My San Francisco Dissertation Support Group has been meeting for a year and a half and members are making progress, sharing resources, and sometimes co-working together. We also have seen members successfully complete their dissertation and graduate!

There are openings for new members, ongoing, and if you or someone you know is interested, simply contact me for a screening.

Time: Wednesdays, 3:45pm – 4:45pm
Location: San Francisco (220 Montgomery Street, Suite 400)
Cost: $35 per session per person, commit to one month at a time
Contact: Please contact Dr. Keely Kolmes at 415-501-9098 or
drkkolmes at hushmail dot com if interested.

The dissertation process can be challenging. Students struggle with isolation, procrastination, time-management issues, feeling stuck, and moments of low self-esteem. Some lack adequate support from advisers, school, friends, or family.  I offer a weekly support group for graduate students who are in the dissertation phase of their academic career. Learn to structure your time while getting support from others.

This group utilizes co-working and an email list to help extend support beyond our weekly meetings. The group is open to graduate students of all sexes, genders, and sexual orientations and is open to up to 8 participants at a time.

All members have a free initial interview. Once accepted to the group, you will commit to one month of meetings and pay in advance for each month.

Let me know if you have any questions. Let us help you move through this process!

Our networking group for Bay Area Psychotherapists has a new mission statement:

We are a group of San Francisco Bay Area psychotherapists and psychotherapy students who affirm that sexual and gender diversity are natural expressions of the human experience.

We provide a safe haven for mental health clinicians to gather, network, support, and
consult.

Our psychotherapy practices welcome and serve:

● Clients who engage in consensual sexual behaviors, including but not limited to kink and polyamory.
● Clients who are gender variant.

Our group welcomes:

● Students seeking mentorship in working affirmatively and responsibly with said clients.
● Professionals seeking networking, support, and consultation in working affirmatively and responsibly with said clients.

We are committed to expanding affirmative psychological understandings of sexual and gender diversity, and to counteracting the historical and present day harm done by pathologizing diagnoses, stigma, and invisibility.

We are committed to identifying standards of affirmative and culturally competent care, and to sharing this information with each other and our colleagues so that we may better serve our clients and their communities.

We have all agreed to abide by the ethical guidelines of our respective disciplines.

If you are interested in joining our group, please email Keely Kolmes, Psy.D. PSY21284

In your email, please provide your name, license, practice and/or school information, and a brief bio about your interest in the group. This information will be shared only with other members of our group.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Are you a TADS?

Please join our group: Bay Area Therapists Affirming of Diversity in Sexuality

This is a free group for mental health professionals in the Bay Area of California. We offer support, networking, and consultation for Bay Area clinicians and mental health trainees who embrace the full range of sexual expression of consenting adults. Our respective practices explicitly welcome and serve clients who engage in alternative sexual behaviors and relationships, including kink and poly folks.

We offer an email list and meet every other month at a member’s office.

We are especially interested in reaching out to students who may not have mentors or support in their clinical programs around working with sexually diverse populations.  Most clinical programs encourage students to explore their cultural identities and offer student groups organized around ethnicity, religion, LGBT-identity, disability, or other cultural affiliations.

But students who are kink or poly-identified or who want to work with these populations may have a more difficult time identifying one another and forming such groups. Many schools still don’t recognize these alternative identities as deserving of non-biased care and respect. We are seeking to bridge this gap. We offer a safe space to connect with other mental health professionals who are affirming of the full range of diverse sexual expression.

Contact me at drkkolmes at hushmail dot com if you would like to get connected with us.

I am organizing a support/networking/consultation group for Bay Area clinicians that would allow students from various training programs to meet and network with one another and also allow them to connect with those of us who are already established as kink & poly aware professionals.

More about my motivation for this can be read below.

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on my experience as a graduate student doing research on kinky sex. Taking on therapist bias against BDSM as a dissertation topic was challenging. I frequently felt misunderstood or I worried that professors and other students might make assumptions about my sexual practices. When I wasn’t busy worrying about those things, I worried about the burden of responsibility that I suddenly felt to the BDSM community, by virtue of choosing this topic. I went back and forth several times and nearly changed my topic to something….less adventurous.

However, I’d had the experience in my early 20′s of discovering books and friends who taught me that BDSM wasn’t the terrible, dirty thing I had once assumed it was. I learned that it was actually something that could be about trust, love, safety, and consensuality.

I had my mind changed.

Thus, with the earnestness and conviction that can only come from having your own prejudices revealed to yourself, I took on the issue as a personal challenge to myself, and eventually completed my dissertation on BDSM. This also meant that I experienced anxiety and dread in anticipation of every class I took over the next five years, as it was standard protocol to introduce yourself and your dissertation topic on the first day of every first class each semester.

Of course I hoped that my doing research in this area might mean that it would help reduce bias for BDSM clients entering therapy one day. But I also dreamed that psychology graduate students who identified as kinky or poly might also feel safer as they navigated graduate school or at least feel that the profession had become more welcoming.

It’s now thirteen years since I started my graduate training, and I’ve recently heard from students in training programs who do not feel that their programs adequately provide support or mentoring for developing clinicians who identify as kinky and/or poly or who simply wish to work with those populations.

Most programs these days encourage students to explore their cultural identities and they have student organizations allowing students to connect around ethnicity, religion, LGBT-identity, disability, or other cultural affiliations. But students who are kink or poly-identified may have a more difficult time identifying one another and forming such groups. Students struggle with how–and whether–to come out in a professional capacity either as members of the kink or poly communities themselves or as simply having knowledge or interest in serving these populations. Many schools still don’t recognize these alternative identities as deserving of support or outreach.

