Meet Emma.

Emma Kiely is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Georgia and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in the state of Florida. Emma works predominantly with children, adolescents, and young adults, but loves connecting with different clients across the lifespan as well. She is formally trained in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold-standard, evidence-based treatment for OCD. Using ERP, Emma helps clients reduce intrusive thoughts, compulsions, and other anxiety-driven behaviors.

Emma takes a humanistic, holistic, and science-informed approach to therapy. She finds the brain fascinating and is especially passionate about providing education regarding the biological underpinnings of OCD and anxiety. Emma strongly believes that better understanding one’s body and mind is an essential tool in recovery from chronic anxiety. She feels that mental health is only one piece in the puzzle of overall wellness and is always curious to explore other aspects of a client’s physical health that may potentially be affecting their propensity for anxiety and other mood-related disorders.

Emma primarily integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), exposure-based treatment, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and body-based regulation strategies to support meaningful and sustainable anxiety recovery. Her training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) allows her to work effectively with individuals experiencing:

• Intrusive thoughts

• Compulsions

• Body-focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs)

• Avoidance behaviors

• Panic attacks

In her time as an OCD specialist, Emma has developed a special interest in providing support to families of children with PANS/PANDAS and other autoimmune disorders. Additionally, as a military spouse, Emma has experience supporting military children and families, walking with them through the unique emotional challenges related to frequent relocations, deployments, and family transitions. Emma strives to provide a safe place to land and for first-time therapy goers - there’s a first time for everyone, and she deeply values making your first experience a positive one!

A Florida transplant, Emma grew up in Westchester County, New York, and graduated summa cum laude with her B.A. in Psychology and minors in Neuroscience and Biology from Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Emma then attended Boston College (go Eagles!) in Chestnut Hill, MA, where she graduated summa cum laude with her M.A. in Mental Health Counseling. Emma has experience working in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings, including New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Unit in Westchester, NY and Boston Medical Center’s Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Boston, MA.

Outside of work, you will often find Emma enjoying time with her husband, Greg, and her two dogs, Tucker and Birdie, who serve as her ever-present office companions. When she is not in therapy sessions, Emma enjoys running, weightlifting, pilates, stand-up paddle boarding, yoga, and beach volleyball. Emma is an ocean junkie and serves as a volunteer at the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center. While Emma is a native New Yorker and claims it as her home, she has lived in all of the following states: NY, RI, MA, TN, GA, NC, and FL, due to both schooling commitments and military relocations. Through lived experience, Emma has developed a deep passion for helping individuals recover from chronic anxiety through a combination of evidenced-based therapy and daily wellness habits that she has found incredibly beneficial in her own life journey.

Education

Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, minors in neuroscience and biology

Salve Regina University, Newport, RI

Master of Arts, Mental Health Counseling

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA

Training

• Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Cognitive Behavior Institute

• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Medical University of South Carolina​

• Motivational Interviewing, Boston Medical Center

• Trauma Systems Therapy (TST), Boston Medical Center

  … additionally, a variety of continuing education trainings in the following topics:

• When the Body Becomes the Obsession: Understanding and Treating Body-Based Obsessions with Evidence-Based Interventions

• OCD in Focus: Diagnosis, Neuroscience, and Evidence-Based Treatment

• Managing Worry & Mental Compulsions: Treatment Strategies for Active Minds

• Clinical Strategies to Address Predictors of Attenuated Outcomes in Pediatric OCD Treatment

• Grand Rounds: Military Cultural Competence