Kristen Patryna, LPC

Kristen Patryna is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) based in Pennsylvania who helps people manage anxiety, depression, stress, and related concerns. She builds a calm, respectful space where clients feel heard and can work toward real change. Kristen favors practical skills alongside listening so clients can use new tools outside sessions.

She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, client-centered methods, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy to match the needs of each person. Sessions often include problem solving, emotion regulation, and ways to reduce unhelpful thinking and behaviors. Kristen teaches skills like mindfulness, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness to support daily life.

Her background includes seven years of clinical experience working in outpatient settings with individuals and groups. That variety helps her tailor sessions to different learning styles and goals. She emphasizes equality in the therapeutic relationship and invites feedback during the work.

Kristen often focuses on anxiety-related issues but also addresses addictions, trauma and abuse, parenting strain, self-esteem, and life changes. Other common areas she supports include communication problems, mood concerns, obsessions and compulsions, panic, and young adult issues.

The first steps typically involve clarifying goals and trying simple strategies to test what helps. Over time, sessions mix skill-building with problem solving and reflection so clients can notice progress between appointments.

How Kristen’s Approaches Work Online

Kristen uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors; CBT is often useful for anxiety, mood concerns, panic, and obsessive thinking. Client-centered therapy is also part of her work, which means she prioritizes listening, understanding each person's experience, and adapting the pace to what they need. Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills are taught when helpful to build emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and better interpersonal effectiveness.

Choosing an approach is a shared process. Kristen will talk with each person about goals and preferences, try strategies together, and adjust the plan when something is not working. That collaborative process helps match skills and techniques to the client’s real-world needs rather than applying a single method across the board.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and screen-sharing for worksheets, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth or camera use is limited, and live chat or text-based messaging support shorter check-ins or ongoing coaching between appointments. These formats help fit therapy into busy schedules and make it easier to keep practicing skills between sessions.