ABOUT ME
Hello, I'm Deanna Cristel, and for 20 years, I have been providing therapy to individuals and families. You're probably wondering a few things about me. Like, whether I understand what you’re going through and how I can help you? Those are great questions.
I enjoy working with children, tweens, teenagers, and adults. I specialize in working with those dealing with the effects of trauma, attachment issues, PTSD, anxiety, depression, perinatal mood and anxiety (supporting new moms and dads), and relationship difficulties. I am well seasoned in partnering with struggling parents, helping them get unstuck from frustrating patterns at home. I offer Emotion Coaching that teaches families to co-regulate, manage big emotions and build stronger bonds. Now more than ever, our young people need emotional support and effective interventions to help them successfully navigate today. In light of the constraints COVID created, many young people struggle to integrate back into a new normal. Undoubtedly, the impacts of a pandemic have added some complexity to our children’s development. Kids are resilient, and research from neuroscience informs us of the benefits of intervening sooner than later, as their young brains are still developing and ripe for healing and repair.
I have benefited from doing my own work in therapy. Throughout my life, during dry and difficult seasons, I have been helped by partnering with a therapist. Being the client, I believe, makes me a better therapist! I have experienced the freedom that is found in being deeply known. For me, therapy is a sacred space that offers this freedom. Over the years, I have experienced and observed in others that the healing process can be a catalyst for a profound awakening to emotional, relational, and genuine spiritual transformation.
Therapy is offered from my office in Gig Harbor, WA, or your home or wherever you are!
I provide the option of in-person or telehealth sessions. If you choose telehealth this means that we will meet through a secure video platform. All you need is a strong internet connection and a computer, tablet, or phone.
HOW I’M DIFFERENT
If you seek traditional talk therapy, let me explain why I am not the therapist for you. Talk therapy usually tries to help by using insight and understanding to manage behavior or reduce symptoms. However, neuroscience research shows that very few psychological problems result from defects in understanding; most originate in pressures from deeper regions in the brain that drive our perception and attention. We can change the way we feel by becoming aware of our inner experiences and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves. I liken it to an iceberg; we only see the tip, about 10% of what is there. We tend to want to talk about and focus our attention there. The rest lies beneath the surface. This is where I apply skillful care in being present, curious, without expectation, and discovering together what is not yet seen.
My work as a therapist is not to get rid of your suffering but to learn together how to suffer well. This means that with repair and healing comes the capability and capacity within yourself to navigate the full breadth of life, and relationships, both the joys and heartaches, with competency. For some, this is experienced as a renewed connection to their voice and authority; for others coming back to seeking playfulness and approaching life with delight and curiosity.
LIFESPAN INTEGRATION FOR CLINICIANS WORKING TOWARD CERTIFICATION: It is my privilege to provide Lifespan Integration Therapy to clinicians pursuing certification. Over the years, I have consistently witnessed clients/therapists rapidly find healing and wholeness by utilizing the various protocols of LI. Candidates for certification must do their own personal sessions of LI with a certified LI therapist. Learn More→
TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
I'm licensed in Washington and California as a Marriage and Family Therapist (#LH00002656). I have a Master's degree in Marital and Family Therapy (2001) and a Bachelor's degree in Interpersonal Communication Studies (1999) from the University of San Diego.
I started my clinical training at San Diego’s Rady Children’s Hospital in the Outpatient Psychiatry Department. I worked with children and their families on solution-focused care, providing individual and family therapy. Often, I found providing parenting support without the child present to be the most effective way to equip the family for positive change and growth. Later, I worked for 12 years at Tacoma’s Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in the Parenting Partnership Program. I provided attachment-based care to parents who had medically fragile infants needing support in the NICU. There, I became grounded in the work of attachment science and its implications for healthy development throughout the lifespan.
I began my private practice in 2011 and took a respite from practicing in 2019 as I journeyed through a health crisis. Stepping away from my work allowed me the space I needed to give attention and care to myself and my family as we suffered well through that season.
I am trained as a systems therapist, a branch of psychology that focuses on how an individual's personal relationships, behavior patterns, and life choices are interconnected. Systems theory looks at how parts of a system affect one another to sustain the stability and equilibrium of the whole system. It works to resolve unconscious learning and promote differentiation and patterns of behavior that affect an individual's life.
My clinical work is grounded in family systems, attachment science, and neuropsychology. I draw clinical insights from Bowen family systems, particularly the concept of the Differentiation of Self. Self-differentiation involves possessing and identifying your own thoughts and feelings and distinguishing them from others. It's a process of keeping a connection to self while holding a deep connection to others, including those you love whose views may differ from yours.
Attachment science informs us that we all have a biological drive toward and need for safety and security. We can not change on any level without it being present and available. This is the “nest” or secure base from which I work. Providing a safe and secure space in therapy is the springboard for discovering the benefits of the latest clinical interventions in neuropsychology.
The field of neuropsychology is being revolutionized! When I started graduate school back in 1999, I was taught that the brain was fixed and unable to change once it was hard-wired. However, this has been proven not to be true! I am daily inspired by interventions that target the plasticity of the brain. I am certified in Lifespan Integration Therapy.
My work is trauma informed by the research and clinical works of Stephen Porges(Poly Vagal Theory), Daniel Siegel, Bessel A. van der Kolk and Peter Levine.
FAMILY THERAPY without the family, wait, WHAT?
I offer Emotion Coaching for parents in which insights from attachment theory and neuroscience are embodied in an effective and compassionate form of family counseling, focusing on the relationship between parents and kids without the kids in the room. Throughout the years of fine-tuning my craft, I have found this way of working to be the most efficient modality for treating younger kids and, at times, tweens and teenagers too! Honestly, I believe that this work is more necessary now than ever before. The learning that transpires in sessions creates new learning opportunities within your home, especially in those stuck and frustrating patterns. Providing a safe and nurturing space for parents to become more aware and emotionally healthy allows their children to reap the rewards and move toward health themselves. Neuropsychiatrist Daniel Siegel explains it best, “Integrating and cultivating your own brain is one of the most loving and generous gifts you can give your children.” Learn More→
THERAPY CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE YOU HAVE BEEN HOPING FOR