About Shawna Bowen
Many people have asked me, “Why did you leave rock and roll to be a therapist?” The truth is I didn’t leave willingly. It was more a matter of circumstance. Three times, I was certain that I in a band that was going to make it big, and three times, fate showed me it had other plans.
In the late 80’s I played lead guitar for an all female heavy metal band called Feline. I graduated high school and began college at San Jose State during this time. I eventually dropped out of college to pursue a promise of stardom only to be left bitterly disappointed.
I signed up for community college and vowed to never get my hopes up again with rock and roll only to find myself in a new, amazing all female heavy metal band four months later called Mischief. This band rocked! We were noticed by such record companies as Geffen and Warner Brothers.
Alas, by this time it was 1992 and anyone who was part of the hair band/heavy metal scene knows that Nirvana came along that year and introduced grunge. The hair band days pretty much ended overnight. My band did get to play with such big-name bands as White Zombie and Warrant before it was all over.
I was so broken-hearted. My passion and dreams were stripped away yet again, so I put my guitar in the closet and stopped listening to music altogether. It was the only way I could get through each day. I loved music so much, especially rock and roll, and if I couldn’t perform, I didn’t want to listen to it either.
Eventually I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. I spent another three years working on a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Wholistic Health and Psychosomatic Psychology. I never picked up my guitar, went to a concert, or listened to much music. Instead, I went to work as a therapist for an intensive outpatient rehab center for adolescents. I came to love the work that I was doing with teens.
Then, out of nowhere, the bass player from my former band Mischief called and said she was putting together another all female band and asked if I wanted in. It was hard for me to think about opening myself back up to my love for music, but I just couldn’t suppress the floodgates of excitement and decided to jump at the chance. I went to my childhood closet at my parents’ home, pulled out my purple electric guitar, dusted it off and began to play again. It was as if I had been playing the whole time. I felt like a piece of my heart had awoken from a long sleep.
The new band was Barbee Killed Kenn and we completely annihilated every crowd we played for. We were voted ‘Best Punk Band in the Bay Area’ in the year 2000. I had made a total comeback and thought that my rock and roll dream was going to finally be fulfilled. It was a wild life - a therapist by day and a rock star at night. I loved it; I was on top of the world.
As before, however, along came fate to hand me one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever faced. I started feeling tired all of the time and was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue and Fibro Myalga.
The treatment? I was told that the only treatment was to rest and that it was likely I would be sick and in pain for the rest of my life.
I lost my strong healthy body, my job, my band, my social life, my apartment and, yes, in this order. I eventually became a sick and homeless person with two bags of stuff and my blue truck. I house sat for people in town to keep a roof over my head and raided their refrigerators to keep food in my stomach.
Western Medicine said there was no cure. But given my degree in Wholistic Health Counseling, I of course turned to alternative ways to beat this disease once and for all. I went on a year-long journey of healing. I ate right, received acupuncture, took Chinese Herbs, did Chi Gong three times a day, meditated twice a day, participated in psycho-somatic therapy, and followed an energy practice suggested by one of my favorite authors, Carolynn Myss. I made a full recovery and almost ten years later, I’m in the best health of my life.
After I recovered I decided to move where I had always wanted to live, Northern Arizona. I have worked in my profession as a therapist with teens ever since.
Do I still play guitar? Yes I still play, write music, sing and perform in Northern Arizona. I may not be a well known musician anymore, but after a day of working with teens, or speaking in front of a live audience on my Harmony at Home Seminar, sometimes I feel like a rock star. Blessings.
Shawna Bowen is a Licensed Independent Substance Abuse Counselor in the state of Arizona. She has worked in the trenches for over a decade exclusively with parents and teens with substance abuse issues. What truly sets Shawna apart is her ability to gently, but clearly, show her clients the truth about the addiction in their family in a way that creates trust, hope and change.
Shawna’s youthful energy attracts the attention and respect of teens and parents alike. Teens who have shut down with other counselors will often connect and open up to Shawna. As well, because of her clear and caring manner, parents are receptive to her suggestions about how to deliver consequences with love to their child and how to take care of themselves during the chaos.
As effective as Shawna is one on one, she is considered even more compelling as a public speaker and audio author. Whether from stage or on her CD series, Shawna captivates her listeners with her simple, conversational style. The solutions she offers to parents with teens in trouble with drugs and alcohol are simple, concise and practical. See what people are saying about her CD Series, Parents!! Things to Know if Your Teen is Using Drugs .
Shawna currently runs a private counseling practice in Arizona, and is active in her local community with juvenile probation, drug court and MATForce (Meth Advisory Task Force). Her experience also includes facilitating the creation of policies and programs for a new 90-day adolescent rehab facility up as its Clinical Director.
