About Challis
Challis Russell is a licensed professional counselor who helps people facing stress, anxiety, relationship strain, and the ups and downs of life. She writes and talks plainly in sessions to help clients name what feels hard and build practical steps forward. Her style aims to be warm and straightforward so people feel heard and understood quickly.
Challis earned a master’s degree in clinical counseling from Johns Hopkins University. She has five years of experience working in community settings and with a range of life concerns.
Background and approach
Her work has included supporting people coping with depression, trauma and abuse, addiction, and mood challenges such as bipolar disorder. She uses client-centered methods to make conversations focus on each person’s priorities. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy tools are part of sessions to help change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors.
Mindfulness techniques are added when people want skills for emotion regulation and stress relief. Challis also brings solution-focused strategies to short-term goals like improving communication, managing anger, or navigating a life transition. She pays attention to attachment and adoption-related issues when they are relevant to the concerns presented.
The aim is to create clear, manageable steps a person can try between sessions. Sessions are offered in English and she works with people in South Carolina as well as international clients online. Her approach emphasizes collaboration and practical plans that fit each person’s day-to-day life.
How these approaches work online
Challis uses client-centered therapy to focus sessions around what each person says matters most. That means conversations start with the client’s priorities and the therapist follows the client’s lead, offering reflection and support that fit the individual’s goals.She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which breaks problems into thoughts, feelings, and actions. CBT lets people try simple experiments and new behaviors between sessions to reduce anxiety, manage depression, and change patterns that get in the way of daily life.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with clients to choose strategies that match their needs and preferences. Goals, pace, and techniques are revisited together as progress is made.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions are useful for deeper conversations and visual cues. Phone sessions can be a better fit when bandwidth is limited or when people need a shorter check-in. Live chat and messaging work well for quick updates, homework support, or for people who prefer writing over speaking. These options give flexibility for scheduling, help therapy fit into busy days, and make it easier to keep momentum between meetings.
Questions people ask
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What this counselor works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed
- South Carolina, North Carolina
- Languages
- English