CLINICAL EXPERIENCE

Colleen M. Kelly, PhD, MFT, is a psychotherapist, international speaker, writer, and clinical outreach consultant based in Paris, France, specializing in addiction, family therapy, and couples work. She is a California Licensed Marriage Family Therapist and an APA Board Certified Professional Counselor. She holds a BFA from New York University, a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the American Institute of Holistic Theology. She studied Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, CA. Currently, she is enrolled at the Darden School of Business in a Digital Transformation Certificate Program.

 

Colleen has a private practice in Paris, France. She is also the Director of International Marketing and Technology Development for StartAgain Associates in collaboration with DropLabs. They are at the forefront of cutting-edge innovative mental health technology combining haptic shoes, EMDR, and brain performance technology. 

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Colleen has worked in various clinical settings in substance abuse and mental health, beginning 26 years ago with American Indian urban and reservation treatment centers. She has lived on American Indian reservations, designing culturally appropriate alcohol and domestic violence therapeutic materials. She was a court advocate for ICWA, the Indian Child Welfare Act. 

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She was on the clinical staff of Promises Treatment Center in West Los Angeles for many years, later becoming the Director of the Family Program of Promises, Malibu, and designing Family Programs at several other treatment centers in California. She has been both a therapist and clinical outreach consultant for two decades at Promises, PCH Treatment Center, Cirque Lodge Utah, Milestones Ranch Malibu, Bridges to Recovery, Harmony Place, Avalon Malibu, AiR, Pacific Quest Hawaii, Reconnect, Transcend, Riviera Recovery, Visions Adolescent Treatment, Newport Academy, and Resolutions Treatment to name a few. 

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Colleen is a California Probation Certified Master Domestic Violence Group Facilitator. She was a Board Certified Subject Matter Expert in Substance Abuse with the Board of Behavioral Science and a BBSE licensed Continuing Education Provider. In 2005, Dr. Aletha Solter certified her as an Aware Parenting Parent Educator Specialist. 

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As a clinician, she was the first Clinical Director of the CAST program in Santa Monica. Kelly has also consulted with Jean Campbell, MFT at the Action Institute of California, in working with corporate clients to facilitate team building, strategic planning, crisis intervention, and role training workshops. She worked at Mt Sinai Hospital in NYC as a member to STAR Sinai Teen Aids Resources, providing education to teens and college students across the US. 

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Colleen opened a group practice with Dr. Reza Nabavi in Santa Monica, CA in 2007. This group grew into Resolutions Therapeutic Services, where she was a therapist for five years. Nabavi and Kelly also owned a women’s sober living in Santa Monica, CA, for years together. 

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As an educator, she was an adjunct faculty at Pepperdine University and Antioch University, teaching substance abuse courses. She has published dozens of articles and online content on addiction in addition to Continuing Education Courses over the years for MFTs and LCSWs.

 

As an Independent Behavioral Health Care Contractor, she began working with Jeri Davis International, a healthcare recruitment and consulting firm in DC, and Gregory Consulting, providing direct sales to treatment centers and medical providers, strategic planning, promotional events, and advertising. 

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In Europe, she provided clinical supervision for Connections in Recovery and ran aftercare groups for CATCH Recovery in London and Castle Craig Hospital, Edinburgh. She has been a keynote speaker in Europe on Transgenerational Grief in the Irish, American Indian, and Palestinian Communities at conferences in Paris, Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Stockholm, Rome, Amsterdam, Iceland, Dubai and Turkey with iCAAD. She lectures on Attachment Family Therapy techniques at treatment centers across the USA and, most recently, at Castle Craig Hospital in Scotland and Smarmore Clinic in Ireland.

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She is the European representative for MET(T)A Protocol, Mindfulness & EMDR Treatment Template for Agencies. She is an investor and marketer of HapTech Holdings wearable technology. HapTech is now part of a 3 to 5-year incubator program with the Dundalk Institute of Technology in Ireland, collaborating on outcome studies, technology applications, manufacturing capacities, and employment projections with DkIT.

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As a human rights advocate and therapist, she works with Palestinian, Syrian, and North African refugees, doing asylum interviews and advocating for civil rights and services. She was a Southern Californian Ambassador for UNRWA (the United Nations Relief Works Agency). She is a member of the Syrian Medical Association, providing therapy to refugees and debriefing relief workers in Syria and Lebanon. In 2015, she set up an exchange working with MDs in Los Angeles, delivering expired medications that could be used in dire situations, suture kits, and quick clot kits to hospitals in Syria. 

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She is a member of ACADDI, L’association des therapeutic specialists du traitement de l’addiction in Paris. She currently has offices in Paris, London, Dundalk, Ireland, and Santa Monica, California.