Lisa Kelly

Adjunct Faculty (SAY)

Department: Mind-Body Medicine
Institution: Saybrook University

Office Phone: 952-474-5149
Email

Biography

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.

Education History

Degree	Institution	Year
Ph.D. Psychology	Saybrook University, Oakland, CA	2007
M.A. Human Develoopment	St. Mary's University, Minneapolis, MN	1999
B.S. Quantitative Methods	St. Cloud University, St. Cloud, MN	1983

Community Involvement

Role	Organization
New Member Trainer	Community Friends of Santa Barbara
Volunteer and Founder	FundaMaya Guatemala Lighting Project
Board Member	American Association of University Women
Alumni Council Member	Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center
Executive Director	Dominican Outreach

Curriculum Vitae

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Publications

Journal
Agarwal, K., Kelly, L., Heintzman, J., & Fortune, L. (2022). Lived spiritual experiences of cancer survivors with long-term meditation practices: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Pastoral Psychology, 71 (36),
Agarwal, K., Fortune, L., Heintzman, J., & Kelly, L. (2020). Spiritual experiences of long-term meditation practitioners diagnosed with breast cancer: An interpretative phenomenological analysis pilot study. Journal of Religion and Health, , 1-17.
Shaner, L., Kelly, L., Rockwell, D., & Curtis, D. (2015). Calm abiding: The lived experience of the practice of long-term meditation. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, , 1-10.
Curtis, D., & Kelly, L. (2012). Effect of a quality-of-life coaching intervention on psychological courage and self-determination. International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, 11 (1), 20-38.
Mastain, L. (Kelly) (2007). A phenomenological investigation of altruism as experienced by moral exemplars. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 38 (1), 62-100.
Mastain, L. (Kelly) (2007). The lived experience of spontaneous altruism: A phenomenological study. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 37 (1), 25-52.