Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Keely Petty, CPsy.D.
Hi Dr. Keely, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My story began as a young girl listening to stories from my mother who had been abandoned by her mother who did not want to be married to a “Pastor.” This resulted in my mother and her sibling experiencing “toxic trauma” from a barren stepmother that led to years of emotional turmoil, that also affected me and my siblings as well. After attending a mental health training and becoming a certified Mental Health Coach through National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Bridges to Care program. After the training I knew I was on life long service trajectory to change the way mental illness is viewed by faith leaders, and congregants.
As a local Pastor I knew I could be a “shift shaper” for faith leaders by encouraging them embrace the life altering power of understanding mental health training, and provide resources, and access to treatment. I’m on a mission to dismantle the mantra “that what goes on in the house stays in the house.” To date Dr. Keely has trained over 38 local Churches and Ministries to understand mental illness, health, and wellness. This resulting in the establishment of “The BIPOC Faith Wellness Collective.” A group of 7 local Churches across San Antonio, who have joyfully joined together to provide continual mental health training, support, and resources while providing a trusted space to facilitate hope and healing. The mantara of the BIPOC Faith Wellness Collective is “To help people hold on to hope until healing happens.”
Dr. Keely is the founder and CEO of “Kick Start Your Life™ with Dr. Keely! a global wellness coaching, counseling, consulting mission service. She is the host of Matters of the Mind a bimonthly virtual community conversation that has reached over 50,000 individuals since its inception that began in 2020. She can be found faithfully speaking to audiences all over San Antonio and beyond about faith and mental health at the annual Pathways to Hope Mental Health conference, Center for Health Care Services Behavioral Health Conference, San Antonio City Council Meetings, The National Council on Mental Wellbeing, Texas Diversity Council, DreamWeek, as well as local and national TV and Radio appearances.
She has won several awards, accolades, and inductions from the San Antonio Business Journal, San Antonio Women’s Chamber of Commerce, Top Ladies of Distinction, and honors from Governor Greg Abbott for her impact in faith and mental health. Dr. Keely is fearlessly letting her light shine so that when people see her service to humanity they will give God the glory!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh my it has not been a “smooth road at all, I reminded of a scripture from Exodus 1:12 that says: “The more they are afflicted, the more they multiplied.” My struggles home of my struggles along the way have included a life long issues with personal and professional jealousy from family, and friends, particularly women.
This took me down a negative polarity early in life manifesting in low self esteem, rejection, insecurities, and other dangerous vices as a resulting from deliberate character assassination from women especially who attempt to destroy my credibility, reputation, integrity and moral character.
Being the target of this has caused me significant emotional pain and suffering, and I have spent a lifetime in investigating my role in this affliction through Jesus Christ and Therapy. My greatest gift to myself has been to utilize self care techniques in an effort to recover from the psychological warfare of this struggle while assisting others who share this struggle.
This is the stuff that opens the door to mental illness, and I believe that’s why my “Now Calling” is to utilized mental health awareness and faith strategies to promote the transformative healing that is available to us all. I have taken the pain of this struggle and turned it into purpose by relying on Romans 5:3 that says: “We can rejoice too when we run into struggles, problems, and trials, for we know they help develop endurance.”
As you know, we’re big fans of Kick Start Your Life™ with Dr. Keely!. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Kick Start Your Life™with Dr. Keely is a comprehensive scientific and evidenced based biblical blueprint designed to help you take control of your trauma and mental wellbeing. Guided by Dr. Keely and other subject matter experts, our program provides the tools and techniques needed to navigate life’s challenges and foster healing. Our mission is to support BIPOC faith leaders, and congregants by offering trustworthy training and resources to silence the stigma and shame associated with mental illness.
What Should We Know: Research has shown that individuals who engage in religious or spiritual practices often exhibit lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. And in 2016, the World Psychiatry Association published a position statement on spirituality and religion in psychiatry urging the inclusion of S/R on clinical encounters and training with the goal of providing a more holistic and comprehensive form of mental health care. Lifeway research tell us that 26% of U.S. Protestant Pastors say they have personally struggled with some type of mental illness, and 71% of Pastors feel inadequately trained to recognize symptoms of mental health disorders.
What do I specialize: I provide no cost facilitation for in Spiritual First AID, Sanctuary Mental Health, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Cognitive and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Companionship Modeling, ASIST and safeTALK, CALM Suicide Prevention, Board Certified Mental Health, Mental Health First AID, Crisis Prevention Intervention Verbal Intervention, Positive Intelligence Training, Epigenetics Coaching, and so much more!
We are known for: Pathbreaking Trailblazing Mental Health prevention and awareness training and programing in the BIPOC Church community.
What sets you apart from others: We assist BIPOC Churches in the establishment of up Mental Health Ministries with the four walls of the Church where we provide resources and on-going mental health training, outreach efforts, and referral to treatment.
What are you most proud brand wise: We are the first and only one in the nation to own the brand name Kick Start Your Life™
What do you want our readers to know about your offerings, services: We provide free certified trainings, access to care, and a virtual bi monthly community conversation Matters of the Mind Master Quarterly Class on Facebook and ZOOM platforms, where we focus on all things trauma and mental health related.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory revolve around simple pleasures, playing outdoors, exploring nature as I loved the stars, lightening bugs, and family vacations to the beach and the Texas Hill country as my dad loved to hunt. Christmas Eve and the scent and sounds of moms cooking.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://keelypetty.com
- Instagram: drkeelypetty
- Facebook: Keely Holland Petty
- LinkedIn: KeelyPetty, CPsy.D.
- Twitter: @YafahPetty
- Youtube: @dr.keelypetty1755
