About Me
I've spent my life exploring why people suffer, how they heal, and how to be best in service along the way. In all of my work, I keep my focus on wholeness rather than brokenness as a compass for the work of healing. He seeks to introduce people to the unbreakable foundation of love and wakefulness that is their truest nature and that connects them to all life.
Early in his life, he worked with social service organizations around the world to understand how cultural and economic systems perpetuate suffering - and how to change them. After experiencing a health crisis in his personal life, Adam began to question whether an exclusive focus on the outer person would ever lead to wholeness. He traveled to study ethnobotany and traditions of natural healing with indigenous groups in Ecuador and Peru and began to spend more time exploring the relationship between meditative traditions, spiritual practice, and modern psychology.
As a student at Harvard Divinity School, he studied the most effective and time-honored ways to transform and heal the human psyche. He was awarded a grant by the Center for the Study of World Religions to work with Sarvodaya, a renowned development organization in Sri Lanka; he performed mindfulness-informed clinical work for the Department of Youth Services in Massachusetts; and he served as President of the Harvard Buddhist Community, where he helped lead a regular meditation group for Harvard students and faculty and invited some of the most globally celebrated teachers to the Harvard campus.
Also during this time, Adam began to spend four to six weeks each year in silent meditation retreats, working to heal his own childhood trauma through a combination of Buddhist meditation, Western psychotherapy, and indigenous healing practices. To date, Adam has spent well over a year in these meditation retreats. He considers these to be the foundation for all of his healing work with others.
After graduating from Harvard, Adam worked to transform educational systems around the country, helping to create mindfulness and meditation programs at multiple schools. As a result of this work, Adam served as a core consultant in the creation of WholeSchool Mindfulness, a non-profit that trains and places mindfulness teachers nationwide. He has also been a national instructor for the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education, and his work has been featured in Mindful Magazine and Tricycle Magazine.
Most recently, Adam works as a teacher, retreat leader, and licensed therapist in Austin. He has helped to create and teach the Relational Healing and Awakening Training with Paige Britt, and is always seeking new pathways and partnerships for making sustained transformation and healing available for all people.
Education:
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Master of Divinity, Harvard University
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Master of Fine Arts, University of Texas (Austin)
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Master of Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Texas State University


Therapeutic Philosophy
At Adam Ortman Psychotherapy, the therapeutic philosophy is centered around creating a safe and empathetic space for clients to explore their thoughts and emotions. The approach integrates various therapeutic modalities tailored to meet the unique needs of each individual, fostering personal growth and well-being.