Lisa Kelly

Lisa Kelly, Ph.D., BCC, is a psychologist, educator, researcher, and Board Certified Coach with a longstanding connection to Saybrook University. A Saybrook graduate herself, she later returned as a core faculty member, teaching graduate courses in psychology, mind-body medicine, spirituality, coaching, research, imagery and healing. She is delighted to return to Saybrook and to once again be part of a learning community that values both academic rigor and personal transformation.

Dr. Kelly especially loves teaching courses that have the potential to be both personally and professionally transformative. Her interests include guided imagery, mind-body approaches to stress reduction, consciousness and spirituality, and the ways these practices can support emotional and physical healing. She is drawn to experiential learning that helps students not only understand ideas intellectually, but also explore how they can apply them in their own lives and in their work with others. Her teaching reflects a deep interest in human growth, resilience, wellbeing, and the relationship between mind, body, meaning, and healing.

Alongside her teaching, Dr. Kelly has extensive experience mentoring graduate students and supporting doctoral research as a dissertation chair, committee reader, research mentor, and methodology coach. Her methodological interests include phenomenology, interpretative phenomenological analysis, qualitative case study, thematic analysis, and mixed methods. Her research and publications have explored altruism, meditation, spirituality, psychological courage, self-determination, health, and healing.