Kristen Gaughan , LPC

Kristen Gaughan is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) practicing in Pennsylvania with 23 years of experience in behavioral health. She decided to be a counselor as a teen and has since worked across many treatment settings. Kristen focuses on practical help for people facing emotional pain and life disruption. She is known for steady, direct support and respectful listening.

Kristen helps people with anxiety, stress, depression, and trauma. She also addresses addictions and process addictions like gambling, eating, and compulsive behaviors. People come to her for help with grief, intimacy concerns, parenting strain, and career stress. She also supports those coping with chronic illness, caregiver burnout, and first responder stress.

Her training includes a Bachelor’s degree from York College of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. Kristen uses many approaches to match a person’s needs rather than a single fixed method. She draws on emotion-focused work and client-centered listening to guide sessions.

Kristen often combines short-term goal work with deeper exploration. That can mean setting concrete steps one week and looking at patterns the next. She uses motivational techniques when people want change but feel stuck. She also applies psychodynamic ideas to help people understand long-standing patterns rooted in relationships and early experience.

Sessions move at a practical pace. Kristen aims to help people notice what matters, try small changes, and build toward more stable coping. She welcomes people dealing with women’s issues and the many concerns listed here, and she works with international clients in English.

How Kristen’s Approaches Work Online

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and helping people find their own answers. In an online session this means the therapist reflects what matters most and supports each person’s goals. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) looks at patterns in relationships and feelings. EFT online can help people notice how emotions shape reactions and try new ways of connecting. Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative, goal-focused method that helps people resolve mixed feelings about change and build motivation for action.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. Kristen will talk with each person about their goals and try different methods to find the best fit. That collaborative process means methods can shift over time as needs and progress change.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and messaging work well for quick updates, ongoing support between sessions, or when writing feels more comfortable. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to keep continuity across schedules and locations.