Kelsey Harper, Psy.D.

Hi!!! I’m Kelsey (she/her), I’m a survivor and I believe survivors are true badasses.

We carry fierce power forged through recovering and reclaiming ourselves. I directly experienced the winding nature of the recovery journey. I tried so many things to help myself recover and regain myself, and through this truly felt how isolated survivors are from each other.

Despite knowing that there are so many of us in the world, I couldn’t find anyone to connect with. Our dominant culture silences survivors and pushes us to the margins so we get lost in isolation. It was through connecting with other survivors, healing communities, and allies that truly revved up my recovery.

I witnessed how dominant culture strengthens and uses violence to traumatize and ultimately overpower true change makers. They do this through minimizing our trauma, defending perpetrators, and reinforcing laws that limit our rights. I could not stand by and watch the world turn away from us.

After I healed my trauma and felt my real self return, I could not extinguish this fire burning within me. Just like fire, recovery transmuted my pain into movement. I started a podcast to practice telling my story and getting my voice out there. On Initiated Survivor, I share my recovery story, and many survivor stories and show the true power of our community. I discuss topics around recovery and mental health, social justice, and steps we can take to heal and change our world. Connecting survivors makes us an undeniable force to truly dismantle violence and create a world of community healing.

My own recovery galvanized me to change our world, and I built my practice to center the unique needs of survivors. My work is fueled by that ever present fire, and my deep conviction that with each survivor’s recovery we are all more liberated.

This is not an easy journey, and for many of us the hardest one we’ll ever trek. We never asked to take this path, but here we are.  

Ours is a warrior’s journey.