Approach
Kelly works with clients to match the therapeutic approach to their personality and goals. She approaches each client with an integrative approach, using elements of many different modalities. However, Kelly has specific training and interest in the following:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
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At the core of ACT is the goal to increase psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility is the ability to be fully present in the current moment, accepting the situation as it is, while choosing and persisting in behaviour that are driven towards your own values. ACT explores how people can get into internal battles with language (their thoughts and beliefs), while teaching clients how to make healthy contact with elements they may have been avoiding – thoughts, feelings, memories, and physical sensations. It is empirically-based and its use for a variety of concerns is supported.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)
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Interpersonal Psychotherapy is empirically supported to help individuals from ages 9 – 99+ with a variety of concerns. It focuses on exploring interpersonal issues which can be the cause of psychological distress. It is a time-limited therapy that targets symptom resolution, improved social functioning and increased interpersonal support.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
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This approach explores how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes impact your feelings and behaviours. It is an empirically-validated approach that has been used successfully on a wide variety of concerns. It targets the thoughts, beliefs and attitudes to understand and alter thinking patterns that are causing distress.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Skills (DBT)
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Skills such as mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotional regulation help clients engage effectively in their lives and with the people around them. Kelly is trained and versed in the use of DBT skills to provide targeted skill support to help mental health and wel-being.
Emotion-Focused Approaches
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This approach is typically used with parents and/or caregivers to help them learn ‘Advanced Parenting Skills’ to support their child (even their adult child) through their mental illness. It is based on interpersonal neurobiology and emotion-focused therapy, working to teach parents to become emotion coaches, behavioural coaches and engage in relationship repair (when necessary).
Integrative Play Therapy
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Play and Art approaches are used to specifically help children in the therapy process. Play therapy uses the modality of play to help children express concerns and learn to use skills in-the-moment. This evidence-based approach works with the developmental level of each child to create change. For more information, explore the Canadian Association for Play Therapy (www.canadianplaytherapy.com) or contact Kelly for more information.
Background
Kelly has diverse experience working with children, adolescents and adults throughout her life. She spent many years working as a teacher and counsellor in both junior high and high school settings. Her experience working on the front-line in adolescent mental health has provided her with a deep appreciation for the capacity and strength of teenagers, parents and teachers. She is a strong advocate for effective mental health supports in schools that help teachers to teach and students to learn.
In addition to working in the school system, Kelly also has mental health experience working in a regional correctional centre. The focus of her work in the centre was around smoking cessation, grief and loss, and anger management. This experience honed skills in providing psychoeducational presentations and classes.
Kelly's has worked as a psychologist private practice since 2015. During this time, she has worked with children, teens and adults through a wide range of concerns. She has education and training in psychoeducational assessments, including ADHD. She loves to help children and teens with learning disorders, school struggles, and ADHD find success at home, school and in their lives. As a service provider for the Edmonton Police Service , Kelly is passionate about working with members and their families. She enjoys the diversity of the mental health concerns and ages of clients that she gets to work with every day.
In the past few years, she has expanded her practice to engage in more depth using integrative play therapy for children and is a Certified Play Therapist with the Canadian Association of Play Therapy. Kelly loves to further her education and knowledge in psychology, often taking advanced courses in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) - with increased focus on trauma supports, perfectionism, and the use of ACT with teens.
Kelly believes that therapy is collaborative, and that having a strong therapeutic relationship is the foundation of all good mental health care. With a strong therapeutic relationship and evidence-based therapy approaches, she works to help clients make effective, long-term changes to support their goals.