I’m Julianna Waters, LCSW, a Portland based, Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts in Creative Writing. I’ve been in private practice since 1992.
I earned my Master’s Degree in Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley, and my Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writers’ Workshop.
In my private practice, I work with individuals who are dealing with medical and emotional issues including chronic and acute illnesses, chronic pain, traumatic brain injury (TBI), depression, anxiety, social isolation, relationship issues and vocational concerns. My approach is ecclectic and pulls from a number of theoretical disciplines, however, I have a deep belief in an indiividual’s creative and instinctual move toward health. That attitude, coupled with experience and training, allows for an atmosphere of gentle unfolding.
Creativity is, and always has been, at the center of my life. As a child, I studied piano, played with writing poetry, songs and stories. As a young woman, I studied opera, guitar, poetry and creative writing. I learned that creativity combines all aspects of our humanity: mind, body and mystery. That learning informed my curiosity about suffering, which led to my becoming a psychotherapist. As I see it,the work of psychotherapy is an art, and so, by its very nature, the work we do is original and inventive, unique to the individual.
Over the years, I’ve worked to integrate creative and clinical worlds.The result has been an open-hearted practice, always including the option to include visual and literary art forms therapeutically. Poetry, prose, and visual art encourage a deep look inside, a search for one’s own personal truths about who they are, who we’ve been and who wewant to be. Using these tools, we not only make discoveries, but build concrete changes inside ourselves.
Thresholds Bridges Journeys
One leads to the other, round and round
in a constant spiral of self discovery.
Story, Poetry, Prose & Song
These are the tools of my trade,
the fuel that feeds my fire.
