About Me

You know the loop. The same fight, different details. The withdrawal that feels like rejection. The criticism that feels like contempt. You've tried therapy before, or you've tried to "work on it," but something keeps pulling you back into the pattern.

That's because the issue isn't your vocabulary. It's your physiology.

Hi, I’m Christie,

MS, LPC, NCC

A middle-aged woman with blonde hair styled in loose waves, smiling, wearing a navy top, a multicolored knit cardigan, and a silver necklace with a green pendant. She is standing indoors near a wall.

I specialize in Relational Life Therapy (RLT)—the direct, experiential approach developed by Terry Real that treats the trauma underlying the conflict, not just the conflict itself.

I feel fortunate to have spent a good part of my associate years on the clinical team at Rosewood Center for Eating Disorders and the Meadows in Wickenburg, AZ, the world-renowned treatment center founded by Pia Mellody. Pia's work on codependency and love addiction created the foundation that Terry Real built RLT upon. I carry that lineage into my work with couples: addressing the generational patterns, the attachment wounds, and the 'family secrets acted out in later generations.'

The modalities that matter for this work:

  • Relational Life Therapy (RLT)

  • Post-Induction Therapy (PIT)

  • AEDP & Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

  • Transformational Couples Therapy (TCT)

No generalist approach. No dividing focus between 20 different techniques. Just deep, structured work for people ready to change the pattern.

A cozy living room with beige walls and curtains, a beige sofa with rust-colored pillows, a wooden coffee table with pottery and bowls, a large landscape painting of mountains beneath a cloudy sky, and a window showing a mountain scene with rocky hills.

“We can only connect to a person at the level we can connect to ourselves.”

Connection And Protection

Every relationship requires us to be both protected and connected in order to thrive at our best. When we are only 'protected,' we are walled off from our partner, and when we are only 'connected' we are invasive and intrusive to our partner's psychological space.

My work helps couples move towards healthy connection (attunement) and healthy protection (honoring sense of Self). We do this by working with the body and the nervous system, as this is where we sense our internal boundaries. Talking won't change the nervous system; the nervous system doesn't understand words. We work directly with the nervous system in its innate language.

I came to this work through a fascination with how trauma lives in the body—first in horses, then in humans. I founded Whole Horse Connection, LLC in 2001. While there I taught equine enthusiasts how to alleviate the chronic tension held in their horses’ bodies that caused the horses to act out in dangerous behaviors. In 2013 I began learning how humans hold tension in their bodies similarly after experiencing traumatic events, also causing them to “act out” in a variety of ways. The difference being that humans also created negative beliefs of self and the world around them after their experiences, making the tension far more difficult to relieve, and far easier to reactivate.

Qualifications & Credentials

  • • Certified Relational Life Therapist (RLT) – Relational Life Institute, visit relationallife.com


    •     Masterson Method Certified Practioner, visit www.mastersonmethod.com


    • Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC-20937) – AZ, CO, OH, ME, MN, LA

    Multi-state telehealth available

  • • Transformative Couples Therapy (TCT) (Previously known as AEDP for Couples). Dr. David Mars, PhD.

    • RLT Certification – Terry Real


    • PIT Training – Pia Mellody lineage


    • Specialized focus: Relational trauma, betrayal, codependency, attachment repair.

    • Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)

    • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

    • Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)

    • Post-Induction Therapy (PIT)

    • Owner / Therapist, AZ Whole Heart Connection, LLC, 2023

    • Clinical Primary Therapist, Rosewood Center for Eating Disorders, 2020

    • Clinical Primary Therapist, Meadows Behavioral Health, 2020

    • Equine Specialist, Meadows Behavioral Health, 2019

    • Founder & Equine Therapist, Whole Horse Connection, 2001

  • Additional trainings that inform the primary experiential work:

    • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) – Trauma memory processing


    • DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) – Emotional regulation and distress tolerance skills


    • ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) – Psychological flexibility and values-based action


    • Somatic Experiencing (SE) – Nervous system regulation and completion of defensive responses


    • IFS (Internal Family Systems) – Parts work and internal dynamics


    • Inner Child Work – Developmental trauma and early attachment repair

    Christie has been heavily influenced by the work of John Bradshaw, past senior-fellow of the Meadows of Wickenburg and bestselling author of 'Healing the Shame That Binds You' and 'Homecoming, Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child.

    Note: While trained in these approaches, my current practice focuses primarily on experiential, body-based modalities (RLT, AEDP, Sensorimotor) for deep structural change rather than symptom management.

  • • Certified Masterson Method Practitioner (CMMP) and Coach.


    • Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (E-AP)


    • Certified Equine Massage Therapist (EquiTouch, Inc).

At AZ Whole Heart Connection, your privacy and trust matter deeply. I do not use artificial intelligence to record, transcribe, summarize, or generate notes from therapy sessions. I don’t believe AI belongs in the therapy room with you. Your clinical documentation is completed personally and thoughtfully by me, without AI recording or note-taking tools.

Have Any Questions?

Please reach out and let’s get your journey started!