Meet Kristine Seitz, M.Ed, MSW, LSW: Featured Therapist for October

Every month, Council for Relationships highlights one of our staff therapists on the blog. October’s Featured Therapist Kristine Seitz is a licensed individual, relational, and sex therapist with a fascinating background. Check out our brief interview to learn more about Kristine!

Could you tell us a little about yourself?

I am an individual, relational, and sex therapist working in the Voorhees, NJ office at Council for Relationships.  I work with people of different ages and backgrounds. I am also kink, LGBTQIA, and poly aware and friendly.  I am also a Faculty Member of the Post-Graduate Certificate in Couple and Family Therapy and Sex Therapy Training Programs at Council.  I am looking forward to co-teaching my first SAR (Sexual Attitude Reassessment) later this academic year. 

Why do you think relationships are important?

I think relationships are the foundations of our lives and form the chapters to our stories.  And I am not referring only to romantic relationships here.  Relationships are everywhere; they can be with animal friends, chosen families, communities, companions, coworkers, families, friends, life partners, lovers, ourselves, and strangers to name a few.  They could be friendly, loving, platonic, romantic, sexual, or unrequited.  Our stories are all interconnected.  Allowing a client permission to explore their authentic selves, while trying to understand how their relationships relate to and affect each other, can be a key to being truly seen and heard.

How would your clients describe you?

I would hope that they would say that I am approachable, authentic, genuinely caring, and a good listener.  I also hope they think I am funny, because, I think I am pretty funny.  But maybe thinking I am funny means that I am not really funny?  Oh well.  I do use humor as a tool in therapy, when appropriate, because let’s face it, life can be funny/ironic and weird.  Being able to laugh at yourself or a situation can be healing. 

What makes you unique, both as a person and as a therapist?

 Something you may not know about me is that I have a Bachelor’s of Architecture degree and worked in the architecture field for over ten years.  I have always been fascinated with relationships and what appealed to me most in architecture was the relationship of people to the spaces they use (or do not use) and how those spaces shape (or do not shape) communities.  Many people may think that architecture and therapy are totally unrelated, but I think my analytic, creative architecture brain compliments my empathetic, strengths-based therapy brain.  I am also meta in my process, as a therapist; meaning that I am intentional in explaining why I do what I do in session.  This is not the case always, and it is not always instantaneous.  Sometimes clients will have that “ah-ha” moment several sessions later and say “oh, that’s why you did or asked that!” 

When I am not in the office, you can find me teaching at local universities, grading, studying, or writing at local coffee shops, or practicing self-care by going to the gym, or socializing with friends and family.  If money were not a concern, you would also find me traveling to different countries more often.  I also like alphabetical lists.

Kristine Seitz, M.Ed, MSW, LSW
Staff Therapist
215.382.6680 ext. 7122
kseitz@councilforrelationships.org

Learn more about Kristine on her staff profile.

Schedule your first appointment with Kristine online!