About Bridge

Hello! I'm glad you're here.

My name is Bridget Kiley (she/her). I commonly go by my nickname, Bridge.

I am a licensed mental health therapist, and my work centers around mental health therapy, body-centered healing, and writing.

Being human can be messy and hard! My work makes room for the full spectrum of human emotions and experiences and is informed by liberation and social justice-based, LGBTQ+ affirming, and Health at Every Size frameworks. 

My Why

I have found support through therapy, bodywork, and overall psychoeducational learning. This has happened through relationships, in my community, and with teachings found in books and practiced on the cushion. Community (compassionate, connective relationships), self-compassion (mindfulness + common humanity + self-kindness), and building skills (of all kinds + discovery through learning) are ingredients I've found in living a full, wholehearted life, so you will see this reflected in my work. 

 

Background on my approach

I believe everyone is an expert on their own experience. I hope to both offer connection and to share skills and tools I've learned along the way to help each person connect to their inner wisdom.

I work with those interested in deepening their connection to themselves and the world around them, this includes a focus on areas of grief and loss, anxiety, depression, trauma, and relationship challenges.

My approach to therapy is integrative and takes on different approaches depending on the needs of the person I am supporting. I have experience working with youth ages 5-18, emerging adults, and those well-established in their adult lives. 

I am licensed as a therapist in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut and am Certified in Internal Family Systems which is the primary modality I work with. Given that we all have a lineage and family of origin, as well as early life experiences and identities that inform our path, the Healing Our Core Issues model of developmental and relational trauma is a foundational part of my work. I am additionally trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) which is a targeted trauma treatment approach.

I am experienced in teaching, leading groups, and coordinating with multiple levels of providers (including parents, teachers, medical professionals, and outside agencies) to provide comprehensive care. I especially enjoy mindfulness and compassion-based practices and working with those who, like me, are in the LGBTQ+ community.

 

Professional Experiences

  • Fulbright Foundation Scholarship U.S. Award to Greece

  • Co-author published in the book Applied Mindfulness: Approaches in Mental Health for Children and Adolescents

  • Level I, II and Master Level Reiki training Trained through Patricia Venter at the Kurukulla Center

  • Mindfulness-Training in Primary Care 8-Week Group Leader; Trained through Cambridge Health Alliance, Center for Mindfulness and Compassion in mindfulness and self-compassion

  • Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist: Internal Family Systems Therapy Trained at Cambridge Health Alliance with Dick Schwartz, Martha Sweezy and Nancy Sowell; I am now an Assistant Trainer, training therapists in the Internal Family Systems model

  • Healing Our Core Issues training Trained by Jan Bergstrom and Rick Butts

  • Full Spectrum Doula Training, childbirth with Sabia Wade and DONA training

  • Graduate Thesis: Embodying Mindfulness: Exploring Implementation of Mindfulness-Based Interventions 

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More about Bridge

I believe that therapy is a genuine relationship between two real people.  Knowing your therapist shares some of the same values or can appreciate your life experiences can give you more confidence that you will be understood, and not judged. Given that, I am open about sharing some of my own experiences in a way that facilitates your own process, such as:

  • Social justice liberatory frameworks and an anti-oppression lens plays a significant role in how I relate to myself and the world around me. This means ongoing reflection on identity, conditioning, and how I show up in relationship to myself and others. I continually engage with the work of Resmaa Menakem, particularly somatic practices for addressing racialized trauma and cultivating somatic abolitionism

  • I am a white-bodied person of primarily Irish heritage, as well as French-Canadian. My ancestors immigrated in recent generations to what is now known as New England, from Ireland and Quebec/France. I value supporting clients as they explore their own cultural identities and the ways these experiences shape our inner and outer relational lives

  • My professional experience in therapeutic work includes Cambridge Health Alliance, a healthcare network serving Boston's metro-north communities in Massachusetts and Arlington Youth Counseling Center (AYCC), a licensed community-based mental health counseling center serving Arlington youth (ages 3-21) and their families

  • I grew up in the United States (New England) and am one of four siblings, along with having a sister who was stillborn, I now live with my family in the Greater Boston area

  • In my free time, you'll see me with animals and loved ones, going on walks (with my dog and family), experimenting with art, and finding water to swim in 

  • My grandparents inspired much of my career and healing journey as they worked as body-centered psychotherapists. They embodied for me a lot of what I've come to know and understand about the world of therapy and mindfulness (they were my introduction to practicing mindfulness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, Order of Interbeing)