EDUCATION