Our Origin Story

Telos was started to meet two needs.

First, for patients. While psychotherapy has become far more a part of the mainstream in recent decades, finding a therapist who is a good match for you is still difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating. We wanted to create a home for people who consider themselves seekers — people hungry for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of themselves and the world. And we wanted the therapy they received to be rooted in the best scientific understanding of how to make therapy maximally successful. Our primary focus is on providing psychotherapy that works for everyone, regardless of their background, identity, or goals.

Additionally, many people have no interest in becoming religious but feel a certain something is missing in their life and feels, as vague as the term is, “spiritual.” We wanted to create a home for folks interested in spirituality without dogma, who could explore the depths of their life with the guidance, wisdom, and science of psychotherapy integrated into their search.

Second, as a home for therapists. As mentioned above, the challenges that patients face also face therapists. Therapists who wish to blend wisdom traditions with therapy are often confused as to how to effectively honor the best of both worlds without leaving the insights each has to offer. Wisdom traditions often produce experiences that are profound, but ultimately incredibly subjective and are, as a result, hard to replicate and study in traditional experiments. Psychology offers a tremendous amount of insight, knowledge, and leverage into making change, but can sometimes neglect the art and poetry of being alive. Telos was created to help therapists learn to honor both worlds while providing care that is rooted in individual patient needs.

We hope that you find what you’re looking for through your work with us and wish you well on your journey!