Daily Inspiration: Meet Dr. Kellie N. Kirksey

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Kellie N. Kirksey.  

Hi Dr. Kirksey, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in inner-city Cleveland, Ohio. The daughter of a barber and a bar owner, two lines of work that get a regular cup full of the stories of others, both their challenges and triumphs on a regular basis. So, I became a Holistic psychotherapist with a passion for social justice and Wellness. My parents always modeled being involved in community through service and being proactive in initiating opportunities for creative entrepreneurship. Listening and non-judgment is what I noticed most about how my parents’ lived life. They also encouraged my siblings and I to innovate and dream with actions. I am a first-generation college student from my household. Navigating a system I was completely foreign to was a stressful endeavor. I went to a small liberal arts school in Columbus, Ohio, Soley, because they did not have classes on Friday! I liked to dance, so I thought being a dance therapist was a good choice. They did not have that major, so the next best thing was psychology. The great thing about Ohio Dominican College was the international population. My aunt Dot had always traveled the world and brought home really amazing stories. She ignited my desire to travel and learn about these distant lands. It was at ODC where I met friends from all over the world. This sparked my interest in cultural traditions and global healing practices. I had friends from all over the world, Juan Carlos and Petty from Venezuela, Heesham from Egypt, Usha from Malaysia, Helen from Puerto Rico, Javier from Costa Rica, and the list goes on. I have been to all of these places and more. Me a girl from inner city Cleveland who lived with no electricity or gas on so many occasions and feared for the constant break-ins at my home. Growing up was not an easy journey, yet I grew up to live my dreams of seeing the world. My community, particularly my best friend Jackie’s parents, encouraged me to go to college, and that changed my trajectory forever. The Martins reached out to assist me in nurturing the possibility of a positive future. I am forever grateful! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Poverty and lack of safety were challenges but not complete roadblocks because we were encouraged to dream, and there were people around me that supported me in gaining access to services and systems that were not always available otherwise. The home I grew up in was a place of vulnerability and varying degrees of fear. My mother was a victim of domestic violence, and we fled our home on many occasions. We also had frequent spankings with belts and branches from trees. It is hard to feel peaceful inside when there are threats inside the home and outside of the home. The neighborhood I grew up in was not the safest place to be, even though we had great neighbors. In 4th grade, I was dragged behind a house and assaulted on my way to school. I ran to school with a bloody face and ripped clothes and told the principle. I rode around the neighborhood in a police car with my mom looking for the man who attacked me. She showed me the gun in her purse, and I asked her to please not use it because I knew she would go to jail, and I needed her. I worked from the age of 14 to pay my tuition at a catholic all-girls school and to help pay the bills at home. I was not the typical teenager going to football games and dances. I was working at Mcdonald’s after school to help support myself and pay my way in the world. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I have used holistic practices for healing for over 33 years as a professional. After years as a tenured Professor at Malone University in Canton, Ohio, and then years at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine as a clinical hypnotherapist and Mind-Body specialist, I now work for myself at Creative Wellness Solutions as a Consultant/Facilitator of Wellness, Social Justice and Expressive Arts Programing of all forms. I can be found giving a keynote address on Cultural Humility or giving a training on drumming and dancing for health and wellness. I use expressive arts and mind-body skills for healing, community building, trauma symptomology reduction, self-care, and consciousness building. I believe in the power of group work. We heal in community, and creating healthy group is a large part of how I practice my work. We live in a society where so much of what we do is automated. I am a somatic facilitator in that I work to assist people in practicing present-moment awareness, reconnecting with their body, breath, and emotional landscape in a way that is safe enough for them. As much as I can, I weave in the importance of nature and spending time in nature for healing and reconnection to self. 

I also work in the area of healing racial trauma. As an African American holistic psychotherapist, I would be unethical if I ignored the impact of the vestiges of slavery on our society and how it impacts Black people in this society now. I create spaces where we can have these conversations and engage in community-building processes to support our healing. Epigenetics has proven what I have always known. Trauma is passed down in our very DNA, and our experiences dictate how those genetic codes are manifested in the body and mind. I use the breath, drums, movement, rattles, dance, silence, storytelling as healing modalities in this work; I believe in the importance of naming the source of the pain and letting it shift out of the physical body. Our Ancestors knew the importance of moving the body and breath for healing. Current researchers have not given credit to the indigenous people of the world who curated and created many of the healing modalities currently utilized in society. I embrace respectfully the global healing traditions of those that came before me, and I give credit and homage to the drummers and dancers and herbalist, and storytellers who paved the way for me to be the poet and facilitator of wellness and social justice that I am today. 

Writing poetry has been a healing pathway for me. My most current book is called Word Medicine. It is a book of affirmations and short poems to support and inspire our journey. As a journal writer for 50 years, I have a Word Medicine Journal with Affirmations as well. Contemplative practices have supported me in the most challenging times of my life. I live an existence of reflection, expressive arts, social justice, and self-examination. I encourage this inward journey as a healing practice for those I have the honor of working with. 

In 2021 I created a non-profit Organization called The Urban Labyrinth Project of which I am so proud of. Our goal is to bring the healing properties of the labyrinth into Urban areas in the form of permanent multipurpose artistic instillations where people can walk the path of the labyrinth which takes the individual on a sure path to the center and a spiraling back out again on the same path. It is basically a pilgrimage, a walking meditation or a rolling meditation if you happen to be in a wheelchair. I have trained as a certified labyrinth facilitator with the Director of Veriditas, Dr. Lauren Artress in California and have taken labyrinth-making classes with labyrinth designer Lars Howlett to prepare myself for bringing the labyrinth into inner cities in need of spaces to unwind and heal from the challenges of society. As a mind-body specialist trained at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Integrative Medicine by mentor and friend Dr. Tanya Edwards, MD, and certified through the Center for Mind Body Medicine under the model set forth by Dr. James Gordon, I am honored to share integrated mind-body medicine in the form of urban neighborhood labyrinths with communities across the nation. As I am fundraising for the $85,000 permanent labyrinth instillations, I am also using a 27×27 foot traveling canvas labyrinth to introduce this ancient healing technology to our neighborhood today. 

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
What people may not know about me is that I have walked on hot coals, meditated inside the great pyramids in Egypt, studied a year of my master’s degree in Caracas, Venezuela, and spent 4 nights and 5 days without food or water in a 4×8 foot space on a vision quest led by the Havasupi Tribe Medicine man Uqualla on native land in Cottonwood, Arizona. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.drkelliek.com
• Instagram: @drkelliek
• Facebook: Facebook.com/drkelliek
• Linkedin: Dr.Kellie Kirksey

Image Credits
Diane Zarlingo