About Christine Harker

For almost a quarter-century, as a university professor in the Midwest, I taught Medieval Literature and Environmental Studies. Over that time, I noticed students were increasingly more anxious, more depressed, and more likely to feel overwhelmed than the ones who came before them. Who could blame them? The world in which they are growing up is categorically more chaotic, disrupted, and dangerous than any before.

In light of the widespread need for more mental health professionals, I left teaching and made a late career change, retraining as a mental health counselor, with emphases on mindfulness-based therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Additionally, I am a Certified ClinicalTrauma Professional (CCTP). These clinical skills support my experience and training in addressing chronic emotional dysregulation and suicidality, loss and bereavement, and climate grief and eco-anxiety. Most recently, I recently discovered Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT) as a missing puzzle piece in the treatment of clients with overcontrolled (OC) coping styles: RO-DBT brings me full circle, recognizing the hallmark difficulties of OC in my former students. I am honored to join the Open Concepts Therapy team, dedicated to a joint DBT/RO-DBT focus.

Does any of this resonate with your challenges? Perhaps chronic depression or difficulties making meaningful connection with others? Or possibly a lifetime burden of perfectionism or harsh self-judgment? Perhaps you feel overwhelmed by the daily impact of news about wildfires, unending wars, the threat of the global economy? Maybe you’ve endured a loss and find it hard to carry on with such a weight on your shoulders. Whatever your distress, you do not need to suffer in isolation: let’s have a conversation.