Joy Watts, MA, LPC, ATR-P

Joy Watts is an art therapist and licensed professional counsellor in Lafayette, Colorado, where she runs Inner Landscapes Art Therapy & Counseling. She sees adults at her office on East Simpson Street and by telehealth, and her work includes psychedelic preparation and integration as well as ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.

Approach

Watts trained in transpersonal art therapy at Naropa University in Boulder. Art-making is central: clients work with imagery, symbolism and metaphor to reach experiences that are hard to put into words, and no artistic skill is needed. She combines this with EMDR, mindfulness-based stress reduction and attention to the nervous system, and also uses expressive arts, parts work, embodiment, Interactive Drawing Therapy and nature-based techniques. She describes her framework as person-centred and trauma-informed, and as affirming of neurodivergent ways of thinking. When clients prepare for or process a psychedelic experience, she works from a harm reduction model.

Who it is for

Her focus is adults with complex or developmental trauma, anxiety, burnout or a life transition, and autistic women who were diagnosed late or are exploring that identity. She also works with chronic pain, grief and loss, PTSD and ADHD, and with highly sensitive people.

Practical details

A 60-minute therapy session costs $150 and a 90-minute art therapy session $180. She accepts insurance from UnitedHealthcare, including Oxford plans, as well as Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Optum and Oscar Health. A free 20-minute consultation comes first, and intake paperwork follows before the first session.

Care and safety

Trauma is processed at the client’s own pace, without pushing past what they can manage. Her counselling licence number is LPC.0021009.