About Dr. Kendell

Reaching out to a psychologist is a very difficult thing to do. I keep this in mind when connecting with clients. My first and fundamental goal is to make my clients feel safe and understood. I believe that compassion, non-judgment, and a strong client-therapist relationship are at the heart of excellence in all clinical work.

With over fifteen years of experience, I use a variety of treatment modalities including Emotion-Focused Therapy, Mindfulness, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to best meet the needs of my clients. I have practiced in university clinics, hospital settings, and private practice.

With individuals, couples, and families, I work to explore painful, stuck areas in clients’ lives in order to open the possibility of relating to themselves and others in more adaptive, accepting, and meaningful ways. I believe in helping clients to live more authentic lives, using the body as a way to learn more about the self and meaningful relationships with others.

INDIVIDUALS:

Common concerns clients reach out to me for include depression, anxiety, eating disorders, trauma, and relationship challenges. I strive to understand the unique struggles and strengths of each client and from this understanding develop a collaborative plan to meet the needs of my clients. I enjoy making sense of a client’s experiences and coping strategies in a deeply empathic way, and exploring and responding to the pain that often underlies the concerns that bring us into therapy.

COUPLES:

I have completed extensive training in EFT for couples beyond my masters and doctoral degrees. In my work with couples, we seek to become aware of rigid ways of interacting and work towards rediscovering connection and communication. This is true whether there has been a gradual shift towards disconnection or a pivotal relationship incident such as an affair. As hurt and anger are unpacked, I enjoy witnessing moments of connection in session that begin the transformation from rigid patterns of interacting to greater vulnerability, authenticity, and ultimately connection in and outside of session.

An unfortunate experience for many who have previously sought couples therapy is for one partner to feel blamed. I work hard to make both partners feel non-judgementally understood, and this is an integral component of well-practiced EFT couples therapy.

PARENT COACHING:

I have trained extensively in Emotion-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) and am certified as an advanced EFFT therapist and supervisor. Using this approach with families, I support parents to coach children who may be struggling with emotional or behavioral concerns. Many parents enter the therapy room with a great deal of shame and self-blame regarding the struggles of their child. My goal is to free parents from the burden of self-blame, shame, and fear while also introducing advanced caregiving skills to empower them to create change within their own homes. This tends to lessen caregiver burnout as efforts become more effective.

SUPERVISION AND CONSULTATION:

I also enjoy offering consultation and supervision to Registered Psychologists and Registered Provisional Psychologists. If you are interested in learning more about using a humanistic lens or EFT specifically, please reach out to me about supervision possibilities.

MY OWN CONSULTATION:

I am a firm believer in continuing my professional development through regular consultation with highly respected professionals in my field. I currently participate in regular consultation with Les Greenberg, the developer of EFT, as well as Vanessa Wilson, a certified EFT couples therapist. I also engage in recertification and retraining with the International Institute of Emotion Focused Family Therapy.