About Kelley

I think the most important thing you can know about me is that I am a fellow traveler. Along my own life path, I have experienced tender lows as well as some poignant highs. I have navigated through painful loss and have enjoyed profound love. I know the feelings of emptiness, confusion, and doubt as well as wholeness, clarity, and conviction. My challenging life experiences and my search for depth and connection have fueled a far-ranging and fruitful search through the field of psychology and the growth that I have experienced and have witnessed in others is the root inspiration for my work.

This is important because it informs how I show up as a therapist. I have worked successfully with a wide variety of people: Some with heavy burdens of shame, others with nearly unspeakable histories of trauma, and still others who have comparatively privileged lives, but who find that they too face the very human struggle to establish a sense of meaning, purpose, self-worth and connectedness. I carry an innate respect for the full breadth of human experience and an appreciation for the challenges we all face in creating full and satisfying lives, especially within a culture that is itself unhealthy and undeveloped in so many ways. Clients have described me as especially understanding and compassionate…but as a fellow traveler, how could I be anything else?

I hold a masters degree in mental health counseling and have over twenty years of post-graduate experience as a psychotherapist. I also hold a PhD in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies where I explored my interest in how wisdom traditions inform psychological healing and how psychological work supports spiritual development. Over the years, I have engaged in a variety of spiritual practices and have been a student of the Diamond Approach since 2012.

In addition, I have extensive professional training beyond my graduate studies in a variety of therapeutic modalities including Internal Family Systems (IFS), Hakomi, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and the BioDynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release System (BBTRS). My approach is also heavily influenced by Integral Theory, Interpersonal Neurobiology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In California, I am licensed to practice as a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPC #189).