A heartfelt, soul baring, psych writer at your service, made slightly more credible by being licensed professional counselor.
James Kessler dressed up like Superman nearly every day for nearly ten years of his childhood. He was interested in both the ability to fly and save the world. Many years later, he hasn’t given up on either of these dreams, but he has stopped wearing the costume, mostly. Before he became anything, he always wanted to be a writer. He kept a journal since 1st grade, wrote a lot of bad poetry, and after a whole lot of emo embarrassingly bad stuff, he started to find that he was decent at writing papers and articles that he could pour his heart into. But in his mind, becoming a writer wasn't a sensible career path. Luckily the ability to wear his heart on his sleeve (and his "save the world" brainwashing) lent itself to counseling.
James began working with incarcerated clients within the justice system in Boulder County in 2012 and has since worked for the Restoring Our Community Program (ROC), Jail-Based Behavioral Services (JBBS) and Community Justice Services (CJS). He earned his Master of Arts degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa University in Boulder and, prior to that, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Humboldt State University in Northern California. James has received specialized training in addictions, trauma, attachment, neuroplasticity, mindfulness, and meditation and remains firmly committed to the cause of helping the underdog. He started working with incarcerated adults in 2012 and became the Program Coordinator for the Boulder County Jail's Jail Education and Transitions (JET) Program in 2014. With great difficulty, he left in 2018 to offer authentic relating training workshops (www.authenticrelatingtraining.com) in jails and prisons, mentors local kids and maintains a private counseling practice. He was recently excited to get on the TEDxCU stage and share why he believes doing humane work with the inmate population is of value to the rest of the world.
James lives in Boulder, Colorado with his partner Jade, seven-year-old son Orrin and three-year-old daughter Aurelia. When he isn’t trying to save the world he enjoys being outside, playing in his garden, and dressing both his kids up like superheroes and allowing them to beat him up.