Who We Are

Kristi began her undergraduate studies at Great Basin College in Winnemucca, where she worked with a many different populations and spent several years advocating for people with a variety of disabilities.  She also saw the devastating effects of meth use and the neglect that children were suffering. This ignited a passion for working with underprivileged children, specifically those affected by caregiver addiction. Kristi received her Bachelor’s in Social Work from UNR in 2011 and spent the next year assisting a small provider to increase the quality of services to their clients with intellectual disabilities. 

Kristi returned to school in 2012 to pursue a Master’s Degree in Social Work. During her graduate program Kristi completed an internship at Willow Springs Residential Treatment Center in Reno. Most of her work was on the pediatric unit and after graduation she was hired as a full-time therapist on this unit. After a year Kristi moved to Willow Springs Outpatient Services and continued working with youth struggling to make sense of the world around them. She expanded her case load to include more adolescents as well as several young adults. Kristi believes that some of her greatest successes were seen in the Intensive Outpatient Program for adolescents that she helped to enrich with more experiential group activities.

After Kristi left Willow she returned to her rural roots, taking several therapist positions that allowed her to help children and their families. Kristi specializes in working with children ages 5-10 using play therapy as a medium for expression. She also enjoys working with pre-teen and adolescent clients to increase self-esteem and find happiness in the world around them. Depression and anxiety are ravaging our youth and Kristi believes that an outlet like therapy can make a world of difference. 

Kristi likes to use an integrative approach when working with clients.  She believes that client-centered therapy that includes a shifting focus to client thoughts, feelings and motivations with an emphasis on personal responsibility to be the most effective for long-term change.  She also places importance on client function within various systems (e.g. school, family, community) and how this can be modified to increase satisfaction with life and relationships. 

Kristi is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the Clinical Social Work Association.

Briana attended Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in 2019. It was during this time that Briana's passion for helping adults with complex needs was ignited. She started as a student worker within a day support program for people with severe mental health diagnoses. Here she worked with adults suffering from chronic mental health conditions. Her primary responsibilities included: helping to reduce stigma around chronic mental illness and increasing community connections through outings and advocacy work. Briana also engaged clients in a therapeutic milieu with psychoeducational programming aimed at relapse prevention and increased independence within the client's ability. 

Briana earned her Master's Degree in Social Work through Eastern Washington University. She remained working in the mental health day support and was promoted to Lead. This role allowed Briana to branch out to provide community-based intensive case management for those in the day support program. Doing this work was inspiring for Briana, which allowed her to use creative solutions for complex problems. The goal was to improve functioning for these folks; allowing them to thrive rather than just survive.

Briana moved to Northern Nevada in 2022. She was able to quickly secure a position with Friends in Service Helping (FISH) in Carson City. Here she learned about the struggles that those in Nevada's rural communities are facing and realized that she could be an asset to those individuals trying to manage chronic mental illness. She had missed this work and felt the limitations of what she could offer to individuals while working at FISH. Briana took a position at Reno Behavioral Healthcare Hospital as an Intake Counselor, assisting individuals in crisis to connect with appropriate services, including acute inpatient treatment, detox and substance abuse care or intensive outpatient services. Briana was still not doing the work she felt most drawn to, and so, she made the decision to engage on a more personal level as a mental health clinician. 

Briana enjoys working with adults and has training in Motivational Interviewing (MI). She provides client-centered services that are aimed at helping people get "unstuck." She enjoys helping clients increase overall functioning and life satisfaction. Briana is currently training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and remains committed to partnering with community resources to increase access to services for the chronically mentally ill population.