Kelly Graham
I’m a licensed professional clinical counselor in Ohio and a retired Air Force veteran. I work with teens and adults navigating anxiety, trauma, PTSD, grief, relationship concerns, and life changes. You might be feeling overwhelmed by something happening now, or you may be ready to work through experiences you’ve carried for years. We can start with whatever feels most important to you. Some of the people I work with find themselves replaying conversations, saying yes when they want to say no, or going quiet when they feel hurt. Others are adjusting to a loss, feeling anxious without knowing why, or trying to figure out why the same conflicts keep coming up. Together, we can explore how your experiences have shaped the way you cope, trust others, and ask for what you need.
Helping teens and adults navigate anxiety, trauma, grief, and relationship challenges and take small steps toward meaningful, lasting change
My approach is warm, collaborative, and structured. As a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional and Master Resilience Trainer, I bring experience helping people make sense of what they’re feeling and find practical ways to respond. That might mean practicing how to set a boundary, finding ways to get through an anxious moment, or making room for grief when everyone around you seems to have moved on. We’ll work at a pace that feels manageable and focus on changes that matter to you outside of sessions.
First session
If this is your first time in therapy, it’s okay to feel nervous or wonder what to say. I’ll guide the conversation and explain what to expect. We’ll talk about what brought you in, what’s been hard lately, and what you’d like to feel or do differently. You can share as much as you feel comfortable sharing. If trauma is part of your story, we can begin with how it’s affecting you today and take our time with the details. My work focuses on individual therapy with teens and adults. With teens, I make room for them to tell me in their own words what they want help with. When a parent or caregiver is involved, we’ll talk about their role and what can stay private. With adults, we’ll start with what feels most pressing and decide together where to go from there. I hope you leave feeling heard, a little more at ease, and clearer about what we can work on together. We’ll identify a starting point, whether that’s a practical tool to try this week or something you’d like to talk through next time.
Strengths
I bring warmth, structure, and a willingness to ask the hard questions when you’re ready. My trauma training helps me listen for how past experiences may still shape what you do today, like saying yes when you want to say no or going quiet when you feel hurt. We’ll get curious about where those responses came from and practice small changes you can use between sessions to create meaningful, lasting change.
Ideal clients
I work well with teens and adults who want to understand why certain situations keep bringing up the same feelings or reactions. You might be a teen trying to find your voice with friends or family, a young adult figuring out who you are in relationships, or someone adjusting to a loss or a major life change. You may be living with anxiety or PTSD, or noticing how past experiences still affect who you trust, how you handle conflict, or how comfortable you feel asking for what you need. You don’t have to know exactly what you want from therapy before we start. You might want to feel less on edge, speak up without replaying the conversation afterward, or make room for grief you’ve been carrying on your own. If you’re looking for a mix of honest conversation and practical tools, we’ll take time to understand what’s behind the patterns you notice and practice small changes you can try in your everyday life.
Origin story
During my time in the Air Force, I often found myself supporting people through some of the hardest moments of their lives. As a leader, I often stepped into an informal counseling role, and as a Master Resilience Trainer, I saw how much it mattered to have someone listen and help you figure out what to do next. Working through my own trauma taught me how vulnerable it can feel to ask for support and how much it helps to make sense of what you’ve been through at your own pace. After I retired, pursuing licensure felt like a natural next step. I became a therapist because I wanted to make more room for those conversations and help people work through experiences they’d been carrying for a long time.
Ongoing work together
As we continue working together, we’ll check in on what’s happened since our last session and connect it to the goals you’ve set. We might revisit a conversation that stayed with you, explore what made a familiar situation feel so hard, or practice a different way to respond. If we try a new skill in session, we’ll talk about how it worked in your day-to-day life and adjust it to fit you. As we get to know what helps you feel grounded, we can work through difficult experiences at a pace that feels manageable. We’ll talk regularly about what’s changing and what still feels hard. Progress might look like catching an anxious thought before it takes over, recovering more quickly after a difficult day, or telling someone what you need even if it still feels uncomfortable. We’ll use those changes to decide together what to keep practicing and where to focus next.
Treatment methods
Trauma-Informed Care
We’ll start with what’s affecting you today and decide together where to go from there. You choose what you feel comfortable sharing, and we can pause or change direction if something feels overwhelming. As we build trust, we can explore how past experiences show up in your daily life and find ways to help you feel more grounded.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
We’ll look at how your thoughts, feelings, and actions affect one another. If you often leave a conversation assuming you said something wrong, we can slow that moment down, look at what led you to that conclusion, and consider other explanations. Then we can practice a response you can try the next time it happens.
Attachment-based
We’ll explore what earlier relationships taught you about trust, closeness, and asking for support. You might notice that you say yes to avoid disappointing someone or pull away when you feel hurt. We can make sense of how those patterns developed and practice ways to speak up, set boundaries, and stay connected in ways that feel right for you.
Person-centered (Rogerian)
Your perspective guides our work. I’ll listen closely, reflect what I’m hearing, and ask questions that help you put words to what you’re feeling. If you’re unsure what you want from therapy, we can start with what’s been weighing on you and figure out together what you’d like to change.
Integrative
I draw from different approaches depending on what you want to work on. We might explore why a conversation brought up a strong reaction, then practice a brief mindfulness exercise or a DBT-informed skill to help you get through an intense emotion or ask for what you need. We’ll check in about what helps outside of sessions and adjust as we go.
Location
Virtual sessions