About Kelly
Kelly Wachter is a licensed marriage and family therapist practicing in California with 20 years of experience. She helps people who are struggling with stress, anxiety, relationship problems, trauma or abuse, grief and low self-esteem.
Background and approach
Kelly aims to make the first step feel less daunting by offering steady support and practical guidance. She creates a calm space where people can name hard feelings and talk through what’s happening.
Sessions focus on clear goals and small steps that can ease daily strain. She listens for the patterns that keep people stuck and helps them try different ways of coping.
Kelly also works on issues tied to body image, caregiver stress, workplace strain, and questions about life purpose. She helps people sort through family of origin concerns, communication problems, guilt, shame, and challenges that often arise in young adulthood.
When trauma or grief are present, she balances emotional processing with strategies to manage symptoms in day-to-day life. For pregnancy and childbirth related stress or concerns about narcissistic dynamics, she aims to help clients build safety and clearer boundaries.
Her approach is practical and collaborative. Clients leave sessions with simple tools to practice between meetings.
Kelly supports people through change at a steady, manageable pace.
How evidence-based techniques fit into online therapy
Two evidence-based approaches Kelly uses are practical emotion-focused work and skills-based coping strategies. Emotion-focused work helps people name and process strong feelings like grief, shame, or fear so those feelings feel less overwhelming. Skills-based coping strategies teach concrete tools for anxiety, stress, and workplace strain so people can try them between sessions.A collaborative process guides which approaches are used. Kelly will work with each client to identify goals, try methods, and adjust what isn’t helping. Clients and therapist decide together which techniques fit the person’s needs, pace, and preferences.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls let the therapist and client see each other and work through emotion-focused tasks. Phone sessions can fit into a short break and need less bandwidth. Live chat and text-based messaging allow quick check-ins, written reflection, and ongoing support between appointments. These options make it easier to keep consistent work on stress, relationships, grief, and self-esteem while fitting therapy into a busy life.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English