How Christy works
Practical facts
- Credentials
- LPC-MH, LMHC
- Licensed in
- South Dakota, Iowa
- Years in practice
- 31
- Languages
- English
- Session format
- Online, through our partner platform
About Christy
Christy Alten is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Mental Health and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with more than 31 years in practice. She brings long experience working with adults and adolescents who struggle with addictions, mood concerns, and life stress. Christy emphasizes hope and purpose as people make changes and find steadier footing.
Her approach blends straightforward talk with practical skills. She uses client-centered listening to understand each person’s priorities. She also draws on cognitive behavioral strategies and dialectical behavior ideas to help manage intense feelings and change unhelpful patterns.
Background and approach
Christy often helps people facing anger, anxiety, depression, grief, sleep problems, and relationship strain. She supports those coping with career transitions, parenting stress, codependency, and substance use concerns. Her work includes attention to family of origin issues and life purpose questions.
She integrates an existential and spiritual perspective when clients want it, and uses evidence-informed techniques such as CBT, DBT, and Gottman tools to teach new skills. Christy has a long history of supervising and mentoring newer clinicians, and she understands the pressures helpers face. Sessions are offered from her Iowa practice and conducted in English.
She aims to build a collaborative plan with each person, focusing on clear goals and steps to reach them. People who want to work on anger management, coping skills, or addiction recovery may find her style direct, supportive, and goal oriented.
What Christy works with
Everything Christy lists, in the therapist's own terms. Anger is the reason this directory exists; the rest tells you what usually sits alongside it in Christy's practice.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Self esteem
- Depression
- Coping with life changes
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- Abandonment
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Christy lists
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Existential Therapy
- Gottman Method
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist names and does not check training records.
How Christy’s Approaches Work Online
Client-centered therapy focuses on understanding each person's priorities and building a plan from their goals. It involves reflective listening and guiding questions so people feel heard and can choose the changes they want to make.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, helps identify thought and behavior patterns that contribute to problems. It teaches simple exercises and homework to change unhelpful thinking and build healthier habits, which can help with anger, anxiety, and mood issues.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, emphasizes skills for managing intense emotions, tolerating distress, and improving relationships. It offers practical tools for stress tolerance and emotion regulation that can be practiced between sessions.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will review a person’s goals, preferences, and daily life, then suggest methods to try. Adjustments are made as work progresses so the plan fits the client’s needs and pace.
Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video is useful for richer interaction and skills coaching, phone calls can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat and texting are good for brief check-ins or when messaging fits a schedule. These options let people fit therapy into work, parenting, or travel demands while keeping regular contact with a licensed professional.
Questions people ask about Christy
What concerns does she commonly address?
She works with stress, anxiety, addictions, depression, anger, grief, sleep problems, self-esteem, parenting strain, and career transitions among other issues.
What is her therapeutic style like?
Her style is client-centered and practical. She combines listening with skill teaching from cognitive behavioral and dialectical approaches when useful.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She has been practicing for 31 years, including long experience with addictions and mental health concerns and many years providing clinical supervision.
What credentials and location are listed?
She holds LPC-MH and LMHC credentials and practices in Iowa with prior licensure experience in South Dakota noted in her background.
Which languages and international clients are supported?
Sessions are offered in English. International clients are not currently accepted.
What session formats are available?
She offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different needs and schedules.
How are fees and subscriptions handled?
Costs vary with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What are the first steps to begin working together?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.