Gabriel Kelly
Howdy! I'm Gabe! I'm an LMHC in Florida, an LCPC in Maryland, and a LMHC in Indiana. I am training to specialize in OCD, phobia, and panic disorder treatment, specifically in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP, or sometimes ExRP) in a manner that is compassionate, gentle, and effective. In addition, I also work to provide effective treatment to those struggling with their anxiety or with their mood. I graduated from UCF in 2021 and right away fell into working with high-need clients with nonprofits Florida. I have over 5 years of experience working with client with mood dysregulation, conflict with family and friends, depression, anxiety, anger, trauma, and neurodiversity. I don't "fix" people; I strive to help you learn the skills you need to build up your life the way you want it. As a disclaimer, I don't use AI notetaking in my practice. I believe in privacy first and foremost.
I have over 5 years of experience working with adolescents and adults with mood dysregulation, conflict with family and friends, depression, anxiety, anger, trauma, and neurodiversity.
First session
It's normal for the first few sessions of therapy to feel like a getting-to-know-you. I'll likely ask a lot of questions to get to know who you are, where you're at in life, how you got here and where you want to go. I will want to know not just what brought you to therapy, but also about the whole of you. It's important that you feel comfortable with and respected by your therapist, and to that end it can take some time before you know for sure if I or any other therapist is the right one for you.
Strengths
I like to make therapy feel like a space you can share anything without judgement. I meet you where you're at in your life, wherever that may be, and take the time to get to know where you want to be instead. I acknowledge both the inherent flaws in the world system that we live in that makes it difficult for us to move forward, and I am still dedicated to finding paths to move forward that honor the values you hold in life. I have found that clients who are unsure about therapy or are trying therapy for the first time tend to have a good experience with me.
Ideal clients
I'm best positioned to serve clients who find themselves afraid or worried about moving forward, who are tired of being paralyzed with anxiety and who want to learn how to let go; in addition I work well with clients who sometimes feel so down, low, or really 'blue', or sometimes even cranky and irritable. People who aren't sure about therapy have let me know that they've enjoyed the experience with me. I welcome clients who maybe don't know what they want to accomplish in therapy or haven't been to therapy before. Clients who prefer a warm, supportive style balanced with a little bit of humor tend to tell me that they've enjoyed sessions.
Treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I use CBT to help clients explore the connections between what we feel, think, and do, so that clients can better understand themselves and navigate through their life challenges. CBT is evidence based for a wide range of concerns and is often considered the 'gold standard' of therapy as a result. CBT includes a wide range of interventions, but I tailor my interventions to each client's needs; no some clients prefer more skills-teaching and some clients prefer to talk it out. However you like to do therapy, I will use CBT as a way of challenging you to think outside your patterns!
Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)
Exposure and Response Prevention (sometimes EXRP) is a modality related to CBT that's most effective for OCD, phobias, and panic disorder, and social anxiety. Whereas CBT is helpful for a broad variety of worries, ERP is better at targeting the cycle of obsessions-compulsion, or anxiety-avoidance. ERP is a structured treatment that's meant to reduce the level of anxiety or distress by intentionally exposing to feared situations, and prevention the use of rituals, compulsions, or avoidance in response to anxiety. Over time, structured avoidance retrains your brain to produce a less dramatic anxious reaction. For ERP, we do NOT start with the scariest situations first, and I don't believe in surprising you; we work on a hierarchy that you decide upon and start with reasonable, but still challenging situations first, and work our way up. I have recently completed training with UPENN's Center for Treatment and Study of Anxiety in ERP.
Location
Virtual sessions