Chris Chandler, MA, LPCC, CSAT, AF-EMDR
/in Online Counseling, San Diego ADHD, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Chemical Dependency, Codependency, Counseling for Teens, Depression, Family Counseling, Grief and Loss, Group Counseling, Individual counseling, Men’s Issues, Relationship Issues, Sexual Addiction, Trauma /by San Diego Counselor
Chris Chandler, MA, LPCC, CSAT, AF-EMDR
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor #6281
Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist
Attachment Focused EMDR Counselor
(619) 930-9495
I am passionate about helping clients build healthier and more enjoyable lives that are honoring to God and themselves. No matter what you are struggling with, we will actively work to cultivate healthy changes in your life today, heal the painful parts of your past, and strengthen hope and vision for your future.
I am a full-time Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over 15 years of experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in a wide range of contexts. I have extensive experience working with all forms of addictive and compulsive behaviors as well as issues such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, grief/loss, ADHD, OCD, PTSD, and Christian/spiritual direction concerns.
San Diego, CA – Monday, Tuesday and Friday
Online Counseling – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
I have chosen to devote my life work to helping men and women recover from addictive, compulsive, and self-medicating patterns in order to be free to live the abundant life Jesus invites us into. I offer expertise in working with all forms of addictions and compulsions including but not limited to: drugs/alcohol, sex, pornography, love, food, spending, gambling, video games, and codependency. Additionally, I work extensively with the interaction of addictions and mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, and trauma. A majority of the time, if an individual struggles with one of these issues, they end up struggling with several. I address these concerns from a variety of angles including individual, family, couples, and group therapy.
My Goal as a Christian Counselor
My goal is to meet you in whatever you are struggling with and walk with you toward healing, hope, and health. I approach counseling from a client-centered strength-based perspective, tailoring my methods to your unique strengths and needs. I am educated and trained in a wide variety of therapeutic models and I will aim to integrate these in ways that uniquely relate to you.
I think of myself as a personal trainer: I will provide tools and resources that you can use to empower yourself as you cultivate health and freedom. Very often, I will work on goal setting and assign homework to hone the skills learned in therapy. I am an active counselor who will give you regular feedback and direction. I also enjoy using humor and having fun while working together.
As much as possible, it is my goal to provide brief solution-focused therapy to all my clients. I hope to help you get good at life, not at coming to therapy.
What I Offer in Christian Counseling
I believe sustainable, wholehearted change requires addressing all aspects of how God created you (biological, psychological, social, and spiritual).
Improving biological health involves healing and changing anything in your physical body that impacts your overall wellbeing, such as sleep, diet, exercise, biochemistry, physical pain, etc. You can love Jesus with your whole heart and have great healthy relationships and positive views of yourself but if you suffer from low levels of serotonin, chronic pain, or just stay up all night eating gummy worms and drinking Mountain Dew, it is going to make the rest of the healing process more challenging. We will work to help you correct unhealthy behaviors in these areas and build a solid biological foundation to support the rest of your personal healing and growth.
Improving psychological health involves acknowledging and changing unhealthy thought patterns and engaging undesirable emotions more effectively, as well as healing early attachment wounds and/or relational traumas experienced earlier in life. These core wounds are wired so deeply in your lower brain and nervous system that they are quite literally more felt in your body than consciously thought about in your mind. Behavioral changes alone are not likely to heal these deeper wounds that require more experiential rewiring.
Improving social health involves helping you relate to others in more meaningful ways. You will struggle to thrive as long as you are living in relational isolation, abuse, secrecy, incongruence, conflict, codependence, etc. It is imperative for you to learn to live in relationship with others in skillful and effective ways which requires cultivating a great deal of courage, willingness, vulnerability, empathy, attunement, responsibility, assertiveness, boundaries, and healthy communication.
Improving spiritual health involves deepening your belief and commitment to know and follow God. If you have a pulse, you have likely struggled with unpleasant feelings toward God such as fear, doubt, disbelief, anger/resentment, confusion, etc. Spoiler alert: it’s okay. In fact, I am convinced that these are gifts we experience to enjoy deeper intimacy with God. We grow through these spiritual struggles, not apart from them.
My Approach to Treating Addiction as an Intimacy Disorder
“The opposite of addiction is not sobriety; the opposite of addiction is connection.” ~ Yohan Hari
I approach addiction as a relational dis-ease or disconnection from ourselves, God, and others. Addiction is less of a problem to fix and more of a wound to heal. Too often addiction counseling focuses on fixing the negative behaviors of addiction rather than healing the intimacy wounds that drive the behaviors. Relational recovery is all about recovering and restoring our healthy connection with God, ourselves, and others. This starts with sobriety but doesn’t end there.
