Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Thayer.
Hi Kayla , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always been a curious person who loves to learn, especially about psychology. As an undergraduate at the University of Florida (Go Gators!), I had the opportunity to explore many different facets of psychology and research. At UF, I truly developed a love for clinical psychology which led me to pursue my doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Miami. At UM, I was able to gain additional experience working in several different clinical settings with a wide variety of clients. Over the years, working with such a wide variety of mental health conditions and often co-occurring medical conditions, has led to my area of expertise of “complicated clinical presentations” which often include multiple psychological issues, medical conditions, personality pathology, and/or lasting effects of trauma. I continue to treat clients with these issues through my private practice. I am also a full-time faculty member where I proudly dedicate the majority of my time to training budding clinicians in the NSU Clinical Psychology doctorate programs. I also serve as Director of the NSU Anxiety Treatment Center. Finally, I also dedicate a portion of my time to research.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Certainly not a smooth road and definitely a long one! Perseverance is one of the qualities I admire most in people and I think often these are the stories that are most inspiring to us. Personally, as the first person to go to college (never mind graduate school) in my family, I had to figure out a lot of things on my own. However, I was also very fortunate to have fantastic teachers and mentors throughout my academic journey. But I still made many mistakes along the way and learned a lot through trial and error. For example, the first time I applied to Ph.D. programs, I really had no idea what should be included in my application or the experiences that would make me a competitive applicant. Although I did get invited to a couple of interviews, unsurprisingly, I was not accepted into any programs that first time around. I did not give up- I spent the next two years identifying the weaknesses in my application and working to strengthen them. For the first year, I was working a full-time job and every night I studied for hours to improve my standardized testing scores. After earning a competitive score on the GRE, I decided to leave my job for an invaluable yet unpaid research assistant position. This position ultimately led me to securing a spot in UM’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program the following year. Even though my graduate school days are in the past, new challenges arise all the time in this field but that’s what makes it exciting. Now in the position to guide my own students, teaching and mentorship have always been important to me and serve as a way to pay homage to the mentors who helped me along the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am a board certified licensed clinical psychologist who provides therapy to individual clients. I am licensed to practice in the state of Florida and am also authorized to provide telehealth services in all participating PSYPACT states (https://psypact.gov/page/psypactmap). While my clients tend to present with complicated issues (e.g., anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship problems, medical issues), most of my clients are simply seeking help with feeling overwhelmed and unhappy. I take a client-centered approach and focus treatment on life satisfaction, quality of life, and what my clients want their lives to look like. I am most proud of my approach to care which integrates all of my clinical experiences while continuing to stay true to evidence-based treatments (treatments supported by research) delivered in a flexible/individualized manner. I think my approach is unique in that I allow space for discussion of suffering while also identifying self-empowering ways clients can get unstuck. I would encourage readers to simply reach out- if you are feeling stuck and unhappy with your life, therapy can be a powerful tool.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.drkaylathayer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drthayersays/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drkaylathayer/
