly fatal drug regimen. This collision of pain and addiction jettisoned me into a soulful reckoning with my inner demons. Fear, Anxiety, Grief and Shame. With the help of my village, I’ve transformed these unconscious foes into my greatest allies.

Today, I am honored to support people who are facing elements of uncertainty, trauma, pain, and untapped potential to find their own path of resilience, healing integration, and peak performance. I have been successfully initiated by life-threatening and chronic illness, epic human endurance adventures, priceless moments as a parent, a prestigious music career, and a 30+ year tenure in business leadership and development. I have emerged with the earned wisdom of a modern elder and a personal coaching practice based on authentic, empowering and healing connections.

More About Patrick

I was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska and received my undergraduate in Music Performance (French Horn) from the University of Nebraska in 1990. Upon graduation, I continued to pursue a professional music career that was already seven years in the making. Between 1982-1997, I performed and held positions with the Tanglewood Young Artist Program, Lincoln Symphony, Plymouth Brass, Nebraska Chamber Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Mannheim Steamroller, Colorado Symphony, and numerous freelance ensembles.

I transitioned from the stage along an arts administration path, holding senior leadership and development positions with the Rocky Ridge Music Center (Colorado), Des Moines Metro Opera (Iowa), Westfield Symphony Orchestra (NJ), and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Following my son Christopher’s birth in December of 2000, I relocated to Denver, CO to advance my nonprofit career at the University of Colorado Denver, American Cancer Society, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and Boys Girls Clubs of Metro Denver.

The beauty and splendor of Colorado immediately inspired me to re-ignite my lifelong passion for outdoor adventure. I dove into hiking, mountain climbing, cycling, snow sports, and long distance trail running. Between 2004-2014, I competed in dozens of trail marathons and ultramarathon distances between 50 kilometers and 100+ miles, including the Leadville 100 Trail Race, Ultra Trail Mont Blanc (France, Italy & Switzerland), and the Ultramaratón Fuego y Agua in Ometepe, Nicaragua.

My outdoor adventures came to an abrupt halt in April of 2014, when I was temporarily paralyzed from the neck down by the sudden onset of a hemangioblastoma in my spine. Following an eight-hour surgery to successfully remove the tumor, I entered several weeks of intense physical rehabilitation to relearn how to walk and use my limbs. About a month following surgery, I was overcome by intense neuropathic pain that gripped 30% of my body. Diagnosed with Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome, I began a drug treatment regimen that pushed a 30+ year struggle with addiction to near fatality. Today, I follow a completely drug-free holistic wellness path in which I’m able to integrate pain as a blessing and asset, not a liability or threat.

Today, I combine 40 years of experience as a musician, business leader, athlete and survivor with developing skills and training in phenomenology, Internal Family Systems, somatic experiencing, mindfulness, resiliency and coaching. I am proud to join my partner Koelle Simpson in offering personal and professional development consulting services for individuals, companies and organizations.

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