The Wellington Chamber of Commerce welcomes Psychological Wellness Center as one of its newest members.
The practice is located at 12008 South Shore Blvd., Suite 207 in Wellington. It is co-owned by Dr. Diane Kelly and Dr. Stephanie Lippman. In a nurturing and comfortable environment, Psychological Wellness Center’s skilled and supportive psychologists use techniques that are rooted in effective, scientifically tested methods, while keeping up with the latest advances in psychological research.
Kelly was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Palm Beach Gardens. After high school, she attended the University of Miami, where she majored in psychology. She then attended Nova Southeastern University, where she received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Kelly did her internship at the Oklahoma Health Consortium. She then returned to do her post-doctoral residency with the University of Miami Mailman Center for Child Development. Kelly went on to work for the Palm Beach County Youth Affairs Division.
Lippman was born and raised in Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology from York University. She then moved to Tampa to do her graduate work. She received her Psy.D. in clinical psychology from the Florida School of Professional Psychology and completed both her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the Palm Beach County Youth Affairs Division.
While interning at the Palm Beach County Youth Affairs division, Lipppman worked with Kelly, who was her supervisor. They decided to start their own practice. Lippman writes for a parenting magazine and has done consulting work for television news anchor Roxanne Stein. She and Kelly recently joined the lecture team at Palm Beach Pediatrics.
Psychological Wellness Center treats individuals of all ages, families, couples and group therapy.
“We have a number of groups that we are running,” Lippman said. We have an Asperger’s social skills group; an ADHD group for parents to help them learn how manage their kids’ behaviors; a bullying group as well as an adjustment group for kids and adolescents. We are piloting a bio-feedback program where people can come learn strategies for relaxation and anti-anxiety strategies. We also do psychological evaluations, gifted testing, learning disabilities testing and diagnostic testing.”
The doctors are also piloting a program with Wellington Regional Medical Center. The group is for new mothers who will come in with their babies eight weeks post-partum and talk about the challenges and successes in adjusting to life with the new baby. There will also be a group for parents to come in together and talk about the changes in their family structure.
Psychological Wellness Center also runs a group called Building Blocks. This is a one-hour “mommy and me” type of class to give new parents a chance to socialize with other parents and learn ways to play with their children to help them in their development. Qualified professionals are there to evaluate the babies’ behaviors and skills while playing and socializing with other babies in the group. If they recognize that a child is not developing properly, they have screening tools to clearly define if there is a problem. If there is, they will recommend ideas, such as games the parents can play with the child, to help development in the problem area.
“We’re moms, and we know that a lot of moms have questions about whether or not their child’s development is normal,” Lippman said. “We have qualified professionals there to give advice or to screen the babies. It gives us an opportunity to have parents’ fears assuaged where we can say, it’s fine, this is normal.”
Describing their practice, Kelly said that they are both passionate about kids and families. “We’re both moms; I have a 4 year old, and she has a 3 year old, so it’s something that’s close to the heart,” Kelly said. “We’re passionate about that and we’re both good at what we do. We use all of our tools to really help people. Our perspective is very much strength based; when you come to us we will work with you to find out what you are good at. Once we define what that is, we define how we are going to get you down the path you need to go in a successful way.”
Psychological Wellness Center believes that no client in need of treatment should be turned away. They offer a number of slots per week for clients with little means and a need for treatment.
For information about Psychological Wellness Center, visit www.psywellness.com, call (561) 207-7625, or e-mail dianekelly@psywellness.com or stephanielippman@psywellness.com.
For information about area businesses, call the Wellington Chamber at (561) 792.6525 or visit www.wellingtonchamber.com.
ABOVE: Diane Carpenter, Bob Salerno, Mark “Boz” Bozicevic, Dinos Andreou, Adam Lippman, Stephanie Lippman, Joanne Dee, Carmine Marino.
