Kelsey Jarvis
My name is Kelsey and I have been working as a therapist for seven years, as well as working within the broader field of mental health since 2013. Over the years, I have worked with people across the lifespan with different life circumstances and reasons for seeking therapy.
I work with individuals experiencing anxiety and trauma, among other life issues. I strongly believe therapy can help create a greater capacity for inner peace and can also be an essential part of working toward living a meaningful life that is more aligned with individual values and goals.
I particularly love working with individuals experiencing anxiety in various ways and trauma. I have specialized training and experience in treating eating disorders as well. I draw from a variety of approaches in session, including trauma-informed modalities such as IFS and EMDR. More importantly, though, I bring my authentic self into session, which includes a balance of warmth, compassion, understanding, emotional safety, support, curiosity, humor, and care.
First session
You can expect a first session to focus on a combination of developing a picture of your goals and exploring what you feel like is and isn’t working in your life right now. I will have questions to help explore these issues and to understand you and your life as fully as possible. At the same time, I like to also leave room for you to voice what you have been feeling and struggling with, as I have found that a lot of people have had to bottle up their emotions, sometimes for years. While working to understand, express, and feel these emotions to better move through them will be a focus on ongoing therapy, I also think that this is so often needed that a first session will leave space for some of this right off the bat.
Strengths
I bring compassion and honesty into every session. I hold space for the range of emotion that we all experience, and aim to create a safe space to explore and experience what is sometimes ignored or may even feel shameful to acknowledge. I tend to approach life analytically but also with a great appreciation for the emotion that connects us all. I value helping individuals gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their life context. I often use EMDR to aid in this work as well as processing trauma that has created a lasting impact. I strongly believe this work can help create a greater capacity for inner peace and can also be an essential part of therapeutic work necessary to then work toward living a meaningful life that is more aligned with individual values and goals.
Ideal clients
I have experience working with a wide range of clients, and greatly value this diversity. I specialize in working with young and adults and adults with anxiety, trauma, and eating disorders as well as mood disorders. While I have experience working with individuals with a range of different mindsets, the online platform may be more ideal for individuals who are invested in therapeutic change rather than experiencing a high degree of ambivalence or uncertainty about recovery from issues such as eating disorders.
Origin story
I’ve always known I would work with people in some sort of “helping” capacity, as it’s central to who I am as a person and what I honestly feel I’m meant to do. I believe it’s an honor to bear witness to other people’s inner worlds and stories, and even more of an honor to be able to help people develop more self-understanding and compassion through deep therapeutic work. At the same time, especially having lived experience with anxiety myself, I also have a profound appreciation for the need to at times develop practical skills alongside or even in lieu of deeper internal work. I strive to work with each individual to find the balance that makes sense for them and their individual goals for therapy.
Ongoing work together
Progres will be defined with you as an individual, but generally, over time, will include decreased anxiety or an increased ability to tolerate anxiety, less avoidance of situations that are meaningful to you, lower depression, increased quality of life, increased understanding of your values and goals, increased self-compassion, and/or increased positive beliefs about yourself.
Treatment methods
EMDR
I use EMDR with individuals who have what feel like “set” beliefs about themselves that are difficult to change and that have been negatively impacting their ability to live the life in the way that they want. I also use EMDR with individuals with PTSD when trauma is also making it difficult to live the life they want, which often looks avoiding triggers and certain situations all-together. EMDR is a unique type of therapy that uses what’s called bilateral stimulation (BLS) to help process experiences that have been difficult to fully process and work through. The goal of the therapy is to help decrease the distress experienced by certain memories and beliefs and then work to integrate these in a more “adaptive” way.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
I often use IFS without obviously using IFS, as it is central to the way I think each of our internal worlds are shaped. The basic idea is that we are all made up of different parts of self that serve different functions, but that sometimes these parts are coming from a place of defense that are well-intentioned and understandable but accidentally actually get in the way of living the life we want. The idea of this method is to uncover and understand these different parts more fully and get them to “all work together” so that you feel more in charge of the direction of your life. I often use IFS with EMDR and other modalities.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
ACT is a therapy that is aimed at helping to increase what’s called psychological flexibility, which is shown to improve overall mental wellness. In a nutshell, ACT helps to decrease anxiety and distress overall by recognizing that we accidentally create more suffering by trying to control and avoid anxiety and distress. It is largely based in the central idea (similar to a lot of methods for treating anxiety) that approach is the antidote to anxiety. By working to accept what we try to avoid, it allows more room to then clarify core values and live a more meaningful life, as defined by everyone as an individual.
Culturally Sensitive Therapy
I recognize the impact of systemic biases and oppression that deeply influences individual well-being, which has to be examined when appropriate in order to fully understand individual experiences. Examining these impacts with compassion and care are essential in my therapeutic work with clients.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
CBT is often integrated into my therapeutic practice as we work to understand any thought patterns that may not be serving your goals.
Location
Virtual sessions
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Licensed in
- UtahLicense 12898063-3501