Mental Health Services
Intentionally integrative, trauma-specialized therapy and consulting
Hello! My name is Kelsie and I’m a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist in Knoxville, Tennessee. My passion and experience is in treating complex and developmental trauma. I offer therapeutic space that is nurturing, connecting, and safe for clients to heal and change.
I also enjoy collaborating with fellow providers and collaborative care teams through my consulting services. In the past decade, I have been lucky to work with clients ranging in age from 2 to 72. This, coupled with specialized training, has enhanced my insight into the impacts of developmental trauma across the lifespan, as well as effective treatment.
Services
Therapy
Currently, I offer virtual therapy for adults, ages 18 and up. In my sessions, I prioritize safe connection, client autonomy, and evidence-based treatment. I am interested in “what works” to actually bring about positive change for my clients, and I invest my time and energy in cultivating skills toward this end. My style can be described as warm, open-minded, and grounded. Read more about the modalities I use here.
Consulting
I believe we are better providers when we work together. I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned in my own professional journey, especially with clinicians who are new to the field or want to grow in their ability to treat trauma. Whether collaborating with a fellow therapist or with a provider across disciplines, my consultation services are tailored to support in specific case questions, professional identity development, and navigating trauma-informed systems thinking. Learn more about my clinical experience here, and more about the modalities I use here.
Virtual Therapy
One of my deep joys in life is holding a steaming cup of coffee and logging in for session.
I offer therapy exclusively via telehealth. This allows me to connect with clients throughout the state of Tennessee from the convenience of their home. I work to maintain a high level of warmth and connection with my clients, even through the screen.
Modalities
I intentionally curate therapeutic techniques to serve the goals of my clients. While my foundational philosophy lies in family systems theory, particularly Bowen Family Therapy, I most frequently pull from the following perspectives and models:
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
I have training in IFS and in the neurobiology of "parts work." I find this model to be very effective in safely connecting to our thoughts, emotions, and reactions. Parts work also allows us to reprocess traumatic experiences by actually changing the neural networks in the brain. In our parts work, I use a variety of strategies, including creative imagery and tracking sensations, behavioral impulses, and more.
Eye Movement Descensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
I'm trained in EMDR Level 1, with added training in Somatic and Attachment Focused EMDR (SAFE). Sometimes, traumatic experiences feel "stuck" in our brains and bodies. EMDR can be a helpful tool to aid in desensitizing traumatic memories and allowing the brain to reprocess adaptively.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
I view CBT as a helpful foundation to many of the interventions I offer. This model allows clients to enhance their self-awareness and identify negative core beliefs, as well as preferred adaptive (or positive) beliefs. CBT can provide a road map to follow in our work toward therapy goals.
Trauma-specialized care
I specialize in treating complex and developmental trauma, defined as repeated and inescapable exposure to adverse events during sensitive periods of childhood development, often occurring over a period of time. I use a neurobiologically sensitive lens as I apply trauma-informed models like IFS, EMDR-SAFE, ARC, SMART, and more.
About Me
What does it mean to specialize in trauma treatment?
Over the years, I’ve learned there is a difference between being “trauma-informed” and being “specialized in trauma treatment.” In my definition, being trauma-informed means a clinician has awareness and understanding of the impact of trauma and how this may manifest in a client’s symptoms — a very important and helpful thing! Specializing in trauma treatment, however, means a clinician has also undergone specialized training/mentorship in evidence-based practices and accumulated significant experience in the treatment of trauma. If you’re a fellow therapy nerd and want to know what this has looked like for me, read on:
When I began clinical training in 2015, I set out to learn how to help people suffering because of things that happened to them during the most vulnerable time in their lives: childhood. While still in graduate school, I completed a Trauma Certificate taught by some of the top voices in traumatology (Joseph Spinazzola and Jana Pressley of the Complex Trauma Training Institute; Wendy D’Andrea, Chief Science Officer of the Trauma Research Foundation). After graduate school, I continued my training by undergoing the year-long process of becoming certified in Bruce Perry’s The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics™, finishing in 2021. I also took opportunities to receive training in EMDR, IFS , SMART, and more.
Of course, the most impactful teachers I had were my clients. At the beginning of my career, I spent a year in Chattanooga inner city schools providing therapy for kids in grades K-5; and beginning in 2019, I worked for 3 years in-home with adopted children and their families. Simultaneously, since 2017, I continued treating adults in an outpatient setting. It was in these spaces — talking, crying, playing, laughing — that I learned firsthand about resilience, respect, and the wisdom of a client’s protective inner system. I was able to witness clients grow and become more peaceful, connected, and confident as we worked together to find out what helped, and what didn’t.
Email me at
kelsie@mcglothinlmft.com
Find me on
Growtherapy.com
Psychologytoday.com
Pricing for Therapy
Cost per session: $130
Insurance accepted: BCBS, Cigna, Aetna, and UHC/Optum.
Pricing for Consultation