My Professional Background
My career path was supposed to go in a very different direction.
I was originally going to be a family attorney. I always knew I wanted to work with children and that I wanted to enact as much change in the world as I could. While at work for an appellate judge, I began to search around for schools and programs, I came across courses in Marriage and Family Therapy.
I thought to myself, huh….this is interesting.
The more I read and researched, the more I was drawn to the idea of becoming a therapist. La Salle, my undergraduate college, had a program for Marriage and Family therapy and oddly/coincidentally, the deadline for the application was Friday and this was on a Tuesday.
I called, set up an interview for Thursday after work, completed the application, got accepted, and eventually graduated.
I fell in love with systems thinking and realized that I had always seen in the world through a systemic view point. As previously stated, I started in family based services then transitioned into outpatient at an agency in Philadelphia.
I have been trained in Eco-systemic Family Therapy (ESFT).
In family based, I worked closely with children of all ages, but mainly with teenagers. Some of the topics I have worked on with clients include depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, autism, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, LGBTQ, transitioning as a transgender person, trauma, PTSD, grief, self-harming, and many more.
I currently work with a much younger population of clients (ages 2-13). My current work with the younger children has allowed me to focus my therapy skills on working in a therapeutic setting with parents and implementing strategies around attachment and executive functioning.
Working in two agencies has afforded me the opportunity to work with a marginalized population where socio-economic status, race, gender, income, and disabilities are real barriers.
My Professional Biography
Kelley Dougherty Eubanks has her Pennsylvania State License for Marriage and Family Therapy. She completed 60 credit hours at a COAMFTE approved university, completed 3,000 post-graduate supervised hours of work, and passed the National Examination for Marriage and Family Therapists.
She has her Master’s degree in Clinical Counseling Psychology from La Salle University in their Marriage and Family Therapy program. She also received her Bachelor of Arts from La Salle University in Communication with a specialization in communications management, public relations, and a minor in Marketing.
Kelley most recently worked as an Outpatient Clinician where she provided individual and family therapy including case management services to designated children ages 2-13 and their caregivers. Kelley was responsible for creating client specific ways of interacting given the challenges each family presents. Kelley practiced play therapy techniques to help the younger children open up more and go deeper into their traumas. Art therapy is also very useful in working with the very young children as a way of opening their thoughts and creating space for them to discuss their feelings. In addition, she conducted intake assessments and followed through with appropriate recommendations and referrals as needed.
Previous to her last job, Kelley worked as a Family-Based Clinician where she worked with a partner and provided in home therapy and crisis management to families of children who are at risk of hurting themselves or others and are at risk of out of home placement. Kelley and her partner developed and implemented behaviorally measurable and trauma sensitive treatment plans for each client and family, conducted psychosocial assessments of each family, and provided on-call crisis intervention on a 24/7 basis.
Kelley and her partner became trainers at the company and trained agency interns on paperwork, enhancing soft skills, and modeling appropriate communication as well as crisis management techniques. Both therapeutic jobs that Kelley held followed the Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy model, in which Kelley has been trained by the Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center, Inc.
In addition to being an active member of AAMFT, Kelley has a certificate for Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy for children after completing a 16 hour course online. She is a published co-author and researcher of the article, “When is it over?: Marital partners’ perceptions of effective repair” which was published in the Qualitative Research Reports in Communication. Her co-author and professor, K. Neary Dunleavy, supported her as she presented their research at the ECA Convention in the Spring of 2011. Kelley also co-authored an instructional manual for teachers of communication titled, “Instructor’s site for: Applying communication theory for professional life: A practical introduction (2nd ed).”
My Personal Background
I am one of four children raised by incredible and loving parents. I recently got married to Nick Eubanks, an Entrepreneur with ADD, who inspired me to create this space.
I am currently focused on my business and in my spare time I love to ride my bike, spend time with family and friends, travel, practice yoga and meditation, and most importantly take care of my body and my emotional well being.