Kessler Psychological, LLC
Kessler Psychological, LLC
Psychotherapy and Evaluation Services
Norfolk, VA
Dr. Lena S. Kessler is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist experienced in working with clients of all ages and with many different mental health struggles. She generally approaches psychotherapy by helping clients to identify and challenge distorted beliefs as well as understand their origins. She also aids in the recognition, acceptance, and improved management of emotions, and creatively crafts interventions to fit the needs of the client. Recently, she has added Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) into her list of therapies. She practices with compassion and highly professional boundaries.
Dr. Kessler has always wanted to help people and animals and has been particularly inspired to support the Hampton Roads communities as she believes they are experiencing community-level mental illness, wherein struggles pervade individuals, families, organizations, and numerous systems. She leads Kessler Psychological and her supervisees to maintain: the utmost respect for clientele, the highest of ethical standards, and the most professional and responsive mental health evaluation and treatment services.
About Dr. Kessler (and Parker)
Dr. Kessler was born and raised on Long Island in NY. She attended Oberlin College in Ohio to earn her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, and then moved back to NYC. She worked for several years in mental health research mostly regarding ADHD and trauma reactions, and then attended graduate school at St. John's University in Queens where she earned her Master's and Doctoral Degrees in Clinical Psychology.
She moved to Norfolk in 2009 to complete her internship at EVMS with rotations at Eastern State Hospital, the H/NN-CSB and CHKD. She has since worked at ESH as a forensic psychologist and also at some community agencies before deciding to open her own practice in April, 2014.
Dr. Kessler also performs competency and sanity evaluations for many courts in the Hampton Roads area and volunteers as a trapper, transporter, and foster for Feral Affairs Network.
Dr. Kessler rescued Parker in 2016 from Tampa, Fl. According to his DNA testing, he is a Bulldog mixed with Boxer, Akita, American Staffordshire Terrier, and Chow Chow (apparently also known as a "Heinz 57"). He participates in most therapy sessions and clients find him to be comforting and intuitive.