Jessica Waters, Phd

Dr. Waters, Jessica or Jess has spent her entire life, over 50 years, in study with the arts, psychology, education and healing. She started out creating music and watching her families lineage of artists create realistic images that were intimidating. She loved art, but knew nothing growing up of abstract, expressionistic, or process art, except that when she sat down at the piano, she loved just playing random arpeggiated melodies intuitively. It was her survival guide, creating music and later in life she would end up taking her teaching degree and teaching art in the classroom. She spent over 20 years doing that and exploring both fine art education and expressive, interdisciplinary art creating her paradigms that had not been created yet and falling in love with expressive arts therapy and the transpersonal creative expression process. She has numerous degrees, specializations, certifications and credentials in grief, trauma, addictions, anxiety, integrated therapies, Curanderismo, wellness and coaching as well a yoga. Her full bio is here.

Clinically, she is a credentialed and registered psychotherapist, substance abuse counseling, expressive arts therapist and Registered Mindful and Meditative Arts Therapist. She has worked in education and human services for over 35 years and in substance recovery both as a peer specialist and substance use counselor for 8. Her Ph.D. is in Psychology and Transpersonal Counseling, with a Doctor of Ministry in Holistic Counseling Life Coaching. She is an ordained minister, New Thought Practitioner, and Metaphysical Interfaith Reverend. She has also been an elder in the United Church of Christ, and has practiced, celebrated and studied multiple faith traditions and spiritual practices throughout the world. She is a certified clinical trauma professional, a certified mental health integrated medicine provider and possesses a lifetime of clinical, leadership, holistic health and arts certifications, degrees and post graduate certificate awards. She was honored by President George W Bush in 2006 with the President's Lifetime Volunteer Service Award for work with women and children.

Her training, certifications, and academic work includes:

• NAADAC (National Association of Addiction Professionals) specializations in Recovery to Practice; Women in Recovery, Advanced in Technology to Addiction Treatment; Wellness in Recovery, co-occurring disorders training in FIT from Hazelden Betty Ford and Breining Institute (CCDS), study in the neurobiology of addictions, complimentary medicine for addiction treatment, (MARS) Medication Assisted Recovery, CPS (prevention specialist), court ordered treatment and is a former intensive outpatient court ordered treatment clinician who worked with serious repeat offenders.

• Her clinical certifications are in: clinical anxiety treatment, complicated grief (Columbia NY), grief and advanced grief counseling, trauma informed expressive arts therapy, youth mental health, co-occurring disorders, mood disorders, and she completed Somatic Practitioner Level 3 training with Linda Thai. She was also awarded a full year scholarship studying with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, Stephen Porges, Linda Thai and Dr. Cathy Malchiodi specifically studying trauma treatment. She's trained with Dr. Bruce Perry, Dr. Robert Rhoton and Dr. Eric Gentry as well as Dr.Janina Fischer ad Dr. Jamie Marich focusing on neurobiology of trauma, expressive arts for addictions and complicated trauma. Jessica has lived experience with multiple traumas including rape and school violence. Her Master's in Applied Psychology from Regis University was awarded post Columbine where she researched the impact of school violence on middle school and elementary school students-post Columbine. She lived and worked in the Littleton area when Columbine occurred and was part of UC Denver prevention research focusing on PreK prevention methods. She is a trained Bullyproofing Our Schools facilitator.

• Her academic certificates and post grad work include: educational leadership (Capella), transpersonal studies in creative expression (ITP/Sofia), transpersonal counseling (ITP), positive psychology (UPenn), Curanderismo (UNM), Healing through The Arts (UCF), Healing with the Arts in Palliative Care (Cal State San Marco's), her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts (Goddard), certificate of Fine Arts - Mixed Media (KCAI), post grad certificates in Foundations of Trauma Informed Foundation for Organizations: Educational Organizations and Trauma Informed Clinical Foundations and an AA in Music. She began her undergraduate journey in the 80's studying vocal music performance and music therapy at UMKC's Conservatory of Music before obtaining her B.S.ED in Education and minor in Music. During her Transpersonal Creative Expression studies at ITP (Sofia) she began to work with acapella voice and chant and was further inspired by Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance and indigenous singing. She began recording with electronic ambient music and spoken word in 2004 and released her first album in 2009 entitled Believe after the death of her brother from opioid addiction and subsequent death of 4 additional family members in 2 years. She has since released more than 23 albums that stream on all services under the name Magnetic Wind, Wend'eya, Jess12Crows (given to her by the elder after surviving COVID) and Mesawzee (her grandmother's, father's, great, great grandmother's name recorded on the Dawes Rolls).

• She holds holistic and integrative health certifications in: Shamanic and Therapeutic Art Specialist and Coach, Professional Life Coach, Wellness Coach, Mindfulness and Yoga Coach, certified in 3 different institutions sound healing practitioner programs (multi-instrument, voice, bowls, drumming), advanced angelic healing practitioner, Reiki Master in multiple traditions, a HeartMath Clinical Provider in multiple professional certification areas, underwent the year long MMFT (Mindfulness Based Mind Fitness Program), graduated 3 MBSR programs and is a MBSR Practitioner, is a Yoga Alliance E-RYT200/500, and is certified in Accessible Yoga, Y12SR, Yoga Nidra, Restorative, Yin, Chair, Trauma Informed, Children's, Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Yoga for All and Aqua. She is trained in Primordial Sound Meditation from the Chopra Institute and is an Ayurveda Specialist. Additionally, she has studied integrated medicine and psychiatry at The Andrew Weil Institute for Integrated Medicine and with Dr. James Greenblatt. Jessica holds her Bach Flower Essences Practitioner Certification, is a certified hand and foot reflexologist and guided imagery certified practitioner. She embraces a Health At Any Size philosophy.

• She is certified in the following treatment modalities: DBT, CBT, MI, MRT, MCBT, ACT, AF-CBT, RO-DBT, the Dalian Method, Mindfulness Based Addiction Treatment, Trauma Informed Expressive Arts Therapy, Mindful & Meditative Art Therapy, Therapeutic Expressive Arts, TF-CBT and numerous others.

• She has studied different spiritual paths from tribal elders in the United States and Canada, with Grandmother Flordemayo one of the 13 Grandmothers, Erika Beaunaflor, Sandra Ingerman, energy work with Cyndi Dale, Christian Mystics with Fr Richard Rohr and his teaching faculty at the Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico, Temple School in the Community of Christ tradition, spent a brief time at Phillips Seminary studying progressive Christianity prior to turning her studies to CAC. She has also studied Sufism, Buddhism, Hinduism and the Quaker perspective, engaged in learning at Centers for Spiritual Living in Golden, Colorado and with Unity Village in Lee's Summit, MO, studied Matthew Fox's Creation Spirituality and is on a continuous journey with the mystics channeling, spirits and spirit messages to deliver from the other side. She has been a Bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion) practitioner for more than 20 years and maintains a "spiritual but not religious", interfaith perspective with a philosophy that all paths lead to the God energy of the Divine Creator.... called energy.