Kristen Kelly, PhD, is the chief operating officer of Communicare Michigan LLC, a rehabilitation program that treats patients with traumatic brain injuries. Dr. Kelly has worked with Communicare for 14 years and was offered an ownership stake in 2018, leading to her promotion to chief operating officer and vice president. She has dedicated her life and career to helping others overcome addiction and trauma.
Ignoring the Naysayers
Dr. Kelly came from humble beginnings. She was raised on Drummond Island, Michigan, which has a population of only 1,000 residents. When she was a young woman, her school counselor told her she was not college-bound and encouraged her to find a husband instead of pursuing higher education. Dr. Kelly says this fueled her desire to break free from societal limitations and pursue a career where she could help others.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in 1995, Dr. Kelly worked as a therapist, dedicating herself to treating teenagers with substance abuse disorders, many of whom lived on Indian reservations. At the same time, she was pursuing a master’s degree in social work.
Once Dr. Kelly earned that degree, she visited her former school counselor’s office.
“I just slid my degree across the table. I said, ‘Remember how you told me that I wasn’t college-bound material?’ He chuckled and said, ‘Well, Kelly. That was just to keep you motivated.’ It did inspire me to prove him wrong. If people told me I couldn’t do it, I went, ‘Oh, watch me.’ If there’s something general the public should know about me, it’s that I’m from very humble beginnings. If I could do it, anybody can,” Dr. Kelly says.
A Personal Connection to Her Work
Dr. Kelly’s early professional experiences deepened her understanding of the links between trauma and addiction. She decided to further her education, obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy in family counseling so she could help prevent addiction in those suffering from trauma, since they are particularly susceptible to substance abuse disorders.
As part of her dissertation, Dr. Kelly focused on combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who lived in rural areas without many mental health services. Many of them struggled with addiction issues.
“We’re learning a lot about eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) in terms of trauma and rehab and its benefits. We’re also learning about what we used to call in the 1990s holistic practices. We’re learning that there might be more at the forefront in rehab in terms of meditation, acupuncture, yoga, etc. We’re opening our eyes. I say to my clinicians, ‘We’re not here to do talk therapy.’ Talk therapy doesn’t work for trauma. No one wants to sit and talk and talk about what happened. In the world of PTSD, we’ve moved much more over to a cognitive behavioral approach,” Dr. Kelly says.
Expanding to Help More People
Communicare has some big projects in the pipeline that Dr. Kelly is excited about. Her team has conducted research and analysis, learning the needs of those communities that Communicare has targeted for expansion. The team is also researching placing outpost programs in rural and underserved areas.
Dr. Kelly’s successful career is an inspiring example to other women pursuing higher education and leadership roles. “I want women not to quit or fold,” she says, as she firmly believes that a person’s background does not define their potential.
For Dr. Kelly’s steadfast commitment to enhancing health care services, she was recognized by Marquis Who’s Who in 2024.
