About Kristen
Dr. Kristen Pavela is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with a doctorate in social work and ten years of practice. She has worked in Wisconsin as a clinical social worker and substance abuse counselor, helping people with a wide range of concerns.
Her manner is warm and interactive, and she focuses on treating people with respect and compassion. She sees stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma and abuse, and anger as common problems she can help people talk through.
Background and approach
She also supports those facing relationship strain, intimacy challenges, grief, career stress, and issues around parenting and fatherhood. Other areas she addresses include attention differences, bipolar concerns, sleeping and eating problems, and compassion fatigue. Her day-to-day approach blends client-centered work with focused techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing.
She also draws on psychodynamic ideas to help people understand patterns that repeat in their lives. Sessions are tailored to each person’s needs, with conversations shaped around practical goals and clearer coping steps. Kristen aims to remove stigmatizing labels from the room.
She combines practical skill-building with attention to personal history. That mix helps people tackle immediate problems while also looking at why difficulties keep returning. People who prefer a conversational, collaborative therapist often find this style approachable.
She encourages small, manageable changes and supports people as they try new ways of handling stress and relationships.
How her approaches work in online therapy
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to the person. The therapist offers empathy and reflection so clients can find their own next steps and priorities. This approach helps when someone needs validation or wants a space to sort feelings.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at patterns of thought and behavior that keep problems going. Sessions often include practical strategies and small experiments to change thinking and reduce symptoms like anxiety or low mood. CBT is useful for stress, anxiety, sleep problems, and many day-to-day difficulties.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals and preferences. Conversations about what is working and what is not happen regularly, so the plan can shift as needed.
Online sessions offer flexibility for busy schedules. Video calls recreate an in-person conversation, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text-based messaging can be used for brief check-ins or ongoing support between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, parenting, or other obligations while keeping a steady course of care.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Wisconsin, Illinois
- Languages
- English