Frequently Asked Questions
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Individual counseling for adults in NC, SC and FL.
I do not provide family, child or couples counseling.
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In-Network with Aetna
I am a Certified Out of Network Provider with Tricare East- which means Tricare clients can be reimbursed from Tricare.
I am in process to be paneled with Blue Cross Blue Shield sometime in 2026 (hopefully).
I provide a superbill fo you to submit to your insurance for OON reimbursement.
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Over 10 years of experience and 6 years invested in becoming a Level 2 Internal Family Systems practitioner and candidate for IFS Certification.
And a therapy dog!
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No
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Collaborative, honest, and straightforward. I tend to be direct but with compassion and empathy.
My focus is on helping you connect with yourself in new and deeper ways.
Therapy is hard and messy as much as it is fulfilling and helpful, and I find that it is important to strike a healthy balance in order to make the work sustainable.
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Yes! If you are interested in integrating your faith into your therapy work, that is an easy and seamless shift that we can make.
Make sure to let me know that you want this!
Trauma Therapy with Kelly
In this YouTube video Kelly explains the 2 most important things to consider when choosing a therapist.
Resources
Check out these videos to learn more about the benefits of counseling.
Why Is Therapy Not Working for You?
Therapy can be life-changing, but sometimes it feels like you’re stuck or not making progress. This video examines common reasons therapy may not be producing the results you want, and offers practical steps to get more from your sessions.
Goals aren’t clear or agreed upon
If you and your therapist haven’t defined specific, realistic goals, sessions can feel aimless.
What to do: Ask to set measurable short- and long-term goals together. Revisit and adjust goals regularly.
Mismatch between therapist style and your needs
Different therapists use different approaches. A mismatch in personality or method can limit progress.
What to do: Be honest about what feels helpful or unhelpful. If needed, explore finding a therapist whose approach aligns with your preferences (e.g., IFS, CBT, trauma-focused).
Inconsistent attendance or engagement
Progress requires repetition and practice. Frequent cancellations, poor session attendance, or doing only passive talk can stall change.
What to do: Commit to regular sessions, do between-session work, and practice skills learned in therapy.
Not addressing the right issues
Focusing only on surface symptoms without exploring underlying patterns or trauma can leave problems unresolved.
What to do: Work with your therapist to identify core issues, parts, or past experiences driving current difficulties.
Avoidance and safety behaviors
Avoiding painful topics or using coping strategies that prevent change (substances, isolation, overworking) limits therapy’s impact.
What to do: Bring avoidance into sessions. Create a gradual plan to reduce safety behaviors with your therapist’s support.
Unrealistic expectations and timing
Therapy isn’t a quick fix. Expecting immediate resolution can feel discouraging.
What to do: Discuss realistic timelines and celebrate small gains. Recognize that setbacks are part of change.
Communication gaps in the therapeutic relationship
If you feel unheard, misunderstood, or uncomfortable sharing certain things, progress will be limited.
What to do: Give feedback about the relationship and ask for different interventions or pacing.
External life factors and environmental stressors
Ongoing stressors—financial strain, unsafe relationships, unstable living situations—can overwhelm therapeutic work.
What to do: Address immediate practical needs, build safety plans, and prioritize stabilization before deeper exploration.
Therapist drift or lack of expertise
Some therapists may lack training in areas you need (e.g., trauma, dissociation, IFS) or may deviate from evidence-based approaches.
What to do: Ask about your therapist’s training and ask for referrals if specialized care is needed.
When to consider a change
You’ve given clear feedback and tried different approaches without improvement.
You feel repeatedly dismissed, shamed, or unsafe in sessions.
Your therapist’s methods don’t match the issues you brought (e.g., trauma treated only with talk therapy when you need a trauma-informed approach).
How to bring this up in session
“I want to talk about why I haven’t been feeling better. Can we review my goals and approach?”
“I appreciate our work but I’m wondering if we could try different techniques or focus on X.”
“I don’t feel heard when I bring up Y. Can we address that?”
Final note
Therapy can be powerful, but it requires collaboration, the right fit, realistic expectations, and often targeted methods. If your current therapy isn’t helping, try communicating openly with your therapist, adjusting goals or techniques, addressing practical barriers, or seeking a therapist with specific expertise—such as Internal Family Systems—to better meet your needs.
What is Trauma Therapy and what does treatment look like?
You aren't crazy, and you aren't losing your mind. Say it again: YOU AREN'T CRAZY.
You might feel like you can’t pin your experience to one diagnosis because you feel everything—sometimes all at once. Confusion, stress, pain, heartbreak, fear, loneliness, sadness, anger—these have become your normal. When life has handed you hard, painful experiences, those feelings are a normal response. This isn’t about “What’s wrong with you?” It’s about “What happened to you?”
Trauma therapy is a safe, structured process that helps you understand how past painful events continue to affect your body, emotions, thoughts, and relationships. It’s not about blaming you for how you reacted; it’s about recognizing how survival strategies developed in response to trauma can become barriers to living the life you want.
What treatment looks like
Assessment and safety first: We start by creating a space where you feel safe and heard. Together we map how trauma shows up for you—symptoms, triggers, patterns—and identify immediate needs for stability and safety.
Building resources and regulation skills: Before processing difficult memories, we strengthen your ability to tolerate distress. That can include grounding techniques, breath work, body-based regulation, mindfulness, and ways to manage flashbacks, panic, and emotional overwhelm.
Internal exploration: Using approaches from Internal Family Systems (IFS), we help you meet the parts of you that hold pain, fear, shame, or anger. Instead of fighting or suppressing these parts, you’ll learn to relate to them with curiosity and compassion so they feel less reactive and more understood.
Processing trauma: When you have enough stability and support, we carefully work through traumatic memories and the beliefs attached to them. This can involve talk-based work, guided imagery, somatic (body) interventions, and other evidence-based methods tailored to your needs.
Integration and growth: Therapy helps you reclaim parts of yourself that were lost to trauma. You’ll practice new ways of relating to yourself and others, build resilience, and strengthen your sense of identity and agency.
Ongoing repair and relapse planning: Recovery isn’t linear. We prepare for setbacks and equip you with skills and supports to maintain gains and continue healing over time.
Who benefits
Adults who’ve experienced single events, ongoing stressors, relational trauma, or childhood wounds often find relief. Trauma therapy is for anyone feeling stuck in patterns of avoidance, hypervigilance, emotional numbness, relationship difficulties, or intense shame and self-criticism.
What to expect in a session Sessions are collaborative and paced to your comfort. Many people notice reduced reactivity and clearer self-understanding after several weeks. Deeper processing may take months to years depending on the complexity of trauma and life factors. Progress includes feeling more present in your body, experiencing emotions without being overwhelmed, and making choices aligned with who you want to be.
You don’t need to force yourself to “get over it.” Those experiences are traumas, and you can heal from them. Imagine feeling fully present—physically and emotionally—with yourself and with others. Imagine being able to feel your emotions without numbing or hiding from them. Imagine trusting yourself, knowing your inner voice, and feeling proud of who you are.
That is the goal: to meet the real you and know, deeply, that you are enough for this life.
If you’re in North Carolina, South Carolina, or Florida and want to explore trauma-focused therapy using Internal Family Systems, we can talk about the next step.
Request a Confidential Consultation
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