About
Afra Moenter, PhD, MEd, LPC
Dr. Afra Moenter, founder and clinical director of the Boulder Center for NeuroHealth,e, founder of FNDcourage, and founding member of FNDsociety holds a simple vision in mind: To bring together clinicians and healthcare providers with diverse expertise to support individuals diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND)
A clinician at heart, Dr. Moenter believes in the healing power of connection. She has witnessed that relational mindfulness and a deep body-based NeuroHealth process can truly regulate the nervous system of individuals diagnosed with FND; leading to an increased quality of life and symptom reduction.
Through the Boulder Center for NeuroHealth, Dr. Moenter provides a nervous system-based multifaceted approach to the treatment of FND.
Dr. Moenter uses a variety of tools including respiratory biofeedback; the Safe&Sound Protocol, Interactive meditation, and FOCUS system based in Stephen Porge’s Polyvagal Theory; sensory regulation and movement education, relational mindfulness, trauma-informed psychotherapy, attachment work and psychoeductaion in her work with FND. Dr. Moenter, based in her 30 years of clinical experience, developed a treatment protocol for FND addresses the four foundations of body, mind, emotion, and consciousness.
Dr. Moenter is currently licensed and in good standing in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, South Dakota.
Dr. Moenter is also licensed as a clinical supervisor in CO.
In addition, Dr. Moenter founded FNDcourage, a nonprofit organization committed to expanding traditional models of care for FND. Through providing access to education and training to professionals and lay people, a supportive and healing community, FNDcourage is creating a world where everyone diagnosed with FND has equitable access to health care and well-being.
Dr. Moenter is currently in the process of developing an interdisciplinary training program for psychotherapists and practitioners in the healing profession who are interested in supporting individuals with FND.
Dr. Moenter has extensive training and expertise in the realm of human psychology, complex trauma, epilepsy and functional neurological symptoms, bringing over thirty years of experience and a wide variety of trainings to her work. She received her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Sciences with a concentration in Psychology and a specialization in Neuropsychology, as well as a M.A. in Therapeutic Education.
Her approach is deeply embedded in working with the human nervous system and reflects the synthesis of various trainings that she has completed over the past 30 years:
- Gestalt therapy; a method of awareness which enables the client to focus on his/her experience in the present moment.
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy® Level I and II; a process that uses the body (rather than cognition or emotion) as a primary entry point into processing traumatic life-experiences.
- Hakomi Somatics; a psychotherapeutic approach based on the principle that mind and body jointly express and reflect deeply held, often unconscious beliefs about oneself and others.
- Trauma Dynamics, a psychotherapeutic method working specifically with individual, familial and cultural trauma.
- Group dynamics.
Her doctoral research explored the causal relationship between complex partial epilepsy and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), shedding new light on nervous system based psychotherapeutic approaches to support individuals diagnosed with epilepsy.
About Us
Boulder Center For NeuroHealth – Support for Individuals Diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND).