LPC, 13 years of experience
I am a licensed mental health counselor and have been practicing in this field for over 14 years. I have worked in many settings and with many different presenting issues. A major focus of my work has been to improve the quality of my client's life through explorations of past and present difficulties while examining relationships with others and with yourself.
In our first session, I will be asking lots of questions. The reason is to provide and complete assessments of your presenting issues. By completing assessments in our first meeting, I will have a clearer understanding of your presenting issue brought to therapy allowing for appropriate recommendations and course of treatment. We will go over confidentiality and other policies. I will also share my approaches to treatment at this time and lastly, we will collaborate on setting goals for treatment. My goal is spending as much time as possible getting to know you.
I am direct and kind. I believe your time is valuable and I want to show up for you as much as you are showing up for yourself by coming to therapy. I see the interconnectedness of thoughts, emotions, sensations that become tangled into unhealthy beliefs leaving one at times feeling helpless or directionless. I also use laughter. I love laughing and at times, it is the laughter that heals.
Welcome! I'm Kristen Russell LPC I want to acknowledge your choice to focus on yourself to ease suffering and improve the quality of your life. My goal is to create a safe and welcoming environment that allows clients to identify and understanding their concerns related to depressed or anxious moods. I focus on helping clients develop healthier perspectives of themselves, improving self-worth, & boundaries with themselves and those around them that can help improve their quality of life. The counseling session is a place for you to discover your healthy self. Together, we will identify your challenges and goals - where you want your life to be a month, six months, a year from now. Then, we'll identify options and strategies you can use to get there. We will collaborate on goals and strategies as well as keeping each other accountable.
I everyone already has the resources within themselves to heal. A person may have forgotten their resources, are unable to access their resources due to current issues, or perhaps they have not been developed, yet. The resources exist; a strengths-based approach helps the client improve the quality of their lives.
DBT skills are helpful for improving the quality of a person's life through improvement of the moment and regulating emotions.
ERP is an evidence-based practice that addresses obsessive thoughts and behavioral compulsions decreasing anxiety.
Schema Therapy is similar to psychoanalysis with the added bonus of role-playing and other experiential approaches.