About Christi Stanforth, MA, LPC

When you’re in session with Christi, you’ll perceive her warmth and compassion. You’ll feel safe to honestly share your deepest thoughts, and to laugh, complain, cry or just talk without getting a judgmental response. You’ll be heard, and your strengths and resilience will be celebrated. You can leave each session feeling calmer and more focused, sturdier and more hopeful, and with new habits that promote wellness.

Clients struggling with issues like anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, grief, posttraumatic stress, OCD behaviors, and general questions about their life’s direction or meaning can address them with Christi. Her approach to therapy is based in mindfulness, yet Christi’s focus isn’t limited to the here and now. Since so many struggles are rooted in childhood, she often finds it necessary to spend some time psychodynamically investigating the past. She also believes that an analysis of the systems a client is and has been embedded in—including family, socioeconomic, and cultural dynamics—can be helpful. Additionally, Christi likes to assist clients in doing some metacognitive work—that is, to recognize some of the thought patterns and metaphors that might be holding them back and find alternative metaphors that might serve them better.

Christi has a person-centered framework of empathy and unconditional positive regard for each client, and eclectically draws from psychodynamic, existentialist, narrative, systems, and other theories. She utilizes several modalities, such as CBT, DBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Internal Family Systems.

Counseling is Christi’s second career. With a Master’s degree in English, she spent three decades working as a copyeditor and project editor for academic publishers. In 2014, she earned a Master’s in counseling at North Carolina Central University. She has experience working in a day shelter for homeless women, offering therapy for mood disorders, trauma, and various other issues; and working in private practice, helping individuals and couples from 18 to 80+ years old.