My Story

When I was very young, my grandmother told me I would be a psychologist or a counselor. I don’t know how she knew, but she was adamant about this all the way up into my adulthood. I, however, wanted to be a performer. In my late teens and twenties, I became an actor, a musician, and a traveler, and I was lucky for many years to be able to perform in many places.

But eventually I realized two things: I wasn’t completely fulfilled as a performer, and…my grandmother (I called her Nanny) was right. I enjoyed listening to, relating to, and helping others, and folks kept coming to me to share their worries and/or their burdens. Nanny sadly passed away before I went back to school to became a counselor, but I am still inspired by what she saw in me, and I hope that she is proud of the work I do.

This work is dedicated to all those who came before me, to those who made me who I am, and to those who supported me in becoming all that I am. Thank you.

My Journey to Becoming a Counselor

I was raised in South Texas, in multiple households growing up, with many family arrangements and dynamics. In one household, I was the oldest of a whole slew of cousins, all of us coming in and out, all cared for by our great aunt and uncle. In another, I had two half siblings, my dad and stepmom. In another, I was an only child with my mom and stepdad. I also traveled with my grandmother, or visited with multiple extended family’s homes. Because of this, I have a comfort with and acceptance of multiple ways of living, and many family structures and beliefs. I tend to be laid back now after a childhood of moving around, and I like to make people comfortable being themselves, the way I wanted to feel as a kid!

In my 20s, I experienced many losses and the grief that followed them. I lived with depression and anxiety, and I struggled with addictions – and I just didn’t understand who I was or who I wanted to be. I travelled and performed and tried on all kinds of stories of who I was – until I began to write my own story. I realized that I was the only one who could decide what I wanted in life, and who I wanted to be - and I began my path toward becoming a counselor.

Finding Drama Therapy

I noticed that as a performer, I had the power to provide transformative experiences for audiences as well as myself, and I began to see the arts as therapeutic. This led me to finding Drama Therapy (an approach that uses theater games and playful processes to look at and work with clients’ stories and issues. No, this doesn’t mean I am going to make you “Act.” - Unless you want to, of course. LOL). I love hearing people’s stories, the roles they play in them, how their plots and patterns have developed and how those patterns might now be getting in that person’s way. I like to help folks empower themselves, to practice being the main character of their story (instead of just the side character in someone else’s story). For more information, see the Registered Drama Therapist badge at the bottom of this page.

A Collaborative Approach to Your Healing

Because I’ve had the time to experience my own struggles and my own journeys, I feel I have much more capacity to understand and to hold space for others. Today, I specialize in anxiety, adult ADHD, grief, depression, and the quest for identity. I enjoy working with the LGBTQ+ communities and the Poly communities, and I feel a special affinity with both.

I strongly believe in your ability to know what’s best for you, that you are the expert in your life and what works for you, and I consider myself your assistant in discovering what that is. Together, we can collaborate on your journey of healing, and build on what works as you become something new from all you were before. As we gain trust together, we can explore your thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs, and experiment to find what is going to help support you the most: new coping skills? emotional processing? emotion regulation support? distress tolerance? motivation? self-awareness? self-compassion? I have a whole host of tools and coping skills to offer, and you get to decide how your journey will look.

Behind the Scenes

I have been with my partner now for 20+ years, and I enjoy playing music, making (and eating!) fresh food, and going for walks and hikes (gotta balance out the eating somehow!). I love trees and nature. I am a vocalist and percussionist, and I love to travel when I am able. I am an avid reader of sci-fi, comics, action, and fantasy. I love films and shows in those genres, as well as documentaries about nature and about human nature, and I tend to geek out over all of these things. My friends and family tell me they like my warm sense of humor, my story telling, and my authenticity. What you see is what you get – I tend to say exactly what I mean, and honesty and directness are important to me.

Therapy Groups and Conferences

As well as seeing individual clients, I also facilitate playful coping skills groups, for clients as well as other therapists. These groups are based in drama therapy, with games and playful interactions, and they teach DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) skills and other coping skills to help with emotion regulation, tolerating distress, interpersonal relationships, and to develop self-awareness, or mindfulness. The groups tend to meet once a week for 10 consecutive weeks, and participants are requested to commit to all ten weeks in order to create a safe space for all in the group.

Though I do use DBT skills in my work with individual clients, and some drama therapy when invited, these groups tend to be less focused on the individual, and more of an interactive, learning environment with some group processing.

Disclaimer

Please be aware that I only provide clinical, treatment focused services. I do not provide court-ordered, disability, forensic, custody, or parenting evaluations and do not write letters or offer consultations for legal purposes. As a solo provider, I am unable to provide 24 hour or immediate crisis services. If I believe that you may need a higher level of services than I can provide, I will give you referrals for other treatment options.

Christi Proffitt has a Master’s (MA) in Counseling and Drama Therapy from Antioch University, Seattle, and is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC), is a registered drama therapist (RDT), and has in-depth training and experience with substance use dependency. In addition to operating her private practice, Sheltering Tree Counseling, in the Seattle area, she has taught about her work with DBT and Drama Therapy to students at Antioch University, Seattle and the NW Creative and Expressive Arts Institute. She also presented at the Nordic Creative Arts Therapies conference in Iceland (2018).

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