Keli Rugenstein, PhD, LCSW, LMFT

Keli is a Licensed Certified Social Worker. She is also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). Keli works with individuals, couples, and families as they try to deal with the struggles that come their way. She participates in the Center’s Relationship Institute, Project PASS, and Project Recovery Programs and integrates spirituality and psychotherapy for those clients who find their spirituality to be an integral part of their life.

Keli’s specialty is clergy. Her research has focused on clergy persons, their families and congregations. Her current research involvement is a continuation of the 2001 US Congregational Life Survey which is expected to look at 2000 congregations and over 80,000 congregants. She is currently the Director of the Clergy Institute at the Samaritan Counseling Center. Her national research project was supported by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association. Other research has looked at abuse within the clergy family and spiritual expression differences between age groups. She has also completed a meta-analysis of the effect that denominational hierarchy has on clergy satisfaction and it was published in the Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling.