Hi! I’m Christi Baggett Stanforth, and I hold an LPC license in Colorado and an LCMHCA license in North Carolina. I completed a master’s in counseling at North Carolina Central University in 2014, and since then I have worked in private practice in North Carolina and at LifeStance Health in Colorado, offering therapy for mood disorders, trauma, and various other issues to individuals from 18 to 80+ years old.
Clients struggling with issues like anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, grief, complex trauma, OCD behaviors, and general questions about their life’s direction or meaning can address them with me. My approach to therapy is based in mindfulness, but my focus isn’t limited to the here and now. Since so many struggles are rooted in childhood, I often find it necessary to spend some time investigating the past. I also believe that an analysis of the systems a client is and has been embedded in—including family, socioeconomic, and cultural dynamics—can be helpful in identifying some of the thought patterns and metaphors that might be holding clients back and offering alternative metaphors that might serve them better. (Many of my favorite images involve water: I’m a Pisces who loves to swim and kayak. 😉)
When we meet, I hope you’ll feel safe enough to share your deepest beliefs and fears, to discuss what’s bothering you, and to laugh, complain, cry, or just talk without getting a judgmental response. I may not be able to “fix” you—you yourself will be the real source of any change—but I’ll hear and see you, listen with warmth and compassion, and celebrate your strengths. You can leave sessions feeling calmer and more focused, sturdier and more hopeful, with a deeper self-understanding and with new habits that promote wellness. I work within a person-centered framework of empathy and unconditional positive regard for each client, and I draw from psychodynamic, existentialist, narrative, systems, and other theories. I use several modalities, including CBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Internal Family Systems.
Counseling is my second career. After I finished an MA in English in 1990, I began working as a copyeditor and project editor for academic publishers, and I still do that work part-time, partly because taking on fewer clients allows me to be more fully present with them. And my two occupations, editing and mental health counseling, actually require many of the same skills. Whether the “project” is a manuscript or a person, the job is not about me; it’s about taking what someone has presented, respecting their voice, and finding ways to make meanings clearer.