Colleen Kelly

Colleen M. Kelly, PhD, MFT is a psychotherapist, international speaker, writer, and clinical outreach consultant based in Paris and New York City. With over 30 years in the field, she specializes in addiction treatment, family systems, and couples therapy. She is a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an APA Board Certified Professional Counselor.

Colleen holds a BFA from New York University, a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and a PhD in Philosophy from the American Institute of Holistic Theology. She has studied Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California, and is currently enrolled in the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Digital Transformation program.

She maintains a private practice while also serving as Director of International Marketing and Technology Development for StartAgain Associates. She is a co-founder of Haptech Holdings, a US company in residence at Dundalk Institute of Technology, developing groundbreaking mental health technologies. Haptech combines haptic feedback, wearable devices, EMDR methodology, and brain performance tools to create real-time interventions for trauma, addiction recovery, and emotional regulation in addition to live entertainment, theatre, and recreation. The company is positioning itself at the intersection of neuroscience, technology, and mental health care to change how people heal and enjoy life. 

Her clinical roots go back to working in Native American communities, both urban and reservation-based, where she designed culturally responsive therapeutic programs around alcohol use and domestic violence. She served as a court advocate for the Indian Child Welfare Act and has continued her advocacy for vulnerable populations ever since.
For over two decades, she has been on the clinical staff or consulting teams of many of the most recognized treatment centers in the U.S., including Promises Malibu (where she directed the Family Program), Cirque Lodge, Milestones Ranch, Bridges to Recovery, Harmony Place, Avalon Malibu, Pacific Quest, Transcend, and Newport Academy, among others.

She is a California Probation Certified Master Domestic Violence Group Facilitator, a former Board Certified Subject Matter Expert in Substance Abuse with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, and a licensed Continuing Education Provider. She was certified as an Aware Parenting Parent Educator by Dr. Aletha Solter in 2005. Her work extends into education and consulting: she has been adjunct faculty at Pepperdine University and Antioch University, published widely on addiction and family recovery, and taught continuing education courses to therapists for over two decades. She has also consulted with organizations on corporate leadership, team building, and crisis intervention. 

Colleen’s humanitarian and advocacy work includes being a Southern California Ambassador for UNRWA (the UN Relief Works Agency), a member of the Syrian Medical Association, and a therapist working with Palestinian, Syrian, and North African refugees. She has provided therapy in refugee camps, debriefed relief workers, and coordinated medical aid shipments into Syria.

In Europe, she has supervised clinicians at Connections in Recovery and run aftercare groups for CATCH Recovery in London and Castle Craig Hospital in Scotland. She has keynoted at iCAAD conferences across Europe and the Middle East, lecturing on transgenerational grief and family therapy in multicultural contexts.

Today, Colleen divides her time between her practices in Paris, London, Ireland, and NYC, blending clinical work, tech innovation, and international advocacy. Her career sits at the crossroads of psychotherapy, cutting-edge neuroscience, and global human rights.