COLORADO
I have a story too
Jeff Tidrick, LPCC
Trauma Therapist
I have a story too
A personal journey from a career in aviation to trauma-focused counseling.
Explore Jeff’s journeyI used to fly for a living.
As a child Jeff imagined a future in the air. He worked toward becoming a pilot and, over time, progressed to captain at a regional airline.
Despite achieving that ambition, he continued to struggle with feelings of inadequacy and challenges in close relationships. His own experiences ultimately led him to seek a different kind of help.
Finding a new direction.
Flying and searching
After setbacks in his flying career, Jeff spent time doing other jobs and later returned to international contract flying. Travel and extended breaks gave him opportunities to explore retreats and healing groups.
Understanding trauma
Learning about developmental trauma helped him reinterpret struggles he had long considered personal failings. A powerful experience at a retreat also influenced how he came to understand wholeness and healing.
Training while in aviation
He continued flying, including medical transport work, while beginning a three-year training path in Somatic Experiencing.
Becoming a counselor
Jeff eventually left aviation, returned to school for a master's in counseling, and worked in different behavioral-health settings, including addiction treatment and crisis services.
A different way to see the person.
Jeff’s story explains why he now pays attention to trauma beneath symptoms and why his work emphasizes reconnecting with a sense of aliveness.
I used to fly for a living.
I'd dreamed of it since I was a boy. Part of that was the adventure, and part of it was wanting out. Home wasn't an easy place to be, and getting into the air felt like the closest thing to freedom I knew.
It took years to get there. I mowed lawns and pulled weeds and, with some help from my parents, got my private license while I was still in high school. Through my twenties I instructed, flew scenic tours over the Canyonlands in Utah, and hauled mail through the dark in small planes over Wyoming and Colorado, slowly building the hours until I finally landed a job at a regional airline. By my thirties I was a captain. I had everything I'd spent all those years reaching for.
And underneath it, I felt like an imposter. Like something was wrong with me. Like I wasn't quite deserving of any of it, and it was only a matter of time before someone found out. I didn't have language for that then, so I tried to outrun it instead, and mostly got in my own way. Close relationships were hard to find, and harder to hold onto..
