Kelly Alpert, LCSW-C

(she/her/hers)

Please note: At this time, my waitlist is closed and I am not able to accept new potential clients. I will update this website when the waitlist reopens. Thank you for your understanding.

I am passionate about helping people navigate their healing journeys, and I create a compassionate, nonjudgmental, and supportive environment that encourages self-reflection, insight, self-discovery, and growth. I believe every person deserves to understand, accept, and embrace their authentic selves and learn to navigate the problems, obstacles, and painful parts of life. I know the journey to sustainable life satisfaction and fulfillment can be challenging to navigate alone. It is hard work that I believe is well worth it, and I look forward to accompanying you on your path of healing.

As an EMDR Psychotherapist, I provide comprehensive treatment towards long-term sustainable change for simple and complex trauma, developmental and/or attachment trauma, grief and loss, anxiety, and depression. Through EMDR memory reprocessing, people can address their earlier life experiences that have impacted their perspectives on themselves, the world, and others and free themselves from old ways of thinking, feeling, and responding that are no longer serving them. My background is in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and I integrate DBT with EMDR as appropriate. These treatments enhance each other: DBT helps people develop mindfulness and learn and apply skills to experience and regulate their emotions, tolerate the process of healing and self-improvement, and address problems in effective ways that allow them to maintain stability in their day-to-day life. I help clients build insight and self-awareness, explore and address the root causes of their present distress and symptoms, and create sustainable changes while markedly improving their quality of life and sense of self. Further, my approach emphasizes the inseparable connection among mind, body, and spirit and integrates mindfulness, meditation, and somatic processing.

Clinical background and experience

I was extensively trained in DBT while working at a partial hospitalization program (PHP) and intensive outpatient program (IOP) that specialized in treating adolescents and young adults with high risk behaviors, including suicidality, self-harm, and substance use disorders. In 2020, I transitioned to outpatient practice and was trained in DBT for Complex PTSD (DBT-PTSD), which is a highly specialized version of DBT that was developed and researched in Germany and is approved by Behavioral Tech, the original DBT training institute. While I was providing outpatient DBT-PTSD, I discovered EMDR and began intensive training in that modality through The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, an EMDRIA approved training institute and the home of Relational EMDR Psychotherapy. I am an EMDR Certified Therapist™ and in order to provide the most adherent and effective treatment, I participate in individual and group consultation with an EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) Approved EMDR Consultant™, as well as peer consultation with other EMDR Certified Therapists™.

I am an EMDRIA approved Consultant-in-Training and Faculty member with The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, mentored by Deany Laliotis, LICSW and Mary French LCSW-C, MSB. The Center is the home of Relational EMDR TherapySM. For more information about Relational EMDR TherapySM and basic, intermediate, and advanced level EMDR trainings, please visit https://emdrtherapy.com/

Please see my EMDR Consultation for Clinicians page for more information.

Education and Licenses

B.S., Psychology, University of Maryland
Master of Social Work, University of Maryland Baltimore School of Social Work
Licensed Clinical Social Worker-Certified (LCSW-C) in Maryland
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in Washington, DC
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Maine
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in Vermont (telehealth license only)

I am currently available for in-person appointments in Bethesda, Maryland and telehealth appointments for clients located in Maryland, Washington DC, Maine, and Vermont. If you are interested in my services, you can schedule a free 15 minute consultation call, which can help you decide if you would like to proceed with an intake appointment.

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