Qualifications & Experience
I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Western Oregon University and my Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Mars Hill Graduate School (now Seattle School of Theology and Psychology).
After graduate school, I worked at an acute inpatient psychiatric hospital from 2004-2009. I worked primarily on the adolescent and adult units in a variety of roles, including Chemical Dependency Specialist, Clinical Therapist, Program Developer, and Case Manager. During this time I gained extensive experience working with severe suicidality, chemical dependency, behavioral problems, self-harm, abuse, grief/loss, homicidality, and psychosis.
I opened my private counseling practice in 2008. I have enjoyed working with individuals, couples, and families from the ages of 5 to 75 years old dealing with a wide variety of concerns.
I have spent the past seven years partnering with over 40 Certified Sex Addiction Therapists (CSAT’s) and a network of churches to build a community of recovery in the Greater Seattle area. I am excited for this new season of building something similar in the Greater San Diego Area.
My Call to Christian Counseling
I can empathize with most of my clients’ struggles, as I have personally experienced many painful challenges and losses including failing out of school, struggling with multiple addictions, wrestling with my faith, and grieving losses of relationships, to name a few. Today, I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over fifteen years of counseling experience. I see my life as an ongoing living testament to God’s grace and power to redeem all that is lost. Even more, I have the privilege of helping others experience redemption in their lives and freedom from addictions as they rediscover the joy of living.
More About Me/On a Personal Note
I have been married since 2010 and my wife and I are blessed to have three wonderful daughters. When I am not counseling, I enjoy spending time with my family, exercising, reading, writing, and serving in the local community in other ways.
Counseling for Co-Occurring Disorders
Treating Addiction and Mental Health Together
“Co-occurring disorders” is a term that describes the interplay between various addictions and mental health concerns. For the past several years, I have counseled people struggling with sexual addiction, drug/alcohol addiction and/or various other addictions while simultaneously addressing their mental health diagnoses such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, OCD, and PTSD. Very often, if an individual struggles with any one of these, they end up struggling with several. I am passionate about helping my clients understand the relationship between various addictions and underlying psychiatric disorders. I aim to offer a holistic approach to healing that includes biological, psychological, social, and spiritual interventions. I also offer counseling for these issues independent of each other; see “one-to-one counseling” below.
Adolescent Counseling
Safe, friendly counseling for young people
Life can be pretty overwhelming for young people. In addition to disorienting physical and emotional changes, teenagers must combat enormous temptations and pressures heaped on them by peers, families, schools, and wider culture. Yet young people are at a perfect time in their lives to figure out what works and what needs to change. My desire in counseling adolescents is to help them see themselves for who they are apart from the labels that have been imposed upon them.
When working with young people, I have found that there are often systemic family issues involved in the client’s development. Therefore, I emphasize family involvement in my work as a youth counselor.
One-to-One Counseling
Therapy for Individuals
In addition to offering therapy for the specific areas listed above, I also provide one-to-one counseling and spiritual direction for individuals seeking to address personal concerns. My ultimate goal as a counselor is to help my clients feel liberated—to be set free from past experiences and present problems so to live a fuller life in the future. Through a variety of counseling techniques—from exploratory sessions to goal setting to homework—we will work together to help you overcome the issues in your life that prevent you from living to the fullest. Whether you suffer from anxiety, depression, grief, or addiction, or you just want a safe space and qualified counselor to assist you on your journey, I am here to help.
Family Therapy
Working Through Systemic Issues
Family therapy offers family members an opportunity to explore relationship dynamics, work toward overcoming systemic issues, and grow together in relational wholeness. As a family counselor, I aim to foster a welcoming and judgment-free environment and facilitate meaningful conversation. Open communication and a willingness to listen are essential for family growth. I especially encourage families to be involved in teen and substance abuse counseling. By seeking counseling together, your family can learn to love and support one another and encourage each other to live to the fullest potential, both as individuals and as a body together.
Sessions: I offer 53-minute sessions. Sessions can be held more than once per week, weekly, or every other week. Scheduling options are discussed in greater detail during your Risk-Free Initial Session.
Availability (by office location):
- San Diego, CA – Monday, Tuesday and Friday
- Online Counseling – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
Fees: I offer a Risk-Free Initial Session for Individuals, Couples, Adolescents and Groups looking to pursue counseling with me. For new patients without insurance, your initial appointment is a risk free initial session which means that you will not be billed for the session unless you decide to continue. For more information regarding standard session fees, please contact my assistant at (619) 930-9495 or by email at manager.chg@cachristiancounseling.com.
