Jessa Crisp, PhD, LPC, NCC

Affiliation: Denver Seminary; Jessa Crisp Counseling

Dr. Jessa Crisp is a trauma therapist, educator, and lived experience expert dedicated to helping others find healing and meaning after hardship. As a Licensed Professional Counselor and Doctor of Counselor Education and Supervision, she has devoted her career to serving individuals impacted by trauma, depression, grief, and anxiety. Dr. Crisp is the former CEO of BridgeHope, an anti-trafficking nonprofit in the Denver metro area, and has worked with hundreds of individuals navigating complex trauma. Grounded in both professional training and lived experience, she believes deeply in resilience and post-traumatic growth—that joy and meaning are possible even after profound hardship.

Highlights of Dr. Crisp’s career include training the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Department of Homeland Security, contributing to the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, and speaking at the National Character Leadership Symposium for the U.S. Air Force. She currently serves as the clinical director of a community mental health center and provides expert consultation on the mental health implications of human trafficking.

Outside of her professional work, Dr. Crisp enjoys hiking Colorado’s mountains with her husband, cuddling her cat and dog, making candles, doing puzzles, and connecting with friends over freshly brewed coffee.

Research Interests:

• Mental health implications of human trafficking

• Complex trauma

• Trafficking of boys

• Familial trafficking

• Intersections between labor and sex trafficking

• Prolonged grief disorder in survivors of human trafficking

• Trauma-informed andragogy