Dr. Kristyn Neckles (She/Her)

My Story As an immigrant and someone who holds multiple marginalized identities, my work with clients is also strongly led by considering the intersectionality of my client’s identity with specific consideration of marginalized identities with value placed on the clients culture. These variables are important considerations to me because factors, such as gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, religion, and ability play significant roles into the context of a client’s mental health, and relational or personal issues. As a person who has worked through many life’s challenges and as a professional, I value the concept of resilience. Not the concept of resilience that we must do but rather and better said by the author Karen Reivich, “Resilience is not all or nothing. It comes in amounts. You can be a little resilient in some situations but not others. And, no matter what how resilient you are today, you can become more resilient tomorrow” Believing in this concept of resilience as described above, I have connected with the West African symbol called “AYA” which represents endurance and resourcefulness which symbolizes resilience. It is the premise of my work and I believe that we are all capable of executing this in our lives.