
Meet Kristen Shader

I am a therapist. An artist. An adventurer. A Spiritual Guide/Teacher.
I am a witness to your worthiness, magic, and wisdom.
Together, we can honor your wild and sacred heart.
After graduating from the University of Florida (UF) with a Masters in Mental Health Counseling in 2014, I worked at the UF Counseling and Wellness Center for three years before backpacking around the world solo for 10 months. After returning to the U.S. in 2018, I followed my love of the mountains and wide open sky- and drove a carload of belongings to Denver, Colorado. There, I worked for three years supporting therapists-in-training and students at the University of Colorado Denver's Counseling Center, before taking the leap to run my private therapy practice full time in 2021. In 2025, I moved to the Bay Area to prioritize deepening my partnership and my physical health.
I currently live in Sunnyvale, California, with my partner, Ben. I enjoy forest bathing beneath the redwoods, hiking along the windy coastline, and traveling to National Parks up and down California. In my free time, I love learning new hobbies, playing boardgames, taking dance lessons, and dabbling in all sorts of creative forms of expression (music, painting, pottery, etc.). I believe in the healing power of women supporting each other, yoga, and prioritizing tuning into nature's wisdom.
A personal message to current and future clients:
As womxn, we are often taught to be quiet, keep the peace, and stay small. We are trained to forget our wild. We forget the authentic, wise Knowing that has been our birthright all along.
Much of my own work in the world has involved re-wilding: trusting my intuitive wisdom and the importance of showing up with compassion to the very human and messy parts of myself. Trusting my own ability to travel solo around the world in my late twenties for 10 months, leaving my “safe” 9-5 job in pursuit of career dreams, learning to listen tenderly to my body while navigating autoimmune challenges, and practicing showing up whole-heartedly and honestly in my romantic partnership.
Facing these fears and challenges has allowed me to show up to the work I am meant to do in this world: Supporting you in honoring your own innate wildness and badass self.
From this place, I can meet you and witness and honor the messy within you, too. Because I believe our messy is sacred. I believe that our magic and wisdom arises when we integrate and love on the parts of ourselves we hide from.
I don’t promise to have all the answers. But, I do promise to show up and hold space for all of the aching, unloved parts of you. I promise to bring resources, ideas, and perspectives that help remind you what you have known all along: There is a grounded, sacred place of wisdom and wildness within you.
You can move through and navigate any challenge from this place of wisdom.
You deserve to be seen. You deserve to have a safe space to show up authentically. A space that is all about you, in a world that has taught you to be supportive of everyone else.
I look forward to meeting you and walking beside you on your journey.
Kristen


Licenses & Certifications
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Licensed Professional Counselor, State of Colorado (LPC.0014451)
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Licensed Mental Health Counselor, State of Florida (MH14622)
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Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, State of California (LPCC21905)
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Reiki First Degree Certified Practitioner, 2026
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National Certified Counselor, 2014
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M.Ed./Ed.S. Mental Health Counseling, University of Florida, 2014
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BS Psychology & BA Sociology, University of Florida, 2011
Recommended Readings (A Few of My Favorite Books)
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Brach, Tara: Radical Acceptance
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Clifford, M. Amos: Your Guide to Forest Bathing: Experience the Hidden Power of Nature
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Chodron, Pema: When Things Fall Apart
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Dass, Ram: Be Here Now
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Gottman & Silver: The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
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Hammond, Claudia: The Art of Rest: How to Find Respite in the Modern Age
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Murphy-Hiscock, Arin: The Green Witch: Your Complete Guide to the Natural Magic of Herbs, Flowers, Essential Oils, and More
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Nagoski, Emily: Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life
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Rumi, Jalal al-Din: The Essential Rumi
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Singer, Michael: The Untethered Soul
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Tolle, Eckhart: The Power of Now
