COUNSELING IS REALLY ABOUT YOU, THE CLIENT
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However, it is super helpful to get to know your future clinician better. The fit of your clinician matters so much. Your time matters to me, and your future counseling success matters to me, so below you will find a little about me that will help you make a decision on whether we may be a great fit!
FIRST, THE PERSONAL
As an Anxiety Specialist it is important to know that I, too, have experienced anxiety, and certainly high quantities of stress. For many years, I worked with homeless individuals in various capacities. As anyone can imagine, it was very difficult work and left me physically ill. As I started the journey of repair I learned so much, and have an empathy for those experiencing significant stress, and also those struggling with anxiety. There is something very powerful about working with someone who has been down a similar road. Throughout the years, I have been experimenting on myself to find the tools that have been most helpful for me personally (and also those that haven’t, but that work well for others). Gratefully, I have personally experienced that if you have the right tools in place, anxiety and burnout can absolutely be overcome and are not a life sentence.
NOW TO THE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with experience in a variety of areas of mental health, which informs my current specialty in anxiety and stress management. I am now nearing almost two decades since starting in the social service and mental health fields. I have taken numerous continuing education courses in the areas of anxiety and OCD, including the Behavioral Therapy Training Institute’s intensive Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) training for OCD. Additionally, since the majority of my clients experience anxiety in some form, I get the experience of working with anxiety for much of my worklife, further honing my skills in this area.
THE PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL COMBINED
Many of my clients come to me specifically seeking Christian counseling. I love providing counseling from a Christian perspective. To those clients who are not Christians, or not seeking Christian counseling specifically, how this may look in session is more subtle--that being a Christian informs my worldview as I seek to follow wisdom from the Bible. To those clients looking for Christian counseling, how this may look in sessions is that I can pray for you at the end of a session, or discuss how specific Bible passages provide hope and direction for your current situation. Something that I love about providing Christian counseling is being able to integrate evidence-based counseling practices and Bible teachings as there is so much overlap between them.
INTERESTED IN KNOWING MORE?
You can send me questions any time at kristen@upliftingcounsel.com or by calling 503-974-7775. If you are interested in working
together, I invite you to contact me to schedule a free phone consultation. The call typically lasts about 20 minutes and gives
you a chance to ask me questions, and me a chance to learn more about what brings you to counseling and whether we may
be a good fit to work together.
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My wonderful husband. We work together! He is the Operations and Marketing Director for Uplifting Counsel
Our precious daughter
