About

Elizabeth Kelen Portrait

My Background

Prior to entering nonprofit and private practice, I worked as an inpatient psychiatric social worker in my home city of Baltimore, USA at Sheppard Pratt and Johns Hopkins Hospital, providing psychosocial interventions for patients with severe mental illness and high-acuity eating disorders. I also attended a competitive, experimental programming school in Paris, France and worked in the software industry for six years.

Both were periods of intense personal and intellectual growth that gave me certainty that we easily underestimate our capacity to learn and grow, and that it is never too late to change course.

Based on my clinical and personal experiences, I am well placed to help neurodivergent or introvert-leaning people working in STEM and those who are coping with major transitions or decisions, whether by choice or by necessity. See more about how I work with individuals and my approach.

I am a lifelong student of psychotherapy and mental health, and I am committed to pursuing education, training, and supervision provided by leaders in the field.

Qualifications

MSW – University of Maryland Baltimore – 2013 (Clinical Social Work, Mental Health Concentration)

BA – Johns Hopkins University – 2011 (Writing Seminars)

I am a member in good standing of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers and the Ontario Association of Social Workers.

Postgraduate Training

2025: Intensive Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program (Online IPPP) (anticipated) — William Alanson White Institute

2014-2015: Introduction to Psychodynamic Theory and Practice — Consortium of Baltimore Washington Center for Psychotherapy And Psychoanalysis*, Contemporary Freudian Society, and Washington Center for Psychoanalysis

* Now merged into Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis

Selected Continuing Education

2025

EFT for Couples Advanced Core Skills (anticipated) - Kathryn de Bruin LMFT

2024

EFT for Couples Externship - Irish Centre for Emotionally Focused Therapy - James Parrin MIAHIP

EFIT (Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy) Level 1, Level 2 – International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy – Sue Johnson EdD and Leanne Campbell PhD

2023

CBT-E (CBT for Eating Disorders) – University of Oxford – Christopher Fairburn OBE, DM

ACT for Anxiety and Depression – Russ Harris MD

Good Psychiatric Management – Maclean Borderline Personality Disorder Training Institute – Lois Choi-Kain MD

2022

CBT-I (CBT for Insomnia) – Colleen E. Carney PhD

Trauma-Focused ACT – Russ Harris MD

Essentials of CBT – Beck Institute – Judith Beck PhD

2013

Trauma-Focused CBT – Medical University of South Carolina — Daniel Smith PhD