Meet Kel, Clinical Psychologist
Hi. My name is Kelly Brooks, but most people just call me Kel. I know looking for a psychologist and trying to decide on one can be hard, and that it can take a few goes before you find somebody that you feel like you click with. So, I’m going to try to introduce myself to let you see if you think we could be a good fit working together.
As a person I am genuine, supportive, practical, and encouraging, and I like to bring these same qualities into my work as a Clinical Psychologist. I take a person-centred approach to sessions where I get to know you and try to understand what is happening, how this has impacted you, what you’ve been through in the past, then explore what your thoughts and feelings are about this so we can determine what is most important to you to work on right now. I like to emphasise this collaborative approach, where we work together to see how we can best approach your goals.
I have worked in private practice, inpatient and outpatient psychiatric hospital programs facilitating individual and group therapy, university clinics, and young adult student counselling settings. I also provide guest lectures to university students as a Sessional Academic. I am fully registered with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority (AHPRA) as a Psychologist and with an endorsement in Clinical Psychology.
My Qualifications
I completed my Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) at the University of Queensland (UQ) in St Lucia, Brisbane. During my honours year, my research thesis focused on seeking to better understand the Motivational Consequences of Overestimating Your Future Emotions. For this work I was awarded the McBride Psychology Prize 2017 - Best Thesis Ethology & Social Psychology. During my undergraduate degree, I also completed a short-term intensive global exchange program with Université Catholique de Lille to learn about international teamwork, communication, and culture.
Next, I completed my Master of Clinical Psychology at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. My research thesis focused on validating a popular clinical measure which is used for screening and assessing reported post-concussive symptoms following traumatic brain injury. This research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, The Clinical Neuropsychologist and Brain Injury, and is freely available.
After university, I focused on developing my skills and experience completing a registrar program for endorsement in Clinical Psychology. This included facilitating group therapy at a private psychiatric hospital, while also expanding my proficiency with various therapeutic modalities in private practice.
My Research
Brooks, K. J. L., & Sullivan, K. A. (2021). Validating the modified Rivermead Post-concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (mRPQ). The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 37(1), 207–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2021.1942555
Brooks, K. J. L., & Sullivan, K. A. (2023). Factor structure of the modified Rivermead Post-concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (mRPQ): An exploratory analysis with healthy adult simulators. Brain Injury, 37(2), 87–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2023.2165150
