Kristina Ellen, LCMHC

Kristina Ellen is a licensed clinical mental health counselor with 19 years in the counseling field. She uses a whole-person approach to help people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship and intimacy concerns, and issues related to parenting or identity. She prefers to meet people where they are and to work at a personal pace that fits each individual's life.

Her background includes work in telehealth, inpatient treatment centers, Assertive Community Treatment teams, community health settings, primary care medical offices, and a private practice. Those varied roles shaped how she sees the full range of a person's needs. She aims to connect mental, emotional, and practical parts of a person's life rather than treating a single symptom.

Kristina draws on several approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT), Client-Centered Therapy, and the Gottman Method. She adapts techniques to match each person's goals and comfort level. Sessions are presented in a relaxed, respectful manner to make it easier to talk about difficult topics.

She also has experience supporting people dealing with complex or overlapping challenges such as chronic illness, caregiver stress, body image and sexuality questions including kink and alternative sexual culture, domestic violence, and grief around separation or divorce. Her work includes attention to career concerns, self-esteem, and commitment or codependency issues.

Kristina holds an NC LCMHC license and works from North Carolina. She provides services in English and offers multiple online session formats to fit different schedules and needs.

How therapy approaches translate to online care

Kristina commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in her work. CBT focuses on how thoughts influence feelings and behavior and is useful for anxiety, depression, and stress by teaching practical skills to change unhelpful thinking patterns. DBT emphasizes building emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal skills, which can be helpful for intense emotions, relationship struggles, and repetitive behavior patterns.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will talk with each person about goals and preferences and then suggest methods to try. That collaborative planning keeps sessions focused on what the client wants to accomplish and lets techniques be adjusted over time.

Online care offers several practical benefits. Video calls let people maintain face-to-face connection when schedules or distance make in-person visits hard. Phone sessions can be a lower-bandwidth option when video would be difficult. Live chat and text-based messaging make it possible to check in between sessions, handle brief updates, or fit short conversations into a busy day. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent and tailored to everyday life.