About Kelli

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Nationally Certified Counselor, a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, an Addictive Disorders CIT and a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor. I have worked in mental health for over 15 years. I have owned and operated my private practice since 2013 at the office of Baton Rouge Psychiatry Clinic, LLC, also the private practice locations of four highly respected Psychiatrists in the Baton Rouge Area. I earned a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in the field of Psychology at Louisiana State University and went on to earn my Master’s Degree of Education in the field of Community Counseling from Southeastern Louisiana University.

Prior to starting my private practice, I worked primarily with abused and neglected children and teenagers through Child Advocacy Services, a division of CASA. I worked closely with the non-offending family members of these children to provide coping skills for post-traumatic responses within the children and their families. Following supervision for licensure, I went on to work with the moderately to severely mentally ill population in Partial Hospitalization Programs, Intensive Outpatient Programs, as well as inpatient hospitalization as the Head of Social Services for a 20 bed inpatient unit for approximately two years. Having spent the majority of my career working with individuals who had endured significant trauma, I saw the importance of the severed connections between the neurochemistry/biological and environmental or developmental experiences (and) subsequent prolonged dysfunctional responses to stress and anxiety – ultimately leading to both medical and mental health disease in its many victims. In response to this, I decided to obtain specialized training and testing on the National Level in order to focus specifically/specialize on Anxiety Disorders, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Following the five year mark of post-licensure and training, I sat for the National Clinical Mental Health Counselor Examination in 2013. Upon successfully passing the rigorous examination rooted in ten highly-detailed case studies to determine the appropriate clinical diagnosis of the presented patients, I became the first female and 2nd person in the State of Louisiana to earn the specialty credential of CCMHC, Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, through the National Board for Certified Counselors, as well as one of roughly over 1,000 people within the United States, Peru, and Guam to hold this specialty certification.

At present, I have had over 35 articles published on the State and National level regarding such topics as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, coping with children and teen anxiety, Postpartum Depression and Anxiety, women’s issues and PTSD. A few of these State and National publications include The Fit Life Magazine, Healthyworks Magazine, Inspire Health Magazine and The Morning Call. I have also been published eight times in Baton Rouge Parents Magazine as a contributing professional to mental health topics posed by the editors and writers of that magazine. I am also certified in Basic EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy, a front-line treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, moderate-severe anxiety and panic disorder as well as phobias.

On October 1st, 2019, I received the honor of “Favorite Counselor/1st Place Reader’s Choice” for the year 2019 in Baton Rouge Parents Magazine’s Family Favorites Competition.