Kalen began working with couples and families in 2008 as a peer counselor and trainer for an outreach program, Connecting for Children- a University of Missouri Extension and Central Missouri Community Action joint effort. From there, Kalen decided to go to college and focus on psychotherapy. They began working with families as a therapist intern at a domestic violence shelter in Missouri in 2019.
In 2020, Kalen continued their education in the University of Iowa’s Psychological and Quantitative Foundations department. Today, Kalen is working on finishing up their educational journey by completing their thesis for a Master of Arts in Educational Measurement and Statistics and their dissertation for a Doctorate of Philosophy in Couple and Family Therapy.
While at the University of Iowa, Kalen served as a teaching assistant for the Marriage and Family Interaction and Introduction to Statistical Methods courses, the primary instructor for the Child Development course, and as a therapist, group facilitator, and the Associate Clinic Director of the LGBTQ Counseling Clinic. Kalen is active in the queer community and has founded multiple LGBTQ+ support and therapy groups in Missouri and Iowa.
Today, Kalen continues as a volunteer facilitator of an LGBTQ+ Support Group through the University of Iowa while seeing clients as a therapist at Prism Therapy Group. Kalen has a Marital and Family Therapist in Iowa and is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional and a Certified Family Trauma Professional. Kalen’s research and clinical focus includes clinical measurements and assessments and queer-affirming care related to trauma, anxiety, adjustment, and stress disorders in the LGBTQ+ population.
Kalen D. Zeiger has worked on several projects exploring important social issues. They helped write a paper about the challenges faced by BIPOC LGBTQ+ communities during COVID-19. They also contributed to reports on preventing child abuse, focusing on things like making child care more affordable and helping schools recognize and respond to abuse.
In academic writing, Zeiger contributed to a chapter about parenting, discussing relationships within families. They also researched the stress experienced by transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. Through their work, Zeiger aims to make complex topics understandable and promote positive change.
Professional Affiliations:
Education:
ABD Doctoral Candidate for Ph.D., Couple and Family Therapy, University of Iowa
ABT for M.A. Educational Measurement and Statistics, University of Iowa
M.S., Human Development and Family Science, Specialization: Marriage and Family Therapy, University of Central Missouri
B.A., Psychology, Minors: Anthropology, Sociology, Women’s Studies, Columbia College
