Duane T. Bowers, is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Wellness Consultant, Certified Spiritual Coach, Presenter, Author and Reiki Master. He assists those who have been exposed to trauma to live their life fully. His work focuses on the fields of missing, and sexually exploited and trafficked persons, nationally and internationally.

In the Media

Duane interviewed by the Prince Albert Daily Herald

Ex-kidnapping victims: Jayme Closs needs space, time to heal

Upcoming Events

Minnesota Alliance on Crime: Fundamentals 202 Conference – April 8, 2026 – Intergenerational Trauma – Virtual

For three years I have presented to the MAC Conferences. This presentation will be about Intergenerational Trauma.

Minnesota Alliance on Crime: Fundamentals 202 Conference – April 9, 2026 – Complicit Family Behaviors in Trauma – Virtual

I am presenting a second webinar on the second day of this conference. This presentation will be about the behaviors in families that allow for, accept and even defend trauma within its environment.

Unity of Fairfax – Me Healing Me – April 14 through May 12, 2026 – Hybrid

This is a five week class I am presenting which will present the various types and
aspects of healing, and what the individual has to do to heal.

DC Mental Health Counselors Association – Spring Conference 2026 – April 18, 2026 – On-Line Sexploitation and LBGTQ Youth – Washington D.C.

I have belonged to this organization for many decades, and have presented for this annual conference several times. This year I’m presenting about the vulnerability of LBGTQ+ youth to on-line sexploitation.

Judicial College of Maryland – 2026 Judicial Conference – April 30, 2026 – Sustaining the Bench: Judicial Wellness, Vicarious Trauma, and Practical Strategies for Resilience – Cambridge, MD

While I have done several trainings for the college over the past five years, this is only the second year I have presented at the conference. I am co-presenting with two judges.

Team HOPE of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children – May 1-3, 2026 – Active Volunteer Training – Alexandria, VA

This is the 23rd year I have presented at the Team HOPE Active Volunteer Training. Much has changed in that time in the field of Missing and Exploited Children, and these volunteers have consistently been there to help support affected family members.

Justice Clearinghouse – May 5, 2026 – Stress, Vicarious Trauma, Compassion Fatigue and Burn-out: What are they and how do we deal with them? – Remote

The title says it all. I am fortunate to have been presenting with JCH for 10 years.

Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce – May 20, 2026 – Annual Conference – Columbia, MD

For the past 10 years I have had the privilege of presenting trauma impact and self-care information at the annual day-long conference for the task-force.

Automattic Happiness Team – June 9, 2026 – Struggling with Happiness – Remote

I have been providing service to Tumblr as an entity of Automattic for the last seven years. However, this is the first time I have worked with the Happiness Team, which provides customer service. This can be a very stressful job, and so we will discuss ways of approaching the job that may reduce the stress.

Unity of Fairfax – June 22, 2026 – Judging Right Judgement – Oakton, VA

I will be presenting the talk this Sunday, focused on one of the Twelve Powers of Man – Judgement (as in Wisdom or Discernment). I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to talk about how we can recognize and develop this power.

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation – Tribal State and Federal Summit – July 9, 2026 – Complicit Behaviors in Family Trauma – Pendleton, OR

I am very excited to have been asked to present at this summit. I am looking forward to presenting and learning from the other presentations.

International Association of Medical Examiners and Coroners 2026 Conference – July 22, 2026 – Self-Care-202: Managing Secondary Trauma, Compassion Fatigue and Burnout – Las Vegas, NV

What a great opportunity to speak before this group for the first time, which allows me to draw on my former experience working with the Medical Examiner’s Office in Washington D.C.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Family Advocacy Outreach Network – August 13 & 14 – Albany NY

For this training I will be making two presentations: Understanding On-Line Sexual Exploitation and Supporting Families of Missing and Exploited Children. Many of the participants work in local Child Advocacy Centers.