Insurance: As a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), a majority of insurance companies will reimburse a portion of my services. If your insurance covers out-of-network benefits, we accept payment for the session and will provide you with a receipt that you can submit to your insurance for reimbursement. We recommend checking with your insurance for information about covered benefits, limitations and/or exclusions and to confirm the amount of reimbursement you can expect from your insurance, so there are no surprises.
Receipts/Statements: In the event you require a printed or digital receipt, I will provide receipts for personal use, insurance reimbursement, Flex Spending Accounts (FSA), and Health Savings Accounts (HSA).
Testimonials
Chris has been my counselor for the last 4.5 years. I first went to him to help me as I going through a separation and then divorce. He really helped me to focus on my own issues and working on those. He uses many different techniques to help both himself and his clients understand the isues including giving specific books to read as well as deeper personality tests which help him be more effective. He is easy to talk to, follows up when he says he will and always has different great ideas to be tried. Even though he has moved to San Diego I will be keeping up my sessions with him due to how effective I have found him to be.
I have been seeing Chris for nearly 3 years. Working with him has been really helpful, and I appreciate his ability to both hear me and be compassionate as well as challenge me and bring much needed grounding and truth to each session. I also really enjoyed how he balances scripture and theological truth with the brain science to our sessions.
I’ve worked with Chris for 5 years and he has been a very trustworthy, present, professional and honest therapist. I feel very comfortable and safe sharing everything and anything with him. Therapy with Chris has helped me build self-confidence, learn how to sustainably live life sober, and has given me the opportunity of having an intelligent, compassionate, grounded and friendly adult figure in my life throughout my struggles. All I can say is that I got out what I put into it, when I was vulnerable and honest with him he was able to help point me in the right direction relative to my goals. I have enjoyed learning/growing/changing with Chris as my counselor very much.
Chris has a great way of blending deep insight, tools, readings, humor, faith and accountability. I found his approach to be both refreshing and helpful!
Chris has taken a Jesus based, down to earth approach that really meet me where I was. This is not a one size fits all program, it was tailored to me. The work Chris had me do really made me take a part in my healing and he was/is always positive and celebrates the victories with me. Cannot recommend enough!
I’ve really enjoyed having Chris as my counselor. He’s easy to talk to, yet also asks challenging questions that keep me thinking after the session, prompting me to be consciously aware of how I handle difficult situations and circumstances. Counseling isn’t easy, as often times it requires ME to do work that I’ve not wanted to (or even known I should) do, but with Chris’ guidance, I’ve found it to be very beneficial both in the short and long term. Highly recommend.
Chris is a phenomenal counselor. Extremely smart while being very caring, a combination I’ve struggled to find from counselors in the past. I feel like working with Chris has not only led to knowledge/realizations about negative/positive patterns of behavior but also has helped me to be a more humble, others-centered person that can view myself as a valuable person worthy of recovering from my past hurts and mistakes.
Cannot recommend him highly enough
Chris Chandler is an extremely gifted counselor. He’s highly knowledgeable and trained on helping those dealing with addition and relates amazingly well to men of all ages (including young men). I lead a ministry for men dealing with addiction and sexual issues and for those seeking professional care Chris is my primary referral.
Chris is a compassionate yet tireless advocate for mental health especially when it comes to men dealing with shame, secrecy, and/or addictions of any type. In addition, his faith and Christian maturity struck me as genuine, honest, and inviting. I really feel as a man, Chris connects easily with other men allowing them to feel understood and encouraged towards healing.
Chris Chandler is a colleague I deeply respect.. I have referred clients to groups run by Chris and have seen them flourish under his guidance. When you are looking for a referral or continuity of care, be sure to check his availability.
I collaborated with Chris Chandler, MA, LMHC, CSAT, AF-EMDR in the Seattle area trying to help a client who was deeply depressed and suicidal. As a result of his work with Chris, the client made a breakthrough and reported great improvement. Chris has worked to conduct cutting-edge research on sexual addiction, for which I am very grateful.
I can’t even begin to say how incredible Chris Chandler is as a counselor. I worked with Chris for over 2 years and I know I wouldn’t be as far along in recovery if it wasn’t for him. The holistic insight that he has is incredible and I am so incredibly grateful. If you’re on the fence of whether to contact Chris, let me encourage you that it is the right call.
Focus Areas
- ADHD
- Anxiety
- Bipolar Disorder
- Chemical Dependency
- Counseling for Teens
- Codependency
- Depression
- Family Counseling
- Grief Counseling
- Group Counseling
- Individual Counseling
- Men’s Issues
- Relationship Issues
- Sex And Porn Addiction
- Trauma