Kelly Birmingham-Watts, Psy.D.

After many years in business, Kelly sought a more rewarding professional direction and went back to graduate school in psychology. It was important to her to address the fear and hurt she heard, saw, and experienced in others. And so she pursued training in multiple treatment settings, including residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and outpatient levels of care addressing anxiety and trauma-related disorders in all of their forms.

She also completed a two-year postdoctoral internship and residency at the Center for OCD and Anxiety-Related Disorders at the St. Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute.

You can expect an integrated, holistic, strengths-based approach if you work with Kelly, with techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Interpersonal Neurobiology Therapy (IPNB), and even the eight limbs of yoga for those who are interested. She knows therapy has to work on many levels, starting with emotions that are too raw to process. Kelly’s approach involves genuine kindness, warmth, and grounding to establish safety while working towards psychological flexibility and well-being. She believes in the power of the human spirit and sees herself as a guide in help others tap into the natural healing potential inherent in each of us.

Kelly has spent most of her life in Chicago, where she worked in business and raised her five children before shifting to psychology. An accomplished equestrian and avid outdoors person, Kelly also enjoys trying new recipes and curling up by a fire with a good book and snuggled up with one of her cats.

“…we have the power to look deeply at our fears, and then fear cannot control us.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh

Kelly enjoys working with individuals from diverse backgrounds and identities, including differences in ethnicity, socioeconomic status, nationality, immigration status, religion, gender identity, sexuality, neurodivergence, and disability. She strives to understand how each person’s unique experiences shape their mental health, and she works collaboratively to tailor treatment with respect, curiosity, and care.