Jennifer H. Kessler, Ph.D
Dr. Jennifer Kessler is a licensed psychologist who brings more than 20 years of experience to the practice. She has a strong foundation in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) dating back to her graduate training. Dr. Kessler’s first and primary focus was in working with children, adolescents, and their parents. She has extensive training and experience providing assessment and treatment (CBT) for a wide variety of emotional, behavioral, and developmental difficulties. While Dr. Kessler’s clinical work with young people has continued to be a strong focus, she also developed additional specialties in the treatment of OCD and BFRBs across all ages. Regardless of the focus, Dr. Kessler has consistently prioritized providing evidence-based treatment in a collaborative, compassionate way.
Throughout her training and early career, Dr. Kessler provided inpatient and outpatient therapy in hospital-based pediatric settings. She gained experience treating a wide variety of behavioral, anxiety-based, and adherence-based issues. Dr. Kessler later shifted her focus to private, outpatient settings, which provided her with opportunities to both enhance her skills and further specialize her interests.
As staff/senior staff at an OCD and related disorders specialty center for over 16 years, Dr. Kessler specialized in providing treatment for OCD and other anxiety disorders across the lifespan using ERP and other exposure-based treatments. This work often involved severe cases that required increased appointment frequency and/or working in teams to best serve the client’s needs. Dr. Kessler regularly participates in / presents at the annual national IOCDF conference.
Given Dr. Kessler’s early interest in treating body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), she sought additional specialized training in BFRBs through completion of the Trichotillomania Learning Center (TLC)’s Professional Training Institute in 2005. Providing evidence-based treatment for BFRBs across the lifespan has been a major focus of Dr. Kessler’s clinical interests in the last 16+ years. She is active in the BFRB community, having presented many times at retreats and conferences as well as providing occasional supervision to professionals learning to effectively treat BFRB’s.
Dr. Kessler completed her Ph.D. in Psychology at Louisiana State University in 1997 with a major focus in the Child Clinical track and a minor focus in School Psychology. Dr. Kessler completed her predoctoral internship at the University of Maryland’s Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental and Behavioral Psychology. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she was Chief Fellow.
Dr. Kessler is licensed in Maryland and Virginia, and she is PsyPact Authorized to provide telehealth therapy in all PsyPact participating states.
Professional Affiliations:
International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation (IOCDF)
The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (TLC)
Maryland Psychological Association (MPA)
“Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.”
– Albus Dumbledore
