Kelley Machado

Kelley Machado is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with two decades of clinical experience who practices in Connecticut. She holds clinical social work licenses in both Maine and Connecticut, which reflect her training and qualification to provide professional therapeutic services.

Over the course of her career she has worked with people from a wide range of socioeconomic, cultural, and racial backgrounds and has supported clients facing many different presenting concerns. Her early work began in the mental health system, then expanded into the criminal justice arena, and later included medical social work where she addressed medical issues as well as aging and end-of-life concerns.

Kelley views many forms of distress as understandable reactions to life transitions - whether those transitions are positive or painful, such as a new job, new family members, loss, separation, disappointment, or traumatic events. She collaborates with children, adults, couples, and families to develop healthier coping strategies and to help clients build a more balanced, secure sense of self that can strengthen relationships with others.

She takes time to learn about each client as an individual so that treatment can be tailored rather than one-size-fits-all. Her clinical approach draws on several evidence-based frameworks, including cognitive behavioral ideas, attachment and developmental perspectives, trauma-informed concepts, and dialectical behavioral techniques.

Kelley acknowledges that change requires courage and effort, and she recognizes the importance of the first step toward seeking help. She offers support and guidance to empower clients as they move from intention to action and toward the goals they set for their lives.