About Karen
Karen Kelly is a licensed clinical social worker practicing in Alaska. She brings 13 years of experience to work with people facing anxiety, depression, trauma, addiction, and stress. She speaks English and French and offers sessions by video, phone, chat, or text.
Karen focuses on helping people manage heavy emotions and hard life changes. She listens without judgment and helps clients sort through guilt, shame, grief, and anger. Conversations are practical and focused on small steps that can make daily life easier.
Background and approach
Her background includes work related to first responder and veteran issues, and she understands how job-related trauma or isolation can affect mood and relationships. She also helps people with substance use, codependency, commitment and communication struggles, and career stress. In sessions she draws on several approaches such as mindfulness, cognitive tools, and acceptance strategies.
Therapy often includes learning new ways to respond to strong feelings, practicing communication skills, and building routines that improve coping. Karen uses a mix of short-term skills work and deeper processing when needed, including methods aimed at trauma. She tailors the plan to each person’s goals and pace.
People who want a straightforward, compassionate clinician who values practical change and emotional understanding may find her approach helpful.
Practical approaches for online healing and trauma work
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings and focus on actions that match their values. It can be useful when a person feels stuck by worry, guilt, or avoidance. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions link together and teaches skills to change unhelpful patterns. It is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a trauma-focused method used to process disturbing memories and reduce their emotional intensity when trauma is a central concern.Finding the right approach is a shared process. The therapist will talk with each person about symptoms, goals, and preferences, then try strategies that fit those needs. Plans can combine skills training, acceptance work, and trauma processing so care matches what someone actually needs in daily life.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to give flexibility. Video lets people work face-to-face when that matters. Phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Chat and text help with brief check-ins, skills practice, or when typing feels more comfortable. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, family, and remote living in Alaska.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- First responder issues
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Mood disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- Alaska
- Languages
- English, French