My Story
Im Kelly, a California-based Licensed Clinical Social Worker. For over 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of supporting individuals and families through grief, loss, and life’s transitions. While I work with a variety of concerns, I especially enjoy helping people navigate infertility and the emotional challenges that come with the journey to parenthood.
My early career in medical and end-of-life settings profoundly shaped both my clinical approach and my understanding of loss in its many forms. Walking alongside people during some of life’s most vulnerable moments gave me deep insight into the grief process, the importance of presence, and the ways loss—both visible and invisible—can impact identity, relationships, and one’s sense of the future. This lens strongly informs my work with infertility, which often carries layers of ambiguity, chronic stress, and unrecognized grief.
In my professional roles as a medical social worker (2002–2008) and later as a bereavement therapist (2009–2022), I supported countless individuals as they processed, coped with, and healed from grief. I facilitated grief support groups, led creative grief workshops, and provided community education and presentations focused on loss and healing. In January 2022, I transitioned into private practice, allowing me to expand my work to include infertility and reproductive mental health—an area that is both professionally meaningful and personally close to my heart. My own lived experience with infertility has further deepened my understanding of the emotional complexity, uncertainty, and resilience required on this journey.
I believe connection, safety, non-judgement, and holding space is the foundation for successful psychotherapy. Clients often share that my presence feels calming and grounding, and that they are able to feel at ease quickly in our work together. I take an eclectic, individualized approach to therapy, drawing from mindfulness and self-compassion practices, cognitive behavioral therapy, positive psychology, guided imagery, somatic experiencing, and specialized training in infertility, perinatal mental health, and grief and loss. This background informs my work, but each approach is tailored to meet your unique needs. I am also a certified yoga instructor (RYT-200), which supports a holistic, mind–body approach to healing.
It would be an honor to support you as you navigate infertility, grief, or other experiences of loss and uncertainty.
Memberships
Postpartum Support International
Postpartum Health Alliance
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
Yoga Alliance