Stella Kerl-McClain

About Stella

Stella Kerl-McClain, Ph.D is a Psychologist who graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 1995. As a seasoned clinician, Stella has 29 years of experience in the field and is licensed in Oregon. What makes you enjoy working with seniors?

As a psychologist, I feel honored to connect with all of my clients by exploring what makes them who they are: the relationships, the stories, the people, the challenges and successes. Together we can visit the areas that are painful or challenging as well as the places of love, joy and success. I work collaboratively and transparently with clients to help them journey towards healing and hope, towards a more whole, authentic and empowered sense of self.

Why do you think online therapy is effective for seniors? Online therapy allows connection and access that might not otherwise be available to clients. Research has shown that people benefit from online approaches at similar rates as in-person therapy.

Can you share some details about your experience? Although I have been working as a university faculty nearly 30 years, I have always identified primarily as clinician/psychotherapist. Prior to and concurrent with my academic appointments, I have worked in many different settings doing family, couples, and individual therapy.

I am bilingual (English and Spanish) and have experience working with a broad range of clients: college students, children, adolescents, community women, couples/families, older adults and people with chronic mental illness. I also have experience in time-limited individual and group therapies, with forensic issues and with a wide range of presenting problems. I am a founding board member and a past President of the Association for Creativity in Counseling, a division of the American Counseling Association, and am an strong advocate of using creative approaches to working with clients in therapy.

My publications in academic journals and presentations at conferences cover a broad range of topics, from critical theory, fat/body liberation, sexuality, creativity, neurodiversity, mental health diagnoses, and more. Can you provide details on your approach to therapy? I am highly relational and believe first in connecting with clients, helping them to feel safe and understood.

I take a very transparent approach to therapy, working together with clients on assessment and diagnosis, including using collaborative documentation–where goals and interventions are completed together with clients so that they have a voice in the work that we are doing together. I see therapy as an exploration of all the aspects in the clients present and past worlds, identifying the impact that events and people have had, and moving towards hope and wholeness.