Kirsten Probst-Santha , LCSW

Kirsten Probst-Santha is a licensed clinical social worker who focuses on helping people facing stress, anxiety, self-esteem struggles, parenting challenges, and major life changes. She offers a calm, straightforward style that aims to make first steps feel more manageable and less overwhelming.

Kirsten uses a collaborative, client-centered approach to understand each person's priorities. Sessions often focus on practical skills such as emotional regulation and coping strategies. She also draws on approaches that target unhelpful thinking and build clearer communication habits.

Her background includes work in school, residential, and community-based settings. That experience informs how she supports people dealing with trauma, grief, relationship strain, and caregiver stress. She is familiar with concerns related to adoption and foster care, blended family issues, and fertility and parenting stress.

Kirsten holds the LCSW credential, and she is licensed in North Carolina and Illinois. In sessions she usually blends short-term solutions with skills practice and deeper emotional work when needed. People often leave with concrete tools they can use between meetings.

She accepts clients from outside the United States and offers care in English. Therapy may include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and needs. To begin, a short matching questionnaire helps pair people with a schedule that works for them.

Approaches that guide online work and practical care

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to the person in front of the therapist. It emphasizes empathy and helping people set their own goals, which is useful for parenting stress, self-esteem issues, and life transitions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact. It uses simple exercises to shift unhelpful thinking and build new habits, which can help with anxiety, depression, and coping during change.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT, teaches clear skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and improved communication. Those tools are often helpful for managing anger, intense emotions, or relationship conflicts.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That decision can change over time as progress is made and priorities shift.

Online sessions are offered by licensed professionals in several formats: video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for in-depth conversations and skills practice, while phone sessions can be easier when internet bandwidth is limited. Live chat and messaging let people check in between meetings or use shorter touchpoints during a busy day. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or travel schedules.