Kristen Gidel Kelly

My name is Kristen Gidel Kelly and I am the Founder and Clinical Director of Imagine Recovery Counseling in Gahanna, OH. Trauma Recovery work to me is healing from ALL types of trauma that result from mental health or substance use disorders. I became a Chemical Dependency Counselor in 2008 because I have lived experience of the impact of substance use disorders. I became an EMDR therapist in 2016 because I realized that most people who use substances have trauma. I wanted to help people heal and recover, not just repeat the pattern of relapse behavior. I became a DBT therapist in 2019 because I was told by a trusted colleague to only do this work if you really love the population. Trauma work is my passion. Somewhere between getting EMDR Trained and learning DBT, I was told by my EMDR Consultant "Once you start working with Trauma, you will see Dissociation everywhere. It's real." I paid attention and noticed. Working with dissociation and DID became my biggest passion and it still is today!

I'm guessing what you REALLY want to know is: "Kristen, if I show up to your office and trust you enough to tell you I have DID or a Dissociation Disorder, what are you going to do?"
1. You SHOULD ask that question. There is misinformation about DID and Dissociative Disorders, so make sure it's it's someone that's trained and is an ALLY or has lived experienced.
2. I am going to believe you. Period. I am not not running the show.
3. I am NOT going to force integration. You decide your collective goals for your system.
4. I am patient and I work to earn trust. It might take you 3 sessions to introduce me to your system and parts/selves or it might take 2 years. I'm here for it!
5. I am trained by Dr. Jaime Marich (Dissociation Made Simple), IFS informed trainings, Structural Dissociation, Ego State work, and other various trainings on Dissociation. I use some techniques from each approach and STRONGLY believe the most important variable is Affirming Care for Systems. Dissociation is not NOT the problem. I do not like the labels within certain approaches to treating Dissociation and thereby, you will decide how you want to label things. We'll do this together.
6. I run a free closed support group for those with DID on my caseload once a month. It helps build relationships and we discuss topics on DID.

Radical Genuineness is my approach. I still love what I do after 18 years and dig deep to help you heal. I believe in being your partner in trauma healing. I do not have an ego attached to what I do. You're in the driver seat; I'm just guiding you to healing.

Reasons to Hire me: 1. I believe you can heal and recover, no matter what 2. I am an EMDR and DBT nerd. 3. I show up as a genuine person with flaws and humility. 4. I take what I do 100% seriously and not seriously at the same time. 5. I will not judge your past, make you feel less than, or give up on you. 6. I don't assign homework ;)