Kelsey Schaefer is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT #102609) practicing in Los Angeles, California. She specializes in providing therapy services to pregnant and postpartum women, adolescents, parents, and families. Kelsey conducts her services both virtually using a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform and in-person at her offices in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and West Los Angeles.

Kelsey grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. She received both her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Human Sexuality, and Master’s degree in Counseling with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from California State University, Northridge.

Kelsey has over a decade of experience working in mental health and behavioral healthcare. She began her career working predominantly with adults, both in residential and inpatient hospital settings. For seven years, Kelsey’s focus was in adolescent residential treatment where she provided crisis intervention, stabilization, and support to high-risk teenagers and their parents and families. Kelsey has extensive knowledge of and is highly skilled in the assessment and treatment of suicide risk, self-harm, substance abuse, and other severe, life-threatening behaviors.

Over the past four years, and especially after Kelsey’s own journey into matrescence and motherhood, she has begun supporting and educating both pregnant and postpartum women. Kelsey has a deep-rooted passion for pregnancy, birth work, and becoming a new parent. Fun fact: she almost pursued becoming an OB/GYN! Her combined skillset of psychotherapy and pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn education are what set her apart from other clinicians practicing in this space.

Kelsey largely utilizes evidence-based treatment modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in her practice. She has received formal training in DBT from Dr. Marsha Linehan’s training institute, Behavioral Tech. Kelsey has also received formal training in maternal mental health from Postpartum Support International (PSI) and is actively pursuing her Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C). Additionally, Kelsey is working toward certification to become a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE) through Lamaze International.

Kelsey’s primary goal is to build a supportive and empathetic connection with her clients. She builds upon her relationships with her clients to form a collaborative approach that will best target the individual’s problem areas. Kelsey firmly believes that all clients are vastly different and benefit most from an individualized treatment plan and journey in therapy. In addition to highly tailored treatment, she believes that a structured and solution-focused approach is the most effective way to problem-solve and find peace and balance.

Kelsey lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two children, and Australian Shepherd pup, Leo. When she isn’t working, she enjoys practicing yoga, cooking, traveling, interior design, and spending time with family and friends.