Unity of Fairfax – August 30, 2026 – Peace Be With You, But How? – Oakton, VA

I will be providing the talk this Sunday as a kick-off for a 5 week class of the same name. The class will discuss how peace of mind contributes to our overall health and well being, and what we can do to create peace of mind.

Biography

Duane T. Bowers, LPC

is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Wellness Consultant, Certified Spiritual Coach, Author and Educator in private practice, and hosted the live, call-in internet radio show LET’S TALK IT THROUGH. As a therapist Duane’s specialty is working with survivors of trauma, child and adult exploitation and trafficking which includes providing support to families of abducted, missing, exploited, trafficked and murdered victims as well as professional staff working directly in the field. Duane is responsible for the development of support, clinical supervision and training of staff and volunteers for a variety of organizations that deal with these issues in the US and Canada. He was recently a principle in Project SafeGuard which provides support for the staff of the Exploited Child Division of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is responsible for analyzing child sexual abuse material on the internet to assist law enforcement. In addition, Duane provides wellness support to the Trust and Safety Division of Tumblr, Flickr, Word Press, Automattic, Cloudflare, VSCO, MediaLab and Yahoo, the Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Taskforce, International Justice Mission (IJM) field and headquarters staff, and the staff of local Child Advocacy Centers by creating and facilitating training, support and wellness programs for their staff members. In Saskatchewan province in Canada, Duane works through Caring Hearts providing education and assisting in creating programs focused on trauma informed care, first responder trauma, and supporting families of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. He also serves as a consultant to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada.

In Washington DC Duane worked as a therapist with members of the military and their families through Military Onesource, and assisted families who identified loved ones at the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, through the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing. He also served as the Director of Training and Education at the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing, and was the Senior Director of Emergency and International Services for the National Capital Chapter of the American Red Cross. Duane spent three months during the summer of 1999 in Macedonia/ Kosovo/Albania supervising a family reunification program in camps with war refugees. In September 2001 Duane responded to the Pentagon immediately following the terrorist attack on September 11th, providing support to rescue and recovery workers. In April 2010 he served as the mental health team leader at the University of Miami field hospital following the earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti. In 2016 Duane responded to La Loche Saskatchewan Canada to provide trauma support to the first responders following a school shooting with multiple fatalities. Most recently in 2022 Duane provided training for Missing Children Europe which is focused on reuniting Ukrainian children with their families when separated by the war in Ukraine.

As an educator, Duane teaches seminars nationally, internationally and regionally on trauma informed care, intergenerational trauma, support for victims and families and workers in the field of sexual exploitation and trafficking, as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Wellness and Self-care and traumatic loss. He has served as an Adjunct Professor of Counseling at Trinity College in Washington DC, and continues to be an invited guest lecturer for national conferences, as well as for graduate and undergraduate classes of various colleges and universities.

Published works (most recent first):

  • Bowers, D.T, (2021). Managing Life While a Loved One is Missing: A workbook for coping. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Caring Hearts.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2020). Being trauma informed and providing trauma informed care. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Caring Hearts.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2020). Practicing self-care and living in wellness. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Caring Hearts.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2020). Surviving Trauma. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Caring Hearts.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2018). Supporting families of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and other missing persons. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Caring Hearts.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2015). A child is missing: Providing support for families of Missing children. In M.G. Leary, S.W. Cooper, P. Wetterling, D.D. Broughton (Eds.) Perspectives on missing person’s cases (pp. 23-64). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2009, Summer). Supporting your grieving pet. American Academy of Bereavement News, 2, 6.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2007). A child is missing: Providing support for families of Missing children. Alexandria, VA: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
  • Greif, G. & Bowers, D. (2007). Unresolved loss: Issues in working with adults whose siblings were kidnapped years ago. The American Journal of Family Therapy, vol. 35, issue 3, pp. 203-219.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2005). Guiding your family through loss and grief. Tucson, AZ: Fenestra Books.
  • Bowers, D.T. (2005) Information for families grieving after the loss of a child, and the professionals who support them. Retrieved February 3, 2005. http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC10.pdf