Meet Whitney Kleinert | Licensed Psychologist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Whitney Kleinert and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Whitney, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
I look at risks as opportunities for growth. I took a huge risk moving from UGA up to Boston for graduate school. I also took a risk moving down to New Orleans, Louisiana for a year (internship). These risks ended up leading me to lifelong friends and a well-rounded clinical skillset. I recently took another “risk” of becoming the Executive Director of a non-profit (North Georgia Autism Foundation) in addition to running my private practice (Appalachian Psychological and Behavioral Services). It was a risk in the sense of not knowing if I could manage this time-wise… but I’ve made it work, and making changes in the community has been more than worth it!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career is a hodgepodge of things. Primarily, I am a Licensed Psychologist who specializes in Psychological Evaluations / Assessment. I also provide behavioral consultation and work with Autistic adults to help guide them toward their goals. I recently became the Executive Director of a nonprofit (North Georgia Autism Foundation) in addition to running my private practice (Appalachian Psychological and Behavioral Services).

It wasn’t an easy road to get here, by any means, but as a White woman, I recognize that I come from a place of privilege in many ways. I try to stay cognizant of that and practice cultural humility.

My husband and I moved up to Boston for my graduate school when we had only been married ~2 months and had $800 in our pockets – not enough to pay for rent at our first apartment (which had a bullet hole in the door). It was a huge risk, but without doing it, we wouldn’t be where we are today. He was able to get a job where he led teams that built skyscrapers (SO cool!) and I worked through my graduate program as a Lecturer / Research Assistant. This was 20 hours / week on top of full course loads but – at the time – I couldn’t pass up the free out of state tuition in exchange for my work. I then moved to New Orleans while Alex stayed in Boston so that I could do my predoctoral internship and finish my dissertation. It was one of the best times in my life but also one of the worst. We missed each other terribly, and I can honestly say that ~50% of my dissertation was written on airplanes flying to/from Boston to see him. In New Orleans, I was at an alternative school for children and teens with significant challenging behavior. I also worked in a private practice with Dr. Scuddy Fontenelle III, who ultimately made me interested in opening my own practice one day. I moved back to Boston for my postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. Cynthia Anderson at the May Institute. She’s the best supervisor I have ever had… I learned so much from her. Within 2 years, I was overseeing multimillion dollar contracts with Boston Public Schools and other districts across the country. Having a team to lead was great, but COVID-19 made things almost impossible. We moved back down to Georgia and I continued to work with the May Institute remotely while we lived in a shed behind my mom’s house (LOL!!!) before we could purchase our home. This was actually a really fun 3 months! Kind of like camping. I opened my own practice to help supplement the high need for Psychological Evaluations in the area, but soon realized I could do it full-time. I took the leap / risk, left my salaried position at May Institute, opened my own practice, and never looked back.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We’ve had several friends come stay at our house with us. Our usual itinerary: going to the lake house (Lake Rabun), going on a local hike or on the Short Line Trail, coffee at Man’s Best Friend Cafe (Clarkesville) and Tallulah 1882 (Tallulah Falls). Hanging out at our house on the patio, then doing dinner at Max’s Lakeside or Bleu Canoe. We are obsessed with Terra Incognita Vineyard – we live closeby and the owners are the kindest, most incredible people. That’s always a prime location for us to take visitors.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout is dedicated to my husband, Alex, who has been so flexible in our adventures together. We’ve lived in so many cities / places… traveled… different jobs… He has always been consistent and supportive.

Website: www.AppalachianPBS.com and www.NGAFinc.org

Image Credits
The only image credit would be for the newspaper pictures from the Christmas Gala. This was in an article by the Northeast Georgian.