Finding Your Way: How Therapy Transforms Lives with Kia Medley-Stephens

Finding Your Way: How Therapy Transforms Lives with Kia Medley-Stephens

What does it really mean to become a better version of yourself? Kia Medley-Stephens, founder of Optimal Key Therapy, believes professional mental health support plays a crucial role—and it's more accessible than many realize.

As a licensed professional counselor recognized across Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, Kia Medley-Stephens leads a diverse team of mental health specialists offering comprehensive support for individuals facing anxiety, depression, grief and trauma. In this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, Kia skillfully dismantles common misconceptions about therapy, explaining how her practice combines traditional counseling with specialized approaches like EMDR and art therapy to meet each client's unique needs.

Listen as Good Neighbor Podcast Host Bob Blaisse, takes the conversation towards a particularly illuminating turn when Kia addresses the warning signs that someone might benefit from professional support. Rather than focusing only on crisis situations, she highlights subtle indicators many of us dismiss, feeling unlike yourself, increasing isolation or losing interest in previously enjoyable activities. You'll hear Kia's strong belief that everybody at some point in their life should probably seek a therapist, while normalizing therapy as a universal resource for personal growth.

What makes this discussion especially valuable is Kia's practical approach to overcoming barriers to mental health care. From flexible virtual appointments that can happen from your car during lunch breaks to accepting most insurance plans and helping uninsured clients find financial assistance programs, Optimal Key Therapy exemplifies a commitment to meeting people exactly where they are. Listen in to discover how professional therapy might be the missing piece in your journey toward becoming the person you want to be—and how to take that first step today.

Optimal Key Therapy
www.OptimalKeyTherapy.com
kiamedley@optimalkeytherapy.com
610-910-1864

--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.

Transcript

Welcome to Good Neighbor Podcast

Speaker 1 0:00

Hello, Delco. This is Michael Barkan, welcoming you to the Good Neighbor podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host Bob Lacey.

Speaker 2 0:18

Thank you, michael Barkan, for that introduction and everybody, welcome again to another episode of the Good Neighbor podcast. And, as I often say, we're coming to you from Pennsylvania. You might be listening from another state in the union, you might be even outside of the United States downloading this podcast, but we're originating the Good Neighbor Podcast here today from Pennsylvania, the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, delaware County, pennsylvania, which is just above the state of Delaware and just west of the state of New Jersey, right below the city of Philadelphia. Delaware County, commonly called Delco for short. We love that tag. There's a real Delco vibe and so we even call the podcast here the Good Neighbor Podcast, delco and Beyond, and we do go beyond sometimes Delco and beyond, and we do go beyond sometimes.

Speaker 2 1:06

So I'm not only bringing you these episodes for download from anywhere in the world, but we even go outside Delaware County to bring you some good neighbor businesses that practice inside Delaware County or just outside and help the homeowners and residents and people that live in Delaware County. Today we're very fortunate to have again a very kind of a different type of business. We have to call it a business, but it's really also a practice. You know where I'm going, maybe medical, perhaps partially so, but really what it is? It's a therapy center, optimal Key Therapy, and we're going to learn about what Optimal Key Therapy is from the founder of Optimal Key Therapy, who has key in her name. Let me bring to the stage and introduce to you our guest today, kia Medley-Stevens. Welcome to the program, kia.

Speaker 3 1:52

Thank you for having me, Bob. I'm really excited to be here.

Speaker 2 1:55

Well, Kia, we're going to talk about Optimal Key Therapy Sounds like it's a double play on words. Your last name, at least formerly, was Key, and I guess it's hyphenated now as I mean it's brought in as Key. Kia is your first name, correct.

Speaker 3 2:12

Yes, correct. First name, last name Medley Stevens.

Speaker 2 2:15

That's wonderful, kia. Tell us for starter point, because there's people listening from all over, maybe the world, but certainly in the US and then Pennsylvania, could be different than other states. Do you need to be licensed to be a therapist, or can anybody be a therapist? And if you are licensed, do you actually need to have degrees? Do you need to have a PhD to be a therapist?

Speaker 3 2:36

So anybody really could serve as a therapist. However, it is preferred that you are a licensed clinician, meaning licensed by the state. It is preferred that you are a licensed clinician, meaning licensed by the state. And in order to be licensed by the state, you do have to have a master's degree or a doctorate level degree. For me, I am a master's level licensed professional counselor, so I'm recognized by the state of Pennsylvania, the state of Delaware, as well as the state of New Jersey.

Introduction to Optimal Key Therapy

Speaker 2 3:01

Well, that's great. We certainly have a we can't say the doctor's in the house, but we have a therapist in the house. Let's define it one step further when it comes to therapy, because there are some that would set up shop and call themselves a coach or they say we'll help give you therapy about your you know, counseling for your business or something. But this is really personal therapy. It would be more along the sides of emotional, psychological need. Perhaps people would want to talk things out with you. So perhaps if you could help us understand a little bit more about your practice Optimal Key Therapy, and are there specialties? Are there certain segments that you truly practice in but others not so?

Speaker 3 3:46

Absolutely so. Optimal key therapy is a mental health therapy practice and basically it is a practice with four clinicians in it, myself being one. I have a psychologist in there, dr Edna Bell. I have a licensed clinical social worker Her name is Vanessa and then I have another therapist in the practice and she specializes in ABA Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy Services. We provide services to children, adolescents and adults. We also specialize in anxiety, depression, grief and loss, trauma recovery, emdr therapy, art therapy. So we cover multiple types of therapy. We've all been trained in providing various types of therapy and if you are interested in any sort of mental health therapy, you just outreach to me and then I would take you through the intake process to figure out who would be an appropriate fit for you.

Speaker 2 4:43

So that really starts a lot of questions coming at me here and I'm going to give you a chance to answer them For our listeners. I should say we're listening to Kia Medley-Stevens and Kia is a licensed therapist in both Pennsylvania and also New Jersey, the state of Delaware. We're in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, right bordering Pennsylvania and Delaware. So that's great, kia, that you really can, anybody listening to this in that tri-state area and is interested in meeting you. You can visit Optimal Key Therapy's website even easily enough by just going to OptimalKeyTherapycom and you'll see Kia and the staff that she just mentioned. Kia in those practices, those segments that you're talking about for individual support. I'm imagining that it's also because some of those needs are tangled up with our family and our relationships, our spouses. Do you also offer, say, couples counseling or parent-child counseling, family counseling together?

Speaker 3 5:44

Absolutely so. For the most part, we specialize in providing individual therapy to individuals who are interested in receiving therapy. But most of the times when you're working with the individual, you do them bring their family members or loved ones in that we may need to talk to in order to work through some various challenges or communication styles as well. So, yes, we provide services to everybody. I would also say that if you're working with a child or if you're working with an adolescent, it is rare that you work solely with that individual without working with the family, because you have to teach the family how to work with that individual, how to meet the needs of that individual. You may have to do some psychoeducation with the family. You may have to give the family skills on how to manage or temper some behaviors that they may be experiencing with the child, either in the home or in the school environment. So we do work with everybody.

Services and Specialties Offered

Speaker 2 6:41

And you know, I think that when we are a parent or you're in a relationship with someone and that someone has some problems that we're recognizing or they're causing you problems, you know it's more accessible to say I think we have to get that person some help, or I think I have to get some help with that person, I think we have to get that person some help or I think I have to get some help with that person. So that's very understandable. But what is maybe less easy for someone to understand is when we are not sharing that. We think we have a problem, maybe we're depressed or something, and silence someone.

Speaker 2 7:18

Kia, let's use this opportunity now where people are able to listen to a downloaded podcast episode, and let's imagine that a person isn't necessarily having someone say to them you need help, you need to go see a therapist, you need to talk this out. Let's say they're not having someone say that to them, but they're experiencing some things that would suggest they should talk it out First, what are the things that they're experiencing, what are the signs that they should open their eyes a bit more to, and then the reasons why and how they can be helped by therapy.

Speaker 3 7:52

So I would say a lot of times people probably should consider seeking therapy services. If they are just not feeling their normal selves, they may notice that they may be isolating a little bit more than what they were before. They may not find joy or happiness in some of the activities that they normally would participate in. They may just feel down, or they may even notice that they're just having thoughts that are just continuously popping up, that are kind of weighing on them as a form of worry, or as a form of worry or as a form of anxiety.

Speaker 3 8:24

When that starts to happen, it's always a good idea to maybe seek out someone, a safe place, a trusted person that you can go to and talk to in confidence, that will not go out and share your experience or your concerns with anyone else, but a safe place where you can actually go and talk about what's going on.

Speaker 3 8:41

And when you do that, you might learn that what you're experiencing may be somewhat normal, may not be normal, and you may learn that there are different tools that can be added into your toolbox to help you get through, whatever it is that you're dealing with. I always say everybody at some point in their life should probably seek a therapist or work with a counselor, and for me, when you come and you work with me or you work with anyone else in my practice it's not a thing where you come in and you feel like it's very hard and it's very difficult. I try to make your experience with me as easy and as personable as possible, and sometimes we laugh a lot in therapy too, because sometimes you have to laugh through some of the things that you're dealing with in order to help yourself.

When to Seek Therapy

Speaker 2 9:23

Well, you know, everybody feels comfortable when they're talking about things. They can talk in confidence, but they can share maybe some self-deprecation and laugh at themselves, but they also can share the privacies of their inner thoughts. Let me ask you this when you're talking with someone, do you interpret what they say purely on your own training, as, as a kind of an interpretation that, like I'm hearing this coming out of you often and I think there's you're battling this and you know you might not be recognizing that technologies that would kind of help that person understand. Look, this came out in your testing, in your interviewing, or it's helping you establish what you need to say as a therapist. But now the facts are speaking here too. From some kind of little interview questions that you took, do you ever find that you need to add some proof? You know people that need therapy.

Speaker 3 10:23

sometimes they're finally they're getting therapy but they've been in denial towards it. Absolutely so. For everyone that comes in and that seeks therapy with me, I always do an initial assessment where I assess how they're feeling, what's going on, I take down their history, their information that they want to share with me, and then I also assess and scan for different symptoms that they could potentially have, and then we talk about that. If I feel like there is something more going on other than what I am able to kind of screen on the initial assessment, I will recommend that maybe I do different types of testing, and if it's something that is far beyond what I can offer, I then will refer them to someone else and then I will try to collaborate with that other individual as well so that we can really meet the needs of the individual.

Speaker 2 11:14

The key is to get them to some kind of conversation level first, and I think since COVID we've all recognized that certain abilities have kind of come from those COVID times where we were able to meet virtually. And I think it's affected your industry a bit, where people are so used to kind of having go-to meetings or Zoom meetings that I'm imagining that as therapists today do you have a number of your sessions, if you will, therapy sessions, where someone does not actually have to come and sit down with you in your office. They can actually do it virtually and get as much out of it.

Speaker 3 11:50

Absolutely. So that is the one thing that is a positive that did come from COVID, in that now most medical practices do allow for some sort of virtual servicing. So with therapy, now you can have therapy. It's done virtually. It can be done from the privacy of your home. I've had individuals sit in the parking lot of their car during their lunch breaks and they meet and we have a virtual therapy session. I've had individuals have therapy sessions just outside, sitting on their back patio, so it's no longer required that you come into the office and sit down and meet with the person. However, I will say I'm available to do that and I do offer that at least one day a week. But Tuesday through Saturday I offer virtual sessions and you can meet with me in the morning, not nine 10 AM in the morning, or you can meet with me as late as 7 PM in the evening.

Virtual Sessions and Insurance Options

Speaker 2 12:44

You'll find it very therapeutic. I'm sure everyone that's listening, and I would think, kia, that the other thing that holds people back because I don't have to drive there and meet somebody, sit down and drive back. Oh, I can do this virtually Great. But you know what? I don't really have the money for this. I know I need to get some help, but I don't. I mean. That stuff is expensive. Really, a lot of people might even fail to understand that it's covered under a lot of medical insurance. Now, does your practice? Is it one of those practices that would take medical insurance for therapy?

Speaker 3 13:12

Absolutely. So I try to meet people exactly where they are. So I do accept most health insurance plans. You can actually look on my website to see what those plans are but I accept most of the plans that are offered in the state of Pennsylvania, new Jersey, as well as the state of Delaware I do also. I am also accepting individuals who do not have insurance or who do not want to use their insurance and they would like to pay out of pocket. And then for those individuals who sometimes may not have insurance, may not have the needs, the means to actually cover the cost of insurance, I then try to work with them to figure out how we can still ensure that they get the need, the services that they need, and I try to connect them with other programs that may offer vouchers for them to receive.

Speaker 2 13:56

That covers all the bases, kia, I mean you've just talked about being able to help people who barely have the money to pay for any help without the insurance, but you've also covered how it's not a time issue. We can do this virtually and you even are going out of your way to make sure you're licensed so that you can practice in Delaware, new Jersey, and you can practice online. We're talking to Kia Medley-Stevens, who is a licensed practitioner therapy therapist for her own business that she founded, optimal Key Therapy. Her and her staff are there and available to you for help and everybody needs it. If you'd like to talk to Kia, her phone number I'll give here and you can call her director. She'll call you back. I'm sure is area code 610-810-1864. And, as I mentioned earlier, go and take a look at their website optimalkeytherapycom. You'll learn a little bit. You'll get to see Kia, the photo of Kia and reach out.

Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Speaker 2 14:58

If this podcast episode has found you or if you're finding it for the benefit of someone that you love, look at it as providence. The opportunity came, you learned and now take it to the benefit of someone that you love. Look at it as providence. The opportunity came, you learned and now take it to the next step. Become the better version of yourself or help someone else become the better version of themselves, as Kia Medley-Stevens has suggested to us here today. Kia, what a great business, really a great practice, you have. Thank you so much for bringing your insights to the Good Neighbor podcast today and thank you very much for having a good neighbor business in our community and beyond.

Speaker 1 15:35

Thank you. I am so happy to have been here. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to GNPDelcocom or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745.