Kellory Blanchard, LPC, Lead Clinician

Kellory Blanchard is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Lead Clinician at MPA's McPherson location — a place she helped build from the ground up, having opened the McPherson office alongside Dr. Ward in 2022. Her path to counseling was, in her own words, always the plan: her fifth-grade memory book already had "art therapist" penciled in for when she grew up. Some people just know.

Kellory holds a Bachelor of Psychology from Central Christian College of Kansas, graduate coursework in Higher Education Student Affairs from Fort Hays State University, a Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Wichita State University (2022), and a Graduate Certificate in Play Therapy, also from WSU (2022). She is certified in Play Therapy, DBT, and earned her Perinatal Mental Health certification (PMH-C) through Postpartum International in 2025. She works with clients ages 3 and up.

At her core, Kellory is a play-centered therapist — and she means that across the full lifespan, not just with kids. Whether she's working with young children, coaching parents to be more playful, or supporting college athletes in a performance context, she believes deeply in play as a vehicle for healing and connection. Her specialties include attachment therapy, filial therapy, and regulation-based approaches. She has significant experience working with children with sensory processing disorder, autism, and other neurodevelopmental differences, and she earned her PMH-C specifically to support expectant families in building a foundation of regulation and attachment before baby even arrives.

Kellory also has a particular passion for high-achieving girls and women — something she understands from the inside, as a former gifted student and self-described recovering perfectionist. She hopes MPA Kansas feels like a deep breath the moment you walk in: a place where clients of all ages can take the mask off and spend the hour being their authentic selves.

Before counseling, Kellory spent eight years in higher education student affairs, including as a campus counselor — a season that shaped her understanding of identity, transitions, and the particular pressures that quietly collect in high-achieving lives. She's also a researcher by nature and is currently involved in research on play in adults (which, frankly, more adults could use).

Outside the office, Kellory's children reliably make her laugh, she reads voraciously, eats good food, and goes to concerts with her husband. At home, she's kept very busy by four furry housemates: a lab, a Yorkipoo, and two cats named Basil and Bleu.