June 4, 2015

Dr. Stephen Waters faces snakes and grizzlies to be new THD psychologist

By Jennifer Finley

Dr. Stephen Waters is the new Clinical Supervising Psychologist at the Tribal Health Department. (Jennifer Finley, photo)

ST. IGNATIUS — What does a psychologist do? “It can mean sitting and listening deeply, providing support and encouraging people to speak more about what’s meaningful to them…helping people develop practical skills of living like behavioral and social skills,” said Dr. Stephen Waters the new Clinical Supervising Psychologist at the Tribal Health Department.

He moved from southern Maine to work at THD. Dr. Waters said, “I think of myself as working at finding clients in their place of meaning and helping them give voice to that meaning, and that meaning is alive.”

When he told his friends and family that he was moving to Montana, they thought he’d need snake boots, he might get attacked by a grizzly and that towns were so far apart that he’d need to carry jugs of water in his car in case he broke down. Some of his friends, he said, were jealous.

Dr. Waters said, “People are becoming more fragmented and are having a more segregated experience of themselves in the world.” He’s interested in the mystery of life and ways to get connected to that. One of the reasons he decided to move to Montana is because he wanted to work with a population of people who were connected to each other. He said a “close community bond speaks to me.”

“In traditional psychology spirituality is not brought up, but for some people it’s significant,” said Dr. Waters. He said if someone he’s treating wants to talk about spiritual matters as they relate their mental health, then he would listen, although he could not give advice about spiritual matters.

Dr. Waters’ experience is varied. He has worked with veterans, and he’s worked in a methadone clinic. He’s also worked in a community mental health clinic with youth who had drug and alcohol issues where he worked as part of team to do crisis intervention and management. He’s worked with people who had issues with domestic violence, and he’s also worked in a residential treatment center. In addition to that, he’s also worked alongside non-Western healers who practiced things like yoga and meditation. When he was in college, he volunteered for a summer in Mexico where he worked in a community outreach program to give kids positive things to do. He played a lot of soccer, and he speaks Spanish. He’s also worked as an adjunct professor.

Dr. Waters attended an all male Jesuit high school in Maine. Then he earned a bachelor’s degree in LeMoyne College in NY where he studied religions and Japanese. Dr. Waters was born in the United States, but he has dual citizenship in the United States and Ireland. He began his graduate studies in Ireland, but a family emergency brought him back to the U.S. He worked various jobs, and in 2003, he was hit by a car, and the accident made his look at life differently. He decided to become a counselor.

Eventually, he earned a master’s degree in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California, and he describes his studies there as cutting edge. He earned a master’s degree and a PsyD from the California Institute of Integral Studies in clinical psychology where he studied more traditional approaches to psychology.

Dr. Waters keeps busy in his fulltime job at THD, but he also teaches part-time at Southern New Hampshire University online until the semester ends. In his spare time, he practices Tai Chi and martial arts. He also plays soccer, which he said is “amazing medicine.” Currently, he sees patients out of the St. Ignatius office