Institute for Creative Mindfulness

Dr. Jamie Marich (she/they/we) began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Hercegovina from 2000-2003, primarily teaching English and music. Jamie travels internationally teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, and yoga, while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Akron, OH. Marich is the founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness and the developer of the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy. Marich is the author of EMDR Made Simple: 4 Approaches for Using EMDR with Every Client (2011), Trauma and the Twelve Steps: A Complete Guide for Recovery Enhancement (2012), Creative Mindfulness (2013), Trauma Made Simple: Competencies in Assessment, Treatment, and Working with Survivors, Dancing Mindfulness: A Creative Path to Healing and Transformation (2015), and Process Not Perfection: Expressive Arts Solutions for Trauma Recovery (2019). Marich co-authored EMDR Therapy & Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care along with colleague Dr. Stephen Dansiger in 2018, and their new book with Springer Publishing Healing Addiction with EMDR Therapy: A Trauma-Focused Guide released in 2021. North Atlantic Books published a revised and expanded edition of Trauma and the 12 Steps in the Summer of 2020, and they released The Healing Power of Jiu-Jitsu: A Guide to Transforming Trauma and Facilitating Recovery in 2022. Her latest release with North Atlantic Book, Dissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Life came out in January 2023. She has three more projects in the works with North Atlantic Books, including her personal memoir about surviving spiritual abuse called You Lied to Me About God, due out in Autumn 2024. The Huffington Post published her personal story of being out as a clinical professional with a dissociative disorder in May 2023. The New York Times featured Marich’s writing and work on Dancing Mindfulness in 2017 and 2020. NALGAP: The Association of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Addiction Professionals and Their Allies awarded Jamie with their esteemed President’s Award in 2015 for her work as an LGBT advocate. The EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) granted Jamie the 2019 Advocacy in EMDR Award for her using her public platform in media and in the addiction field to advance awareness about EMDR therapy and to reduce stigma around mental health. Jamie also sits on the editorial board of the EMDR Journal of Practice and Research, and she was the 2008 winner of the Poster Research Award at the EMDRIA Annual Conference.

Dr. Kellie began her career path in Holistic Wellness at a young age. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio with parents who believed in cultivating conscious community and lived their truth. Through watching her parents engage in community activism, entertain, build businesses, create space in their home to serve and assist others, Dr. Kellie learned that health and happiness was cultivated through time spent with friends, dancing, singing, walks in nature, storytelling, quiet moments, herbal teas, adventures and holding on to the belief that anything was possible with belief and a try!Dr. Kellie founded Creative Wellness Solutions in 1989 after returning from a year in Caracas, Venezuela as a Rotary Scholar, studying cognitive psychology. It was there she reconnected with the healing power of nature, sound, drumming and movement. Upon her return she began working as a therapist with Cuban Refugees and completed her Master’s degree from The Ohio State University in Spanish and Rehabilitation Counseling. Her passion for teaching and consulting led to her pursuit of a Ph.D. in Psychology and Counselor Education also at The Ohio State University where she met her husband (Cesar Augustin, DDS). Dr. Kellie went on to become a tenured professor of counselor education at Malone University where she began her collaboration with Dr. Gerald Corey both editing and contributing to his books: The Case Approach to Counseling and Psychotherapy and Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy 10th edition.For those that know Dr. Kellie, they know she is a global traveler, speaker, poet, tree hugger, yoga teacher, holistic psychotherapist, family lover, drummer, dancer, spa promoter, heart centered hypnotherapist, live happily life consultant, essential oil enthusiast, wellness promoter and has presented workshops and wellness circles both nationally and internationally. Dr. Kellie believes in learning healing ways from other cultures and bringing those wise ways to the masses. A few places that have touched her life profoundly have been presentations and community building in Botswana, Johannesburg, Italy, Senegal, Spain, Mexico, Dominican Republic, India, Canada, Venezuela, Tenerife and most recently she actually took a vacation to Hong Kong and Thailand where she explored ecotherapy and moving meditation.