About Us

Executive Director  

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio: Dr. Bruce-Sanford is the Executive Director of the Counseling Center, a position she has held for the last twenty-four years. She received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Howard University in 1986. She completed her post-doctoral work at Laurel Community Mental Health Center, Laurel, MD where she obtained supervised training and experience in working with individuals, couples, families, and children.

She has served as a Senior Staff Psychologist at the Counseling Center, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA and at Penn State University Counseling Center. She worked extensively with a wide array of therapeutic issues germane to college students through both individual and group counseling and psychotherapy.

Dr. Bruce-Sanford has been trained in a variety of theoretical perspectives including Psychodynamic, Systems, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. She works from a Trauma-Informed perspective and her specialty areas include Administration and Supervision, Ethics Consultation, Bi-racial and Multicultural Issues, Trauma, Depression, Anxiety, Interpersonal Relationships, Women’s Issues, and Non-traditional students.

Associate Director & Staff Psychologist

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio: Dr. Burkhart is our Associate Director for Clinical Operations and Staff Psychologist  and has been a part of the staff at the Counseling Center since 2016. She received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology in 1995 from Kent State University, and she is a licensed psychologist in the state of Colorado.

Dr. Burkhart has worked at several university Counseling Centers, including Minnesota State University-Mankato (formerly Mankato State University), Baldwin-Wallace College, and Iowa State University. She was the director of a LGBTQI+ Center in Minnesota. She was in private practice for twelve years, and her agency primarily served a diverse, low-income population.  Throughout her career she has sought out opportunities to work on issues of diversity, inclusion and equity.

Dr. Burkhart works with clients from multiple perspectives including cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal process, and psychodynamic. She is a generalist therapist who works with most issues, including depression and anxiety. Specialization areas include LGBTQI+ issues, supervision, diversity issues, women’s issues and interpersonal violence/trauma.

Senior Staff Psychologist

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Associate Director, Clinical Operations & Staff Psychologist

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio: 

Position Role:
Advanced Practicum Student

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio: Chase Hollander (he/him/his), during his clinical training and prior to working at the Counseling Center at MSU, Chase has held therapist externship positions at Creative Treatment Options (Addictions/Substance Abuse Counseling Clinic) and Centura Behavioral Health – Porter Adventist Hospital (Community Counseling). He has been a Milieu Counselor at Urban Peak (Youth Homeless Shelter) and at EDCare (Eating Disorder Treatment Center). Chase is currently in his 3^rd year of the PsyD program at the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver. He received his MA in Sport & Performance Psychology from the University of Denver in 2019 and his BS in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Stout in 2017.

Specialties and clinical interests include: Substance/Alcohol Use, Performance Issues, Trauma-Informed Care, Identity Development, Life/Career Transitions, Experiencing Homelessness, Family/Relationship Concerns, Stress, Dealing with Injury and Adversity, Anxiety, Depression, Grief/Loss, Therapeutic Assessment, Assessment of ADHD and Learning Disorders, Personality Disorders, Men and Psychology, Incorporation of Intersecting Identities, Dealing with Anger, Guilt, Shame, Eating Disorders, & Mindfulness. Chase’s personal interests are skateboarding at the Denver Skatepark, hockey, and exploring new places and parks in Denver with his friends. He is supervised by Dr. Jeanne Burkhart, Staff Psychologist

Position Role:
Advanced Doctoral Practicum Student

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio: Kat (they/them) is a current Ph.D. student, in the Department of Counseling Psychology, at the University of Denver. They graduated with their master’s in counseling psychology, with an addiction’s specialization, in 2021. They have worked in community mental health, at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical School Addiction Research and Treatment Services, and University of Denver’s Health and Counseling Clinic. Kat’s current clinical interests include: the mind, body, spirit connection, taking a trauma-informed approach, and creating safe, affirming therapeutic spaces. Kat hopes to grow in their areas of specialization, which include collaboration with clients with LGBTQIA+ identities and providing existential-humanistic psychotherapy. Overall, Kat takes a collaborative approach with clients to help them meet their individual needs on their therapeutic journey. Outside of the therapy space, Kat enjoys hiking, dancing, painting, and spending time with their family. Kat is supervised by Dr. Ray Gornell, Staff Psychologist.

Office Manager

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio: Tamaura Waller works in the capacity of Counseling Center Office Manager. Her duties include appointment scheduling, greeting clientele, responding to phone and email requests and budgetary tasks.  Additionally, she provides administrative support to the Counseling Center Staff.

Prior to joining MSU Denver Tamaura worked for over 20 plus years with progressive Fortune 500 companies and State/City Government Agencies, where she held positions of Pre-Admissions/Resident Review (PASRR) Program Specialist, Executive Assistant, Office Coordinator, Court Specialist, HR Administrative Specialist, and Project Coordinator in Health Care, State/City Government, Finance, Wealth Management, and Telecommunications.

Tamaura is well versed in C Level administrative support and software applications.  She has excellent verbal and written communication skills; proven talent in planning, organizing, administering, and managing multiple projects efficiently with attention to detail.  She is self-motivated and comfortable working in an extremely fast-paced environment.  She demonstrates quality judgment and problem-solving talent.

Associate Director, Outreach & Training, & Staff Psychologist

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio: Dr. Gornell is a Licensed Psychologist in the state of Colorado and is also Board Certified in Clinical Psychology.  He has been at the MSU Denver Counseling Center since 2012. Dr. Gornell has worked with children, adolescents and adults who present with a variety of concerns. His professional experience includes working in community mental health and at a hospital-based counseling center.  He has also taught as an adjunct instructor for doctoral programs in Illinois and Colorado. His areas of interest include mindfulness-based approaches to therapy, depression, anxiety, trauma and spirituality and therapy.

Staff Psychotherapist

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio:  Dr. Tuakoi earned her Psychological Doctorate (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology from the University of the Rockies (UoR) in Colorado Springs. UoR was formerly known as the Colorado School of Professional Psychology. She completed her internship at the Sol Vista Youth Correctional Facility and worked at the Colorado State Penitentiary and Denver Women’s Correctional Facility shortly thereafter. Dr. Tuakoi worked with the mentally ill incarcerated population at aforementioned facilities. She then worked with the mentally ill population at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo; she worked primarily with the population found Incompetent to Proceed per criminal charges incurred. More recently, she worked with the Intellectually and Developmentally Delayed population at the Pueblo Regional Center. She is being supervised by Dr. Jeanne Burkhart, Staff Psychologist.

Staff Psychotherapist

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio: Dr. Gonzalez (she/her/ella) earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University Bloomington. She completed her doctoral psychology internship at Colorado State University and her post-doctoral residency at the University of Denver Health & Counseling Center. She also served as Assistant Director of the Center of Human Growth at Indiana University Bloomington, where she supervised counselors-in-training and supported students experiencing crises. Throughout the course of her training, Dr. Gonzalez was a part of a Spanish-speaking team of counselors who provided community workshops, outreach, and individual services to Latinx/e/@-identified students and community members. As a member of this team, she especially valued her role in working with undocumented Spanish-speaking adults with alcohol use concerns.

As a bilingual Latina therapist and child of immigrants, Dr. Gonzalez views counseling and daily life through an intersectional feminist and multicultural lens. She also integrates other perspectives into her counseling approach, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and an Interpersonal Processing Approach. She enjoys working with folx on concerns related to identity exploration, alcohol use, intergenerational trauma, oppression and resistance, and adjustment difficulties. She especially loves working with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students, Spanish/Spanglish-speakers, undocumented and DACA students, international students, first-generation students, children of immigrants, members of the LGBTQIA community, and members of fandom communities (e.g. Harry Potter, anime, K-pop, book series, etc.). She values getting to know her clients’ salient identities, passions, hobbies, and background to be able to integrate them into their counseling experience. She is supervised by D Jeanne Burkhart, Staff Psychologist.

Staff Psychotherapist

Position Role:
Full-Time Staff

Office Location:
Tivoli 651

Bio:  Dr. Procter earned his Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology (GSPP). He completed his internship at the Catholic University of America University Counseling Center and completed a 6-month post-doctoral fellowship at Colorado State University Health Network’s Drugs, Alcohol, and You (DAY) Program shortly thereafter. Dr. Procter has worked in a variety of clinical settings including the Mental Health Center of Denver, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and outpatient community mental health centers affiliated with the Colorado Department of Corrections. His current clinical interests include: the developmental complexities of adolescence and emerging adulthood, stress reduction in sport, chronic pain, and substance use/misuse. Dr. Procter primarily practices from a contextual-behavioral orientation and works to integrate developmental psychology, attachment theory and systems theory in all his clinical work. He is supervised by Gail Bruce-Sanford, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist and Executive Director of the Center.