About Christina
Christina Collins helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and the effects of trauma and abuse. She supports concerns around parenting, grief, self-esteem, career changes, ADHD, and LGBT issues. Christina brings 13 years of clinical experience and holds licenses in Illinois and Indiana as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor.
She speaks English and practices from Illinois. Christina’s approach is collaborative and direct. She listens first to understand each person’s situation and priorities.
Background and approach
Then she offers practical strategies drawn from a range of approaches to help with immediate problems and longer-term patterns. Sessions focus on the present and actionable steps, though past experiences that still affect daily life can be explored when helpful. Christina uses tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to change unhelpful thinking and behavior.
She also draws on dialectical behavior therapy skills for emotional regulation and distress tolerance. For people who have experienced traumatic events, Christina can use eye movement desensitization and reprocessing to reduce the intensity of painful memories. Motivational interviewing is used when someone needs help finding motivation to make a change or set new goals.
Her style is warm, straightforward, and client-centered. Christina treats each person as the expert on their life and works together with them to build a plan that fits their goals and daily reality.
Practical approaches for online sessions
Christina commonly uses cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy to help people change unhelpful thoughts and handle strong emotions. CBT focuses on identifying and shifting thought patterns and behaviors that maintain anxiety or depression. DBT offers concrete skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and improved interpersonal effectiveness.She also uses eye movement desensitization and reprocessing for people coping with traumatic memories. EMDR aims to reduce the emotional intensity of painful memories so they interfere less with day-to-day life. Christina will work with each person to decide which approach, or combination of approaches, seems most likely to meet their needs and goals in a collaborative way.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which allow sessions to fit around work, school, or family schedules. Phone sessions can be useful when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text messaging are effective for shorter check-ins, tracking progress between sessions, or staying connected during a busy week. These options make it easier to maintain continuity of care and try different approaches without changing location.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Career difficulties
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intellectual disability
- Midlife crisis
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- Illinois, Indiana
- Languages
- English