Conference on Children’s Mental Health

Kelly Kinnish, Ph.D. 

Director, National Center on Child Trafficking 

Kelly Kinnish, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist and the Director of the National Center on Child Trafficking in the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development and the Department of Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. She has over 30 years of experience working with maltreated and at-risk children and families in clinical, research, and administrative capacities, with a specific interest and expertise in child trauma and trafficking. Previously she was the Director of Clinical Services at the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy for 14 years, as well as the Director of Project Intersect and the Envision Project, federally funded programs focused on improving the well-being of commercially sexually exploited and trafficked children. She is active in both state and national task forces and working groups addressing this complex public health concern with a particular focus on effective interventions and collaborative systems response, including serving as Chair of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Child Sex Trafficking Workgroup. She is a Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) National Trainer with specific expertise in applying this evidence-based treatment with commercially sexually exploited and trafficked children.