Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Advocate Coventina Waterhawk Recently Featured on Close Up Radio

LAS CRUCES, NM, UNITED STATES, January 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Surviving the early storms of her own life, Coventina Waterhawk is bringing hope and practical support to others navigating mental health challenges and addiction. From her first encounter with suicidal ideation at age seven to her journey through recovery and spiritual awakening, Coventina’s story is one of raw honesty, resilience, and resourcefulness. Today, she uses her experiences and natural talents to help others find light in their darkest moments, offering everything from accessible coping skills and boundary-setting advice to psychic readings and Reiki healing.

Coventina’s introduction to emotional pain came early. “I was writing poetry about how I felt, but I was also snipping the skin on my wrist. The physical pain distracted me from the emotional pain,” she recalls. By her early teens, she was drinking to escape. Family revelations about her adoption, combined with a childhood marked by trauma and questions of belonging, deepened her struggles. “I felt like the black sheep of the family. I always questioned authority, wanted to speak up, but everyone wanted me to stay quiet,” she remembers.

Despite seeking help, Coventina faced a system that failed to provide answers or a true understanding. “I never really got any help. And my parents blamed me for needing help that didn’t work,” she shares. Later, undiagnosed trauma and addiction led to years of searching for relief through substances—until her recovery began.

Coventina’s journey illustrates the tangled roots of dual diagnosis, a term she defines: “People who are diagnosed with mental and substance use disorders.” For her, addressing both mental health and addiction meant learning not just to survive, but to build a life with purpose.

Through her multi-award-winning, Kindle #1 bestselling book “Dually Diagnosed, Dually Blessed: From Struggle to Purpose,” Coventina offers real-life wisdom for individuals with dual diagnoses and their families. The book includes her own story and those of others who have found recovery, stability, and new ways of coping. “I wanted to share the coping skills that worked for the other authors and me. These are tools that anyone can try,” she explains.

A cornerstone of Coventina’s approach is her “Pick Me Up Jar,” a simple, creative exercise that anyone can try at home. She fills a jar with written affirmations, words of encouragement, and small action steps. “When you’re having a crisis or just feel down, you can pull out a note. Sometimes all it takes is one positive reminder to get through the moment,” she shares.

Coventina’s story is also about setting boundaries, especially with loved ones still struggling with addiction. “You have to love yourself first, even when it’s excruciatingly painful to step back,” she says, describing her relationship with her daughter. “It’s like putting the oxygen mask on yourself first. You can’t save someone who isn’t ready, but you can take care of ‘you’.”

Having reclaimed her life, Coventina now helps others as a certified Reiki practitioner and intuitive reader. She has been practicing Reiki since 2006 and reading Tarot since 2001. “Healing is subtle. Sometimes you don’t notice the pain is gone until it’s just gone. And when I do Tarot readings, the answers just come to me. Often, my clients tell me things start to make sense later,” she says. Her sessions blend gentle energy work with psychic insights, drawing from a gift that was evident even in childhood. As she humorously observes, “Looking back, I should have charged my friends their allowances for my services.”

Coventina’s talents as a medium have grown with her practice. She describes a time when, during a Reiki session, she delivered a message from a client’s grandfather to provide comfort and closure. “It’s just who I am. I help others with my gifts, so they can live their dreams, too.”

Her writing has also reached a wider audience. In addition to “Dually Diagnosed, Dually Blessed,” Coventina’s work appears in collaborative anthologies, such as “Energy-Frequency-Vibration: The Art of Healing Vol #2”, a best seller in Canada, published in 2023. Her first book, “The Freed Soul: From Domestic Violence to Freedom,” is a collection of poetry about surviving unfathomable domestic abuse, published in 2016.

Coventina currently partners with her local Suicide Prevention Task Force, co-hosting fundraising book signings to spread the message of hope to those who need it most. Her book also serves as a workbook for an IOP (Intensive Outpatient Program), where she teaches holistic coping methods to patients.

Above all, Coventina encourages others to keep reaching out for help, even when stigma and misunderstanding persist, and to speak up, even if your voice cracks. “Sometimes, one day at a time is too much. One breath at a time is manageable for anyone in crisis, and remember that “Happiness is being.”

For Coventina Waterhawk, the journey from struggle to purpose is an ongoing one. Gratitude, the guiding force for everyday life, and hope is the glue. One day, during meditation, Coventina had an epiphany: HOPE= Help Others Process Emotions, and realized it was what she had been doing since the age of ten. She invites others to walk with her on a journey of transformation, resilience, and hope, one step at a time.

Close Up Radio recently featured Coventina Waterhawk, healer and empowerment coach, in an interview with Jim Masters on Monday January 12th at 2pm EST

Listen to the Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/close-up-radio-spotlights-mental-health-and-addiction/id1785721253?i=1000745093370
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-close-up-radio-242020413/episode/close-up-radio-spotlights-mental-health-317263179/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/522HjF6MZu75hO7ZHxrPas

For more information about Coventina Waterhawk, please visit https://www.coventinawaterhawk.com/

Lou Ceparano
Close Up Radio
+1 (631) 850-3314
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