Kellie Doyle Bailey, MA CCC-SLP/MMT/SELI

Kellie Doyle Bailey is a trauma-informed speech-language pathologist, mindfulness educator, and emotional intelligence coach. She brings to her work, a deep knowledge and understanding of mind and relational sciences deeply rooted in neuroception. Doyle Bailey holds certifications in mindfulness, social-emotional learning, emotional intelligence, neuro-integrative birth reflexes, and Brain Gym.

Doyle Bailey is the author and creator of It Takes a Calm Brain to Calm a Brain framework and offers workshops, retreats, and professional development to support emotional contagion for optimal human connection. She along with her art educator daughter, Hannah Bailey Gray, have created a series of children's books aimed to support social-emotional development skills of youth.

Doyle Bailey has supported thousands of educators across the state of Maine in SAU's, Department of Corrections, and the Department of Pupil Transportation, to help develop the five key elements for emotional intelligence in her position as the SEL Specialist for the Maine Department of of Education.

Why are you excited to teach at Maine College of Art & Design?

I've always been drawn to the arts. I remember as a little girl, always dabbling in painting and playfulness with artistic expression. Recently, I've rediscovered who I am as an artist myself, and I love that the course I'm invited to teach is melding the worlds of mindfulness, social-emotional learning, and artistic expression. It feels like a wonderful marriage of all the things that I'm passionate about.

What makes Maine College of Art & Design and the online graduate programs in art education different from other programs?

I’m so grateful for the forward-thinking of MECA&D. For understanding that everyone has so much going on in their lives and for providing an opportunity for folks to be able to, from anywhere in the world, take courses through MECA&D, and the online courses that are being offered in this graduate program.

It makes it very unique and special because we can tap into places and spaces that we'd like to be.

Tell us about the course you’re teaching.

I'm really excited about this course. As an SEL specialist and emotional intelligence coach, I love to invite people to take a minute to pause and reflect on themselves. We live in such a busy world that we can get caught up in the human doing-ness of our lives. This course really slows this down. It gives anybody who takes the course an opportunity to pause, to dig into their own self-reflective process, to consider how their own thoughts and feelings and emotions are driving their behaviors or their narratives about themselves and other people.

I love that this course is so rich in the human being-ness of who we are. Tapping into our authenticity, empathy, and compassion, and having time to cultivate that, and not only turn it inwards but send it outwards to all other folks, everywhere. And I love that we can explore that through an artistic lens and create without worry, concern, or judgment. It’s an opportunity to give yourself full expression while you're tapping into your own alignment, and that makes me excited.

How will this program support career growth and passion?

The SEL and artistic learning course supports the whole human being. Regardless of whether you teach art or if you are an artist or whatever profession or space and place that you're occupying in your life, this course lends itself to whoever takes it.

Coming into the self, finding the alignment, and feeling very connected and grounded and rooted in who they are. And when we do that, we can build authentic connections with other people, and the sky's the limit professionally for folks.

What is the relationship between community building and art education?

The relationship between community building and art education goes back to the connection with the self. So, if I feel centered and balanced in who I am, and I can sit in spaces and places of compassion, love, and kindness, then I can express that outward. I can look at other people through the lens of curiosity and interest rather than fear or hatred. And I think that when we do that when we build that social awareness, then when we see one another through the lens of loving and kindness, it's good for everyone. It's good for the entire community.