Dr. Jessica Gladden has a PhD in social work from Michigan State University and an MSW from Grand Valley State University. She has had a variety of clinical experiences in private practice with the Fountain Hill Center for Counseling and Consultation in Michigan. She has also taught trauma-informed yoga at Grand Rapids Healing Yoga and has worked as a therapist at the YWCA and several other agencies. Besides, she is the founder and executive director of Thrive: A Refugee Support Program.
Dr. Gladden has multiple publications and presentations to her credit on topics such coping strategies related to refugees; somatic interventions in the form of yoga-based therapy; and teaching trauma content in higher education. She is certified in trauma-sensitive yoga and as a clinical trauma professional.
In her Fulbright fellowship at Christ University in Bengaluru, Dr. Gladden is dividing her time between research and teaching. She is participating in qualitative research that seeks to gain understanding on how yoga is being used as a therapeutic intervention in India and comparing this to what takes place in the United States. She is also teaching one course through the Department of Sociology and Social Work. In addition, Dr. Gladden is working with at least one of the university’s projects through the Centre for Social Action.