Kristee Stepaniak, MSW, LSW, CCTP-II

Meet Kristee

Welcome! I’m really glad you’re here.

Here’s a little about me and the lens I bring to this work: I’m an LSW practicing from neurodiversity-, LGBTQIA+-, feminist-, and survivor-affirming foundations, grounded in both lived experience and clinical training.

I grew up in Clairton, a steel mill town where the local Coke plant leaks over a million pounds of toxins a year – where kids grow up breathing in a kind of absurd resilience. Life experiences like these have shaped how I see the world: systems, power, harm, perseverance, and how people make meaning inside structures they didn’t choose.

With degrees in Philosophy, Psychology, and a Master of Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh, I blend intellectual curiosity with grounded practicality and a deep appreciation for the strange, layered complexity of being human. I’m a mother, sister, friend, and meaning-maker – always asking how we can build lives that feel like our own.

Who I Work Well With

I work well with people who feel things deeply, neurodivergent adults, highly sensitive nervous systems, intuitive thinkers, and anyone who’s been mislabeled as ‘too much’ when they were actually just paying attention.

I’m especially drawn to trauma recovery in all its layers – survivors of narcissistic abuse and coercive control, people untangling attachment and relationship injuries, and anyone standing in that awkward middle place between who they’ve been and who they’re becoming.

I also connect with folks managing chronic health issues, environmental or systemic stressors, sensory overwhelm, burnout, anxiety, depression, and the kind of fatigue that comes from carrying more than any one person should.

How I Work

I take a collaborative, insight-oriented approach that blends existential, trauma-trained, and neurodivergent-affirming frameworks. My goal is not only to reduce distress, but also to help you understand the deeper patterns that shape your experiences and build a life that honors your becoming.

We’ll draw from the modalities that fit you best – Gestalt, IFS, DBT, somatic awareness, ACT, or CBT – with EMDR on the way. You won’t be boxed in or made to feel like you have to follow a program that isn’t working for you.

As a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional – Level II, I make it my priority that your life experiences are heard, considered, and valued as we walk this path together.

What to Expect

My clients are welcome to be whoever they are right now. I believe therapy can hold grief and humor at the same time, and that big moments often happen in the in-between – where you can laugh one moment and understand differently the next.

Together we’ll navigate the confusion, anxiety, sadness, existential dread, joy, and absurdity that come with being human. We’ll move at a steady pace that honors your nervous system and helps you reconnect with your own clarity.

My Philosophy

My core life philosophy is simple and impossible at the same time: We create our own meaning inside a world that often makes no sense.

We decide who we are while carrying histories, identities, traumas, neurotypes, relationships, and inherited patterns we never asked for. We grow inside systems that shaped us, boxed us, and sometimes harmed us – and yet here we are, still persisting.

If you’re here, you’re persisting too, even if it doesn’t feel like it. In our work, we’ll slow down and ask what all of this actually means for you now – what feels authentic, what feels inherited, and how we can begin to untangle it without losing your spark.

We don’t have to force meaning where there isn’t any. Sometimes life is beautifully absurd – and just naming that brings relief.

We’ll catch a moment to stop and breathe. We don’t have to do anything right now. We don’t have to know everything right now. We can sit and breathe right now. And I’m here when you’re ready.

Kristee Outside of the Therapy Room:

Spending time with the friends and family who feed my soul. Dancing (and reflecting) to my 33-hour Spotify playlist of total chaos – everything from ancient chant to 90s R&B. Catching a concert now and then. Discovering new plants and getting my feet dirty in summer springs. Sticking my nose into environmental policy and how it impacts us all.

And of course: reading, a little well-earned bed-rotting, and trying new things just because we might enjoy them. After all, we might as well experiment. We’re all here anyway.

Quotes:

‘Life isn’t a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.’ – Kierkegaard.

‘You can’t change the past but you can start where you are and change the future.’ – C.S. Lewis