About Christine
Christine Penwell is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Tennessee who helps people manage anxiety, stress, and life changes. She works with individuals facing relationship and family concerns, parenting challenges, trauma and abuse, and issues around self-esteem and intimacy. Her approach is direct and empathetic, aimed at practical steps people can use between sessions.
She emphasizes listening first and following the client's lead. Sessions focus on understanding patterns that keep problems going and on finding small, doable changes.
Background and approach
Christine draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to identify unhelpful thoughts and on attachment-based ideas to address how past relationships affect current ones. Her work also incorporates client-centered care and elements of dialectical behavior therapy to build emotion regulation and communication skills. Motivational interviewing helps when someone feels stuck or unsure about change.
These methods are used to craft a plan that fits a person’s life and goals. Christine has seven years of experience and has worked across several states prior to Tennessee. She commonly supports people handling adoption and foster care dynamics, attachment concerns, autism and Asperger syndrome-related issues, and the fallout from domestic violence or family separation.
She also addresses less visible struggles like guilt, shame, hoarding, and dissociation. In sessions she aims to be warm and straightforward. Clients can expect a mix of talking, practical exercises, and skill-building.
The focus is on manageable progress so people feel steadier between appointments.
How therapy approaches translate to online care
Attachment-based work looks at how early relationships shape current reactions and connections; it helps people understand why they respond a certain way in close relationships and supports building different patterns. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying thoughts and behaviors that fuel anxiety or low mood and teaches skills to change them through practice and small experiments. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) adds tools for managing strong emotions and improving interpersonal effectiveness when feelings feel overwhelming.Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will talk with each person about their needs, goals, and preferences and together decide which methods to try first. Sessions evolve based on what is working, with adjustments made to match a client's pace and life demands.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls are useful for deeper conversations and face-to-face interaction. Phone sessions can be a lower-bandwidth option or work better when movement is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging allow brief check-ins, ongoing support, and tools between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into workdays, parenting schedules, and busy lives while still focusing on concrete skills and progress.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 7 years
- Licensed
- Tennessee
- Languages
- English
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