Spend a few minutes with Christina Maxwell, and her genuine spirit and zest for life become clear. Empathetic and encouraging, she has a positive approach with clients and quickly puts people at ease. She operates as an active therapist, utilizing homework and working on practical solutions while teaching patients how to manage their anxiety. She is able to quickly establish rapport with children and adolescents and understands the need for parents to have tools and guidance in best responding to their anxious child. She provides suggestions and prompts for a variety of situations and works closely with parents and loved ones to support their anxious family member. Utilizing mindfulness and compassion-focused therapy techniques, her goal is to provide you with the ability to successfully manage situations on your own.
Christina works with adults and children as young as 5 and uses her natural humor to establish rapport with children and adolescents. She is most interested in helping patients learn to manage their own anxiety and OCD. Parents are often surprised at how willing their children are to work with and confide in Christina. In addition, she has experience with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive spectrum, PTSD, and mood disorders.
Outside the office, Christina and her husband are busy managing their own brood of three young boys. After 11 years in Boston, she is appreciating the sights of Chicago and the slower pace of the Midwest. A health enthusiast, she relaxes with a daily run or yoga class and enjoys reading and traveling.
Christina earned her Masters of Arts Degree in Counseling Psychology from Boston College. She worked in a variety of clinical settings in the Boston area, where she provided individual and family therapy to children, adolescents, and adults. As she trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), she found that an active, engaged treatment approach resulted in a more responsive and sustainable change. She received further training in Trauma-Focused CBT, as well as a certification in Parent Management Training. Christina has completed specialized training in Pediatric OCD from the prestigious Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) through the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF). She is a member of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) and the IOCDF. Christina is a licensed counselor in both Illinois and Massachusetts and is thus able to provide telecounseling to Massachusetts residents from our Deerfield office.