About Neal Palles, LCSW, CMPC
Therapy + Mental Performance Coaching for athletes in Boulder-Longmont + throughout Colorado
Hi, I’m Neal
Something has shifted.
Maybe it was the injury. The accident. The diagnosis that came out of nowhere. Or maybe there wasn't one defining moment — just a slow accumulation of hard seasons until one day you looked up and didn't recognize yourself anymore.
You used to know who you were. Running told you. Climbing told you. The training, the goals, the early mornings — they gave you structure, identity, a way of moving through the world that felt like you.
And now that's gone. Or it's threatened. Or it just doesn't feel the same.
So you push harder, or you pull back completely. You tell yourself you should be handling this better. You wonder if the drive you used to have is just... gone. The anxiety creeps in — about your body, about your future, about who you are if you can't do the thing that's always defined you.
You want to get back to the person you were.
I hear that a lot. And I want you to know — that feeling makes complete sense. It's not weakness. It's not a mental flaw. It's what happens when someone who has built a life around pushing their limits suddenly can't push the way they used to.
You don't need to figure this out alone. And you don't need to just tough it out.
That's exactly what I'm here for
Why I Love This Work
I'm fascinated by what happens to us psychologically when we push into hard territory and by how often the thing holding us back isn't fitness, or training. It's something older and quieter. A story we've been telling ourselves. A wound we've been carrying so long we've stopped noticing it's there.
After years of working with athletes I've come to understand that real change, the kind that actually shows up on race day and in your life, doesn't come from adding more mental tools on top of what's already in the way. It comes from getting underneath it.
That's what we do here.
What Therapy is Like with Me
Clients describe me as authentic, someone who challenges them with both honesty and care. A steady presence who helps them connect dots they couldn't see alone. Many leave the first session with something concrete they can put into practice right away.
When the work is done, they feel grounded, focused, and genuinely confident, not because they toughened up, but because they dealt with what was actually in the way. They perform better. They handle setbacks differently. And they show up more fully, not just in sport, but in the rest of their life too.
My Backstory
It started as an opportunity to feed my curiosity, sense of adventure, and love for the outdoors.
When I was 17, I signed up for a twenty-three-day Outward Bound course in the wilderness of North Carolina. That was the furthest I'd been away from home alone. I'd never carried a backpack, hadn't rock-climbed beyond a day trip in outdoor education class in high school, hadn't paddled whitewater, nor had I used a map and compass to navigate — or spent three days alone in solo.
That experience opened my eyes to what is possible.
To doing hard things.
To learning that we each have a bit more inside us...
I was fortunate enough to attend the University of Oregon, where they had an incredible outdoor leadership program. Within a few years, I was instructing rock climbing, mountaineering, and mountain rescue courses — as well as winter camping and canyoneering trips. Soon after I graduated, almost as if it were planned, I started working for Outward Bound — first in Oregon, then California, and then Colorado. Twenty-three days trips far in the backcountry with teens and adults from all walks of life.
My love was not just teaching skills, but empowering people to do things they never thought possible in challenging, high-stakes environments — whether that meant rappelling over an overhanging cliff with their feet dangling in the air, waking up at 2:00 a.m. to climb a technical peak, crossing a crevassed glacier in the dark, learning to raft Class III rapids, or watching someone shed their shyness and step into a leadership role, guiding their crew through trailless backcountry terrain to a campsite miles away. I'd see people grow — move out of their shells, build confidence and resilience — developing skills far greater than tying a knot or reading a river. Skills they could use for the rest of their lives.
Wanting to understand the psychology behind these experiences and help people at a deeper level, I went back to school to study social work — and eventually, after being licensed for a number of years, applied sport psychology.
Along the way and continuously drawn to new challenges, I started running — racing marathons, qualifying for and running Boston, and eventually competing in ultramarathons. My curiosity and passion for helping people learn more about themselves also led me to coaching — eventually becoming a ultrarunning coach for Carmichael Training Systems.
All the paths I've run along have led me here — to working with you.
Each role informs the other in my approach.
I know what it's like to be an athlete. I see athletes striving, sometimes struggling, and learning about themselves in ways they hadn't thought imaginable.
Credentials
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Colorado CSW.00992875
Certified Mental Performance Consultant® (CMPC)
MSW, Loyola University Chicago
MA Applied Sport Psychology, Adams State University
BS Psychology, University of Oregon
25 + Years in the Mental Health Field
Listed in the US Olympic and Paralympic Mental Health Directory
Listed in the American Alpine Clubs Grief Fund
Listed in American Avalanche Association Mental Health Provider Directory
Let’s Talk
You don't need another framework.
You need someone who understands your world not from the outside looking in and has the clinical and performance training to help you work through what's actually going on.
