Hello! My name is Christien (he/him).

My personal and professional experience has shown me that when we are able to integrate the mind and the body’s experiences, healing happens holistically, enabling us to connect with others and the world in ways we may not have previously imagined.

My practice is compassionate, humanistic, strengths-oriented, and trauma-informed, with a strong reliance on somatic-oriented approaches, including viewing and treating trauma-oriented symptoms through the lens of Somatic Experiencing™, IFS (Internal Family Systems), and EMDR. I specialize in working with those suffering from PTSD, Complex PTSD (early developmental wounds based on patterns of childhood trauma), grief and loss, and life transitions.

Somatic Experiencing is a body-based approach to healing stress disorders such as PTSD and Complex PTSD. Trauma symptoms arise when our natural instincts for survival (fight, flight) are thwarted, leaving the energy bound in the body and nervous system, leading to symptoms of chronic anxiety, depression, insomnia, emotional dysregulation and pain.

Using Somatic Experiencing, integrated with IFS and EMDR, I help facilitate the completion of self-protective, survival responses, in order to address the root cause of the trauma. This is accomplished in a slow, measured way, gently guiding you to increase your ability to tolerate distress without becoming overwhelmed, along with increasing your ability to stay in the present moment, the goal being the release of the trauma energy, promoting healing and resilience.

I earned my bachelor’s degree from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and my graduate counseling degree from Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I grew up in a military family and so traveled quite extensively as a child, along with living in different cities, countries, and cultures as an adult, which has contributed to my understanding that there is no one way of doing things, and that by providing a safe environment for each client, our unique perceptions, ideas, experiences and talents can be explored, nurtured, and celebrated, unveiling our deep, innate capacity for healing.

I am also a poet and novelist, and have found that imagination, creativity, and play are integral to help foster healing. When I am not in the office, I am usually writing, reading, hiking, watching spiders do their thing, or having interesting conversations with the crows in my neighborhood.