My support/networking/consultation group for Bay Area kink/poly-aware clinicians would allow students from various training programs to meet and network with one another and also allow them to connect with those of us who are already established as kink & poly aware professionals.

My San Francisco Dissertation Support Group has been meeting for two months now and members are making progress, sharing resources, and sometimes co-working together. There are openings for new members in October, and if you or someone you know is interested, now is the time to contact me for a screening.

Time: Wednesdays, 4:00 – 5:30pm (October 7, 14, 21, & 28)
Location: San Francisco (2148 Market St. between Church & Sanchez)
Cost: $30 per session per person, $120 for month of October
Contact: Please contact Dr. Keely Kolmes at 415-501-9098 or
drkkolmes at gmail dot com if interested.

The dissertation process can be challenging. Students struggle with
isolation, procrastination, time-management issues, feeling stuck, and
moments of low self-esteem. Some lack adequate support from advisors,
school, friends, or family.  I offer a weekly support group for
graduate students who are in the dissertation phase of their academic
career. Learn to structure your time while getting support from
others.

This group utilizes co-working and an email list to help extend
support beyond our weekly meetings.  Group is open to graduate
students of all sexes, genders, and sexual orientations and is open to
up to 8 participants at a time.

All members have a free initial interview. I will also maintain a
waiting list in the event that the group is temporarily full.

My San Francisco based Dissertation Support Group had a successful August. The group is continuing and will be temporarily open to new members who want to begin in September. This is a low-fee way to get support and get unlocked from the procrastination cycle.

Days:

September 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30

Time:

Wednesdays, 4:00 – 5:30pm

Location:

San Francisco (2148 Market St. between Church and Sanchez)

Cost:

$30 per session per person, $150 for month of September

The dissertation process can be challenging. Students struggle with isolation, procrastination, time-management issues, feeling stuck, and moments of low self-esteem. Some lack adequate support from advisors, school, friends, or family.  I offer a weekly support group for graduate students who are in the dissertation phase of their academic career. Learn to structure your time while getting support from others.

This group utilizes co-working and an email list to help extend support beyond our weekly meetings.  Group is open to graduate students of all sexes, genders, and sexual orientations and is open to up to 8 participants at a time.

All members have a free initial interview. I will also maintain a waiting list in the event that the group is temporarily full.

Please call or email me for more information.

My ongoing weekly support group for graduate students in the dissertation phase of their academic careers will be meeting this August.

This is an ongoing group which you may sign up for on a monthly basis. The time of the group is Wednesdays, from 4:00pm – 5:30pm.

This group is recommended if you wish to learn how to structure your time while getting support from others who are moving through a similar process.

Students struggle with different aspects of the dissertation. You may experience isolation, procrastination, time-management issues, feeling stuck, or moments of low self-esteem. Some lack adequate support from advisors, school, friends, or family.

This group meets weekly to offer support and utilizes co-working and an email list to help members extend support beyond the weekly meetings.

This is an ongoing group open to graduate students of all sexes, genders, and sexual orientations. Members will be screened to assess goodness of fit.

Group is open to 6 – 8 participants at a time and is currently accepting new members.

All members will have a free initial interview. The group membership opens up periodically, every couple of months, so please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested.

You may also find my blog post on Taming Procrastination to be helpful.

I am offering an ongoing weekly support group for graduate students who are in the dissertation phase of their academic career. Learn how to structure your time while getting support from others who are moving through a similar process.

Many students struggle with different aspects of the dissertation. You may be experiencing isolation, procrastination, time-management issues, feeling stuck, or moments of low self-esteem. Some people lack adequate support from advisors, school, friends, or family. This group will meet weekly to offer support and will also utilize co-working and an email list to help members extend support beyond the weekly meetings.

This is an ongoing group open to graduate students of all sexes, genders, and sexual orientations. Members will be screened to assess goodness of fit.

Group is open to 6 – 8 participants at a time and is currently accepting new members.

All members will have a free initial interview. The group membership opens up periodically, every couple of months, so please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested.

You may also find my blog post on Taming Procrastination to be helpful.

This is an ongoing group open to graduate students of all sexes, genders, and sexual orientations. Members will be screened to assess goodness of fit.

All members will have a free initial interview. I will also maintain a waiting list in the event that the group is temporarily full.

You may also find my blog post on Taming Procrastination to be helpful.

I have pushed back the start date of my Breakup Support Group, and there are still a few openings left. Contact me directly via phone or email if you are interested in joining.

The end of a romantic relationship can be a difficult period in which many painful and unsettling feelings are stirred up. I am offering a weekly support group for women of all sexual orientations and gender identities who are experiencing the loss of a romantic relationship. Learn how to heal and learn from your experiences with others who are going through similar transitions. You will have a safe and supportive space to share your story and gain support from others.

The group will meet weekly and will offer both an opportunity for unstructured discussion, as well as the ability to focus on particular topics.

The group is limited to 8 women, and a commitment and pre-payment for the full 8 weeks is required.

Time:    Wednesdays, 6:00 – 7:30pm

Dates:  February 4, 11, 18, 25, March 4, 11, 25, and April 1 (Please note, no meeting on March 18)

Location:   San Francisco (2148 Market St. between Church & Sanchez)

Cost:     $40 per session per person, $320 for full 8 weeks