I know what it feels like to be the person sitting across from me.
Former corporate leader. Former athlete and coach. Someone who has sat with the weight of trauma — his own and others'. Dan VerBout brings lived experience and professional training into every session.
Three experiences that shaped how I work.
I didn’t arrive at this work through a textbook. I arrived through living it — as a man who burned out in corporate, as a former athlete and coach who understands what happens when your body stops cooperating with your mind, and as someone who has walked alongside people carrying the weight of trauma that talk therapy alone couldn’t reach.
WHY I DO THIS WORK
THE BURNED-OUT MAN
I spent years in corporate leadership operating the way a lot of high-functioning men do — pushing through, performing, keeping it together on the outside while my nervous system quietly ran on fumes underneath. I know what it’s like to reach for things that take the edge off. I know the exhaustion of being on edge without understanding why. And I know that the path out isn’t more discipline or more insight. It’s learning to work with your nervous system instead of against it. That’s what brought me here, and it’s what I bring into the room with every man I work with.
THE ATHLETE AND THE COACH
I played competitive sports and spent years coaching. I understand the relationship athletes have with their bodies — the way performance feels automatic until one day it doesn’t, and the way that breakdown can shake your sense of identity down to the foundation. Performance blocks aren’t mental weakness. They’re nervous system events. Working with athletes isn’t something I came to through a specialty niche — it’s a world I know from the inside.
THE WORK THAT GOES DEEPEST
Supporting people through trauma has been a thread throughout my clinical career. I’ve sat with people who understood everything about where their patterns came from and still couldn’t get free of them. That gap — between knowing and actually shifting — is what led me to Brainspotting and Somatic Experiencing. These approaches reach the level where the work actually needs to happen. I’ve seen what’s possible when the body finally gets the message that the threat is over.
TRAINING AND CREDENTIALS
The training behind the work.
LICENSURE & CERTIFICATION
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) — Minnesota
Brainspotting Consultant — Advanced training with the ability to provide consultation to other Brainspotting practitioners
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (In Process - Advanced Year Student) — training in Dr. Peter Levine’s body-based approach to trauma resolution
Polyvagal Theory Certification
Polyvagal Theory Play Zone Pro — advanced application of Polyvagal Theory in clinical practice and performance
EDUCATION & BACKGROUND
Master of Arts in Counseling & Psychological Services
Master of Business Administration BA
Six Sigma Master Black Belt/ Prior career in corporate leadership
Former competitive athlete and coach in multiple sports
Decade plus of clinical experience with men, athletes, and trauma survivors
Dan practices in New Hope, MN and provides telehealth services to clients across Minnesota.
MY APPROACH
We may have insight into ourselves but we find ourselves stuck. I’m here to help your nervous system actually change.
My work is grounded in Brainspotting, Somatic Experiencing, and Polyvagal Theory — approaches that operate below the level of language and conscious thought. That's not because talking doesn't matter. It's because for the people I work with, talking has already taken them as far as it can.
I work with the whole person — not just the presenting problem. The burned-out man and the athlete with the yips and the person still carrying trauma from decades ago are all dealing with a nervous system that got stuck in a pattern it doesn't know how to leave.
Sessions with me tend to be quieter than what most people expect from therapy. There's less back-and-forth analysis and more attending to what's happening in the body right now. Most people find it a relief.
If any of this sounds familiar — that’s not a coincidence.
The people I work with best are the ones who recognize themselves in what they read here. If that's you, the next step is simple.
In-person · New Hope, MN · Telehealth · Minnesota-wide · Insurance & private pay · $165/session