About Me

A thoughtful, compassionate approach to trauma and relationships

I’m a 57-year-old married woman who brings life experience, curiosity, and compassion to my work with individuals and couples.

Counseling is my second career. My prior career was as an equine therapist through my own company, Whole Horse Connection, which I began in 2001. Working with horses deepened my appreciation for the ways we communicate beyond words—and how safety, connection, and our nervous systems influence our responses.

My approach is warm, engaged, and direct. Together, we explore how your early experiences shape the ways you protect yourself, connect with others, and respond when life feels difficult. I combine that understanding with experiential work to help you practice new ways of being.

I’ve developed a particular interest in how unrecognized neurodivergence can affect relationships. Differences in attention, processing, communication, and sensory needs can be misunderstood between partners.

I also have deep compassion for women navigating perimenopause, menopause, and life after menopause. These transitions can affect our sense of self, emotional capacity, and relationships. I believe therapy needs to make room for these experiences and adapt to the realities of this stage of life.

You can expect space for your full story—and a therapist willing to help you work through the places where you feel stuck.

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 and experiential approach developed by Terry Real. Rather than focusing only on resolving the conflict in front of us, RLT helps couples understand and heal the developmental and relational wounds that often drive the conflict in the first place.

I feel fortunate that, during my associate years, I spent a significant part of my clinical training working with the teams at Rosewood Center for Eating Disorders and The Meadows in Wickenburg, Arizona, where I was immersed in the work of Pia Mellody. Pia’s pioneering model of Post-Induction Therapy (PIT)—including her work on codependency, love addiction, shame, boundaries, and childhood developmental wounds—became an important influence on Terry Real’s development of Relational Life Therapy.

That lineage remains deeply woven into the way I work with couples today. We look beyond what you are fighting about to understand what each partner brings into the relationship from their family of origin—the attachment wounds, survival strategies, generational patterns, and unspoken family dynamics that can quietly become reenacted in adult relationships.

The modalities that matter for this work:

  • Relational Life Therapy (RLT)

  • Post-Induction Therapy (PIT)

  • AEDP & Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

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

We can only connect with others as deeply as we are able to connect with ourselves.

Horses and other herd mammals live in constant relationship with themselves, one another, and their environment. They notice subtle cues of safety and danger and respond accordingly. Humans are herd mammals, too—but through trauma, chronic stress, attachment wounds, and the demands of modern life, many of us learn to disconnect from our own internal signals.

When that connection is disrupted, our nervous system can become an unreliable narrator. We may experience fear when we are actually safe—or feel safe and familiar in situations that are not good for us. We may override our instincts, mistrust our emotions, or lose touch with what our bodies have been trying to tell us.

My work is about helping you restore that connection—to your body, your emotions, your instincts, your boundaries, and ultimately, to yourself. Because as you become more connected to yourself, you become more capable of authentically connecting with the people and the world around you.

Connection to yourself is your birthright. And from that connection, you can build a life that truly feels worth living..

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, NV

    Multi-state telehealth available

    • RLT Certification – Terry Real

    • PIT Training – Pia Mellody lineage

    • AEDP - Diana Fosha

    • Sensorimotor Psychotherapy - Pat Ogden


    • 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

  • • 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!