Christen Nelson

MS, LPC, NCC

Email: christen@refugecounseling.com

Phone: 208-960-7163

I love working with couples. I am passionate about marriage. I have declared war on divorce. It is through a deep sense of emotional safety, relational attunement, and loving responsiveness that we can experience the gift of marriage. 

I particularly enjoy working with couples experiencing relationship distress. I value helping couples gain the skills to enjoy passionate, deeply connected relationships. I believe that great relationships require more than just “better communication skills,” and love helping couples gain the insight to increase intimacy and deep connection.  

I believe in challenging my couples to achieve their goals, all while supporting each unique person with unconditional acceptance. While I love the standard, “How does that make you feel?” question, I believe good counseling must go deeper. I ask my clients to work as hard as I am and challenge them to do so. My style of counseling is direct, passionate, engaged, and (hopefully) fun.

I profess a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and am comfortable exploring issues of spirituality throughout the counseling process. However, you need not be a Christian to participate in counseling with me. I will always respect your personal belief system and seek to provide an environment of dignity and respect to all.

Personal Interests

I have three beautiful and brilliant babies and an amazing husband whom I love to try and impress whenever possible (mostly with cooking very flavorful dinners and my ability to name types of construction vehicles—neither of which is a natural talent). I believe laughter is definitely some of the best medicine and try to have a sense of humor about most things. I love any sort of game or sport I might win at, as I relish some good-old-fashioned competition.

Qualifications

• Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Idaho

• National Certified Counselor

• Master of Science in Counseling, Northwest Nazarene University

• Bachelor of Arts in Cinema and Broadcast Arts, Azusa Pacific University

Specialties

• Marriage/couples

• Trauma

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Spiritual issues