About the Therapist
Carol O’Dowd
MPA, MDiv, MI, CAS
Carol uses western and eastern approaches to support individuals and groups with managing effectively change and transitions. She has led workshops and retreats in the United States, Thailand, and Indonesia. She is frequently invited back as a speaker. She blends her training in therapy, with her experience in public administration as a former city manager along with her spiritual training in Japan to be ordained as a Buddhist priest. Also, she has certifications in Horticultural Therapy, Energy Psychology, Japanese Psychology, Applied Existential Psychotherapy, and Mindfulness Instruction to support her work as a Trauma/Transition Therapist, Life Coach and Spiritual Counselor. She offers mindfulness and awareness training for dealing with stress, being productive, and discovering freedom and happiness.
Carol enjoys helping people to rediscover freedom and to escape from the prisons in which we so often trap ourselves. She has taught mindfulness and provide counseling in the Kerobokan Prison, Indonesia. Currently she volunteers as a mindfulness instructor at the Jefferson County Detention Facility.
Also, Carol is collaborating with the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado on the development of a program to offer therapeutic horticulture to elders. The program will link elders with plants in ways that support socialization and improve dexterity. To support the efforts, she is in the process of completing a book on how to live and die well.
Education and Certifications
- Colorado State Registration No. NLC.0009329
- CAS, State of Colorado, No. ACC.0020825
- Certification, Horticultural Therapy, 2022, Horticultural Therapy Institute
- Master’s of Divinity, Naropa University, 2006
- Certified Mindfulness Instructor, Naropa University, 2005
- Master’s in Public Administration, Florida State University, 1975
- Bachelor’s in Psychology and Sociology, University of South Florida, 1973
Trainings
- Applied Existential Group Therapy III – Boulder Psychotherapy Institute 2021
- Jungian Sandplay Therapy I – Colorado School for Family Therapy 2020
- Workshop – Brain to Brain, Body to Body: The Interpersonal Nature of Shame, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, 2019
- Courses: Fundamentals of Horticultural Therapy, 2016; Horticultural Therapy Techniques, 2017
- Courses: Individual, Couples and Group Training, Boulder Psychotherapy Institute, 2015 – 2017
- Coursework in Dependency Counseling, Family Mediation, 2013, 2014
- Family Mediation Class, Colorado School for Family Therapy, 2011
- Body-Centered Psychotherapy Class, Colorado School for Family Therapy, 2011
- Summer Seminar and online courses, Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2001, 2004
- Executive Leadership Seminars, (Menninger, 1999; Aspen Institute, 1990; University of Colorado, 1989)
- Coursework in Japanese Methods of Psychology, The ToDo Institute, 2010
Free Consultation
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