about me
I’m Kamela Qirjo, MA, LPCC, NCC
Licensed Psychotherapist, Harvard-Certified Executive Coach, and Founder of Iliria Therapy & Consulting.
My Story
WELCOME!
Taking the first step toward meaningful change can feel both courageous and uncertain — but you don’t have to do it alone. Together, we’ll explore how your early experiences, relationships, and unconscious patterns shape the way you think, feel, and love.
My approach is both empathetic and active, a space where awareness meets accountability. I listen deeply and meet you where you are, while also challenging the places where growth has stalled. Sometimes that means turning emotional paralysis into action, self-doubt into clarity, and overthinking into embodied truth.
With a background in psychology, biology, and nutritional sciences, I work through a mind–body–soul lens, understanding that emotional wounds often live in the body long before they reach the mind. True healing honors all of you — the analytical, the emotional, and the intuitive. Our work is an invitation to return home to yourself, to cultivate awareness, confidence, and self-trust, and to create a life that feels grounded, intentional, and authentically yours.
My approach is both empathetic and active, a space where awareness meets accountability. I listen deeply and meet you where you are, while also challenging the places where growth has stalled. Sometimes that means turning emotional paralysis into action, self-doubt into clarity, and overthinking into embodied truth.
With a background in psychology, biology, and nutritional sciences, I work through a mind–body–soul lens, understanding that emotional wounds often live in the body long before they reach the mind. True healing honors all of you — the analytical, the emotional, and the intuitive. Our work is an invitation to return home to yourself, to cultivate awareness, confidence, and self-trust, and to create a life that feels grounded, intentional, and authentically yours.
Personal Journey
I spent my early years in Korce, Albania, growing up under communism and later through a civil war—witnessing both resilience and the quiet endurance hardship demands. Those experiences taught me how uncertainty shapes the mind and body, how silence can protect and wound, and how empathy often takes root in survival.
When my family immigrated to America, I carried both the hope and the grief of starting over. Learning a new language, culture, and identity taught me how to live between worlds, to hold pride and loss at once, and to rebuild with intention. These transitions shaped not just how I see the world, but how I listen. They taught me that healing isn’t linear, that strength is often found in softness, and that transformation begins when we stop performing and meet ourselves with honesty and compassion.
Today, these early chapters guide how I show up in my work—helping others navigate their own becoming with clarity, courage, and connection.
When my family immigrated to America, I carried both the hope and the grief of starting over. Learning a new language, culture, and identity taught me how to live between worlds, to hold pride and loss at once, and to rebuild with intention. These transitions shaped not just how I see the world, but how I listen. They taught me that healing isn’t linear, that strength is often found in softness, and that transformation begins when we stop performing and meet ourselves with honesty and compassion.
Today, these early chapters guide how I show up in my work—helping others navigate their own becoming with clarity, courage, and connection.
Before starting my private practice, Iliria Therapy & Consulting, my career spanned the medical field, commercial aviation, private equity, and health startups. In each of these industries, I witnessed the same truth: behind performance metrics and professional success often lie invisible drivers — unexamined narratives, internal conflicts, and inherited patterns that silently shape behavior.
What Grounds Me
When I’m not in session, you’ll usually find me enjoying life’s simple pleasures — a perfectly brewed espresso, a competitive baseline point on the tennis court (or sinking a few three-pointers), or hiking Colorado’s beautiful trails with my family. I’m a total foodie who loves discovering new coffee shops, experimenting in the kitchen, and collecting stories from every place I visit.
Travel keeps my curiosity alive, books keep me hopeful, and connection keeps me inspired — and often laughing. The same curiosity that draws me to people and culture also influences how I show up as a therapist: grounded, present, and deeply attuned to what makes each person’s story uniquely their own.
And if I weren’t doing this work, I’d probably be a lawyer advocating for justice — still fighting for truth, fairness, and the dignity of every person’s story.
Travel keeps my curiosity alive, books keep me hopeful, and connection keeps me inspired — and often laughing. The same curiosity that draws me to people and culture also influences how I show up as a therapist: grounded, present, and deeply attuned to what makes each person’s story uniquely their own.
And if I weren’t doing this work, I’d probably be a lawyer advocating for justice — still fighting for truth, fairness, and the dignity of every person’s story.
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A space where unraveling meets becoming.
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Educational Background
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Northwestern University
Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Harvard University
Executive Leadership Coaching Certification
Executive Leadership Coaching Certification
University of Texas at Austin
Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Sciences
Pre-Health Professions Certificate
Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Sciences
Pre-Health Professions Certificate
Texas Women's University
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate: Psychology
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate: Psychology
Credentials & Professional Background
Harvard-Certified Executive Coach
Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate
National Certified Counselor
Completed Level 1 & Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Certification
Janina Fisher's Trauma Treatment Certification Training (CCTP): The Latest
Advances and Proven Techniques to Resolve Deeply Held Trauma
Advances and Proven Techniques to Resolve Deeply Held Trauma
Integrative Attachment Family Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Improving
Parent Child Connection and Attunement for Trauma Recovery with Dafna
Lender
Parent Child Connection and Attunement for Trauma Recovery with Dafna
Lender
Food as Medicine Certification: Functional Nutrition to Reduce Inflammation,
Improve Gut Function and Prevent/Reverse Chronic Disease
Improve Gut Function and Prevent/Reverse Chronic Disease
Food as Medicine Certification: Functional Nutrition to Reduce Inflammation,
Improve Gut Function and Prevent/Reverse Chronic Disease
Improve Gut Function and Prevent/Reverse Chronic Disease
Member of:
Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN): Steering Committee Member
Chicago Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology (CAPP): Secretary and Liaison
Denver Psychoanalytic Society: Committee Member
American Psychological Association (APA)
American Counseling Association (ACA)
My Approach
I offer both psychotherapy and executive consulting, grounded in a blend of deep psychological insight and real-world strategy.
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Therapy & Healing
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Heal from both acute and complex trauma, including C-PTSD, emotional neglect, and toxic family dynamics
2
Untangle internalized roles like the parentified child, the overachiever, or the emotionally unseen one
3
Rebuild self-worth, emotional resilience, and embodied confidence
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Executive Development & Consulting
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Communicating with clarity, empathy, and authority — building trust and resolving challenges effectively.
2
Aligning personal values with organizational vision — leading with authenticity and purpose.
3
Preventing burnout and navigating high-stakes transitions with resilience — staying focused and balanced through change.
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