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IMAGINE OPENING THE DOOR TO… 

 

more freedom

to live the purpose-filled life you truly, deeply want to live.

 

more self‒love

and healthy coping mechanisms in every. single. day.

 

more joy

in the way you work, love, play, nourish your body.

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LET'S BEGIN:

There is healing power in releasing what no longer serves you  in life.

 

Therapy is like taking a class on YOU. You’ll learn how to handle emotions, and become more of yourself—free from the pain of the past.

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I’ve spent the last 25+ years as a psychotherapist helping people build or rebuild healthy relationships, make life transitions, navigate grief, and deal with the hard stuff life throws at us.

I’m here to help you process the past, accept yourself, and live more fully and joyfully, in who you are—because sometimes that’s the hardest thing of all to do.

 

                                                    Think about it. Many of us are so layered up with conditioning around who we think                                                        we should be, or the people we want to be, it’s easy to lose track of who we are.

 

                                                    It isn’t until we take time to develop our self-awareness and feel inspired to take                                                               ownership of who we are, and who we want to be, that we can truly begin to shift into                                                     our next incredible phase; living life with meaning and purpose.

 

                                                    "The best years of your life are the ones in which you realize that you control                                                                       your own destiny"…Albert Ellis

 

                                                    You begin to love and understand all parts of who you are, and experience an                                                                     unshakeable peace. You become less reactive and angry. And you rediscover how to let                                                     other people in, in healthy ways.

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                         Will there still be parts about you wish were different?                      Of course.
                         Will life continue to throw you obstacles and curveballs?                  Absolutely.

 

However, as you stand secure in yourself, you develop the confidence and clarity to navigate all of it—and learn to begin living your best life yet, full of meaning, purpose and happiness.

 

That’s why I’m here to inspire you to deconstruct your conditioning and begin your healing journey.

 

But now you might be wondering: “Who’s this lady and how did she get started doing all this in the first place?!”

 

I’m Honored to Share My Story with You

 

About Myself:

I have  specific memories of riding to and from elementary

school in my parents’ old station wagon.  The trip which

probably amounted to only a mile or two, was filled with

my constant chatter about the people I saw on the sidewalks

or in their cars.

 

I made up stories about these people as I knew each one

personally. I did not back down on my insistence that I

had great personal knowledge about each one. Looking

back, this would be the what I consider the beginning of  

engaging in my creative imaginative self.

 

It was probably a couple years later when having battled

with vision issues, I found myself having to repeat third grade, being sent to a school several miles further away because the school had “programs” for “kids with needs”(speech and reading to be specific).

 

This was my first real experience of not being listened to, after-all, I had told my parents as the smallest child in the classroom and being placed at the back of the room, that I could not see the board. The teacher dismissed me as a troubled child. The labeling would begin years of feeling embarrassed and ashamed, characteristics so often held by many clients.

 

In fifth grade, I found band which allowed me to express myself in my own unique way.  Somewhere in this journey, I began to keep a diary – I probably received it as a stocking stuffer one Christmas, complete with lock and key.

 

Little did I know then, that all these events were helping to shape the therapist I am today.  I was discovering different avenues of processing my feelings, healing hurts and wounds, and discovering self-care work as a means of becoming a better version of myself – and even since, I’ve constantly been looking for ways to grow and evolve.

 

Holding on to the embarrassment of having to repeat a grade,  I kept to myself, not making many friends. The writings in my journal eventually included poetry and short stories. By now, my imagination that got me in a lot of trouble had now become a safe place for me.  I was still too young to realize that the embarrassment that took up dwelling in my mind was a false negative belief.

 

By the time I entered junior high school, I had made a few friends, listened to them talk about things that were happening in their lives, and learned how to keep their confidences, I was non-judgmental, acknowledged their feelings and always had pieces of advice to share.

 

In high school, excelling in my psychology classes, the teacher allowed me to create the test. It was at this point that I  instinctively knew psychology was the field I was meant to pursue.

 

Fast forward a bit:

Prior to completing my college education, I married, gave birth, eventually dropped my course work, then ultimately divorced.

 

I found myself as an uneducated single mother of an adorable baby girl, back living under my parents’ roof, taking any job I could get, working two or three jobs at any time. I quickly discovered I was being talked down to and treated as unintelligent; this did not sit well with me. I was learning so much more about the real world, and frankly it saddened me to see people behave this way.

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I eventually moved from an apartment to a house, and when my daughter started kindergarten, I went back to school. I did double major undergraduate degree in less than 3 years. I then went on to complete advanced graduate degrees and licensures, graduating with honors each time.

 

I worked for over 30 years with different mental health agencies before starting my own private practice.

 

My experience includes serving as Clinical Team Leader in a free standing psychiatric emergency room, doing sessions for an inpatient psychiatric hospital as well as teaching different psychology and sociology classes as adjunct professor at a local community college.

 

Joining the Crisis Intervention Response Team (CIRT), I became a civilian partner with law enforcement.  I then started to see the degree to which people in the community were hurting, many seemed to be “frequent fliers” through the public mental health system, never really making process or achieving their full potential.

 

I knew I wanted to do more, which is when I found The Hypnotherapy Academy of America. I then embarked on a journey that has forever influenced the direction of my life.

 

After completing 10 weeks and over 500 hours of training and graduating as a  fellow from the academy, I returned home opening up my own private practice, Kelly-Johnston Counseling. pllc.

 

I have found that incorporating the modality of hypnotherapy into the counseling process helps clients heal faster.

 

In my practice, I support people as they improve their self-worth, help couples and families resolve conflicts and develop powerful communication skills and make life transitions, grief and loss, reducing anxieties and working through trauma.

 

But at the core of it all, I’m able to instill hope that people could create possibilities, and develop a deep sense of inner peace and purpose for their lives.

 

I consider what I do to be my calling and purpose in life.  It is an honor to be part of each client’s healing journey.

 

I’m here to welcome you into a judgement-free zone, and inspire you to get on the path of becoming more self-aware, taking ownership of your stuff, and acknowledging the person you most want to be—so you can become them.

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If you’re unhappy, anxious, or feeling like you’re

not enough, you don’t have to accept where you

are now as “forever”.

 

Instead, come with me, and let’s begin the gentle

journey of delayering your beliefs, and facing

the hard, so you can become who you are.

 

                      There is hope,

                              light,

                         and peace

                     waiting for you.