About Christy
Christy Alten is a licensed counselor with more than 31 years of clinical experience. She holds LPC-MH and LMHC credentials and practices in Iowa. She focuses on helping people who are dealing with addictions, anxiety, depression, and major life transitions.
Christy centers her work on practical, evidence-informed tools alongside meaning and values. Sessions are direct and down-to-earth. She aims to make therapy a safe, nonjudgmental space where people can talk about pain and hope.
How Christy works
Her background includes long experience with addiction work and supporting staff who care for others. She has provided clinical supervision and professional development for more than 22 years. That experience informs how she organizes treatment and supports people through change.
Christy uses approaches such as cognitive behavioral methods, dialectical behavior strategies, and client-centered practices. She also draws on existential ideas about purpose and the Gottman Method for relationship concerns. Therapy is tailored to the person and their situation rather than a single fixed plan.
Typical concerns she addresses include stress, sleep problems, grief, parenting strain, codependency, and struggles with control or emptiness. She also works with mood disorders, bipolar symptoms, and substance use challenges. The focus is on clear goals, coping skills, and rebuilding daily routines.
Clients who benefit tend to want a mix of practical techniques and deeper conversations about meaning. Christy invites honest talk, active participation, and a collaborative plan to reach specific goals.
Christy lists 10 ways of working on the entry:
What Christy works with
The areas below are the ones Christy selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Registers | LPC-MH, LMHC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 31 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Iowa |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Therapeutic approaches suited to online work
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and meeting a person where they are. In practice this means the therapist follows the client's lead, reflects what they say, and helps them find their own solutions; it can help with low self-esteem, loneliness, and navigating major life changes.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. Sessions teach specific skills to change unhelpful thinking and build new habits, which helps with anxiety, depression, sleep issues, and coping with stress.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT, teaches emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and better interpersonal skills. It is useful for mood instability, anger, codependency, and managing strong emotions.
Choosing an approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, preferences, and day-to-day needs, then use elements from these methods to create a plan together. Treatment can shift over time as needs change.
Online therapy offers multiple ways to connect that fit different lives. Video calls allow full conversation and visual cues, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat suits short check-ins, and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make scheduling easier and help people fit therapy into busy routines.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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