John D. McKellar, PhD

I have been providing psychological services for about 20 years.
I completed my doctoral training at the University of South Florida and my internship at the Palo Alto VA and Stanford University.
My postdoctoral training occurred at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara and involved seeing individual patients, groups, and distressed couples.
Since 2000 I have worked at the Palo Alto VA doing a combination of psychotherapy, research, and training of other clinicians.
More information about my background can be found in the Experience section of this website.

Duties: Conduct psychosocial assessment of patients which chronic pain for individual therapy or for entry into a functional restoration program.
Provide individual and group therapy to patients with chronic pain who also experience a variety of depressive or anxiety disorders.
Duties: Deliver web-based interactive online clinical presentations: PTSD, chronic pain, sleep, and depression/anxiety.
Duties: Conducted assessments of patients with medical or psychological disorders.
Provided individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, and psycho-educational groups for the management of depression, anxiety, PTSD, chronic pain, pulmonary disease, and HIV.

Research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy indicates that "fit" between therapist and client is among the most potent predictors of success in therapy.
The initial 1-2 sessions provide an opportunity for me to gain in-depth information about you and assess how well my skills match your needs.
This period also provides ample time for you to ask any questions about the therapeutic approaches that I will suggest and to assess my recommendations.
If we decide at the end of this session(s) that I am not the right therapist for you I will help you find a therapist that better meets your needs.

My fee for psychotherapy is $220 per 50-minute session.
Some sessions, such as couples therapy sessions, will be 90 minutes in length and will be prorated.
Payment is due at the beginning of each session and I accept cash, check, Visa, Mastercard, or American Express.
I accept insurance only as an "out of network" provider.
You will need to contact your insurer to determine whether or not your benefits include coverage of "out of network" providers.
If you choose to use insurance I suggest you contact your provider prior to the first session.

Mindfulness techniques allow deeper awareness of the current moment and help to curb tendencies to focus thinking on re-living past events or anticipating future events.
The goal is to view and accept one's current experience of emotions, thoughts, or sensations without a need to judge, without a need to label experiences as good or bad.
Benefits to increasing your ability to focus on the current moment and decrease reactivity to experiences include decreased levels of depression and anxiety, improved sleep, decreased levels of stress, and decreased levels of pain.