Hi! I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, as well as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I'm based in Michigan and was trained at Michigan State University. Most of my work over the last 10 years has been working with individuals as they recover from stressful events. I feel that my therapeutic style emphasizes active listening. Most sessions focus on curious questions and move toward models that are guaranteed to provide changes toward recovery.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
The first session is your time, and you can use it to go into detail about whatever brought you to therapy. My hope at the end of the session is to make sure I have a good understanding of what you view as the main issues and primary goals you hope to get out of therapy.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
Sometime last year, I crossed over my 10,000th hour of providing therapy. The majority of these hours were based on working with individuals recovering from stressful/traumatic experiences. I’ve taught, trained and lectured on the most effective models for treating stressful or traumatic events, and feel comfortable tailoring the models to a fit that feels right for you.
About Patrick Kiely
Appointments
Virtual
My treatment methods
Cognitive Processing (CPT)
CPT is the slow and steady model for processing trauma. I've found for individuals who have had multiple traumatic experiences, particularly in childhood, CPT is powerful because it always works, it just takes time. All traumatic experiences are processed in the perspective of "right place, right time, right therapist". It's always up to the individual when, and at what pace, events are processed.
EMDR
I've been using EMDR for the last decade and would estimate having processed between 100-120 traumatic events through the model. I'm always willing to run through an assessment to see if EMDR would be a good fit, or if a different model for processing an event, would be more indicated. Processing an event doesn't have to happen right away, the hope is we open that door when the timing feels right for you to do so.
Narrative
This model comes with many curious questions- we try to understand your story- If we were watching a movie, who are the main characters? How did conflicts develop? What is important to you and why? Who was the person your family saw you as? Which contexts have you felt the most understood, or misunderstood? I give these as examples of what many narrative discussion can look like. It creates a story of your life, and you develop further clarification of where you are going and why.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
If it ever feels like your just not yourself, like you remember a part of yourself but it feels almost foreign, IFS is incredible at bringing the parts of us that have been disconnected and buried by life's demands. We bring the parts of ourselves back together to get greater clarity on the best steps forward. I also have found if someone is coming to terms with a difficult childhood, IFS really is the most profound therapeutic style in the field. I've found this to be an especially important model when treating burnout, complex trauma or childhood trauma.
