About Me
Below is a list of extremely impressive credentials. Of course a key element of my teaching is that the impressive stuff doesn't matter very much in the long run. I didn't need a doctorate degree to get where I am; it sure looks good on the wall though....
The wisdom that matters to me now I probably knew by Junior High, yet what my heart knew inately conflicted with the avalanche of religious dogma and the American trivia machine that drowns out simple truth. I pursued God with all my heart, yet things did not go as I expected. It seems I took the long way home and hurt myself and others along the way. By the time I emerged into some modicum of wisdom it had cost me everything I owned, the identity thrust upon me by society and many people I love. I mourn those losses, while knowing wisdom gained without cost is rarely appreciated. I'm blessed to have finally made it back to where I started.
In my first six years of meandering towards a bachelor's degree I studied sociology, psychology, philosophy, religion, literature, and art. I then spent three and half years plowing through law school. I was awarded a doctorate in law in 1993.
I worked in the restaurant business for a decade early on, and frankly that experience was invaluable. If you can explain to a customer how a tampon got into their baked potato, you can survive anything. I worked in the legal field for twenty years taking care of more than a thousand families in crisis. I've been three times ordained as a minister, helped pastor a church, and done many very cool things hoping to be a blessing to others, like working with a team to build an orphanage in Juarez.
Several years ago I began the process of extricating myself from a faith path that helped shape me, yet which had run its course and was starting to strangle me. Leaving evangelicalism unfortunately cost me most of my social safety net. Frankly I still suffer many wounds from that seperation.
I've always had a powerful gift of connecting with God, of a supernatural knowing of things, and of healing. Since leaving "the church" (though I am still a follower of God in the way of Jesus), I've spent more time than I would have guessed necessary to clear away bad theology and healing from spiritual wounds. I've developed a whole new group of friends and mentors---people to whom I am accountable and who have the wisdom to help me more to my next level. The hardest part is the deprogramming---knowing what is good and true and to be kept and nurtured, and what held me from my highest potential.
I have integrated this meandering journey, ten years of higher education, and lessons learned from twenty years of being a counselor and advocate for hundreds of families, along with a lifetime in quest of spiritual truth, and have melded together some key insights which I am honored to share. Shoot me an email---let's talk...
Seminars, workshops and individual spiritual healing therapy is available upon inquiry.
Kelly Vickers, JD
kelvick (at) gmail (dot) com