About Cristy
Cristy Bixler is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Illinois who helps people dealing with stress, anxiety, addictions, trauma, depression, and ADHD. She focuses on strengthening self-esteem, coping with life changes, and managing relationship and family concerns. Her approach is practical and respectful, aimed at helping people take the first steps toward clearer goals and steadier days.
Cristy uses a person-centered way of working that starts with listening.
Background and approach
Sessions are shaped around what each person needs and what feels doable for them. She brings motivational interviewing to conversations to help people find their own reasons for change and to build momentum toward those goals. Cristy also applies cognitive behavioral techniques to identify unhelpful thinking patterns and to try different behaviors in daily life.
Dialectical behavior ideas are used to teach emotion regulation and distress-tolerance skills when strong feelings become overwhelming. Together these methods offer concrete tools people can use between sessions. Her background includes seven years of clinical experience in community and clinical settings.
She has supported people through grief, self-harm behaviors, substance use concerns, and complicated family dynamics. Cristy emphasizes respect, dignity, and a strengths-based view when planning therapy. Sessions are tailored to each person and their pace.
She aims to create a space where small steps are noticed, practiced, and built on. That steady, collaborative focus helps people move toward outcomes that matter to them.
Practical approaches for online sessions
Client-centered work focuses on the person’s experience and priorities. Cristy listens first, then helps set goals that feel meaningful and manageable for each person. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) breaks down unhelpful thoughts and tests new behaviors in everyday life to reduce symptoms and improve routines. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) offers skills for regulating intense emotions and handling moments of crisis without resorting to harmful behaviors.Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Cristy will talk with each person about their goals, try different techniques, and adjust the plan as needed. She emphasizes short-term tools and longer-term skill building so people can see progress and keep refining what works best for them.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video calls let people use visual cues and screen-sharing for worksheets. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text messaging support quick check-ins, homework review, or step-by-step coaching between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, caregiving, or school commitments.
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What this therapist works with
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 7 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
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