About me
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This is the second private practice I've opened; the other was in Tacoma, WA. I am proud to say I have been a clinical social worker since 1993! Here is some more information about me, including my visit with Wild Mama's Tribe, available where ever you listen to your podcasts:
Attachment Theory with Dr. Kendra C. Roberson (June 8, 2022) |
Certifications/Trainings
EMDR Certified
EMDR Consultant in Training
Safe & Sound Protocol (SSP) Certified
Brainspotting - Trained
Internal Family Systems (IFS) - Level I Trained
My Education
Raised in Seattle, WA I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA in 1990. While in college, I studied abroad at Hebrew University of Jerusalem my junior year. I earned a Master of Social Work degree from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work in Chestnut Hill, MA in 1993. I also earned a Ph.D. in social work from University of Maryland, at Baltimore in 2003 and completed a two-year post doctoral research fellowship at University of Washington, Seattle at the Social Development Research Group in 2005.
EMDR Certified
EMDR Consultant in Training
Safe & Sound Protocol (SSP) Certified
Brainspotting - Trained
Internal Family Systems (IFS) - Level I Trained
My Education
Raised in Seattle, WA I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA in 1990. While in college, I studied abroad at Hebrew University of Jerusalem my junior year. I earned a Master of Social Work degree from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work in Chestnut Hill, MA in 1993. I also earned a Ph.D. in social work from University of Maryland, at Baltimore in 2003 and completed a two-year post doctoral research fellowship at University of Washington, Seattle at the Social Development Research Group in 2005.
Past Clinical Experiences
The majority of my early direct practice (clinical) experience was with children, adolescents, and their families. I worked with pregnant and post-partum teens, their partners and their babies in Syracuse, NY. I worked with adolescent psychiatric in-patients at a psychiatric hospital in Boston, MA and helped to place numerous children from various countries with US families while working for an international adoption agency in Columbia, MD. I also worked in a community mental health clinic in Cincinnati, OH and had a private practice in Tacoma, WA for almost 10 years where I worked both with adolescents and adults.
Trauma-Informed Practice
I became interested in trauma work when I opened my Tacoma, WA practice in 2007. I was finding that typical "talk therapy" and standard cognitively-focused interventions were falling flat with many of my clients who happened to have experienced significant trauma. We were developing strong relationships and discussing past trauma, but the trauma residue remained stuck in their bodies. I felt strongly that my training and practice in yoga could facilitate healing and was pleased to see there was robust research identifying mindfulness, yoga, breathing, meditation and prayer as critical to healing from trauma. I then became certified as a trauma-informed therapist and am now a certified EMDR clinical therapist, and have been integrating the components of movement (and stillness) implicated in people's recovery from traumatic experiences. This practice is centered on these ideas.
Attachment-Based Practice
My past research explored the parallel processes of attachment and caregiving in intercountry adoptees. My past work in international adoption and my intense immersion in the study of attachment theory sparked my interest in relationships; not just parent-child, but all relationships. There's compelling evidence that we are worse off as adults when we have insecure attachment AND have experienced trauma. The secure attachment provides us with a sense of grounding that assists us in trauma recovery. Also, when we experience trauma as children, our attachment relationships can be damaged. This psychotherapy practice utilizes a relational approach, the ideas of which derive from attachment theories. If one has experienced trauma and/or experiences attachment insecurity, we'll work together to heal in these critical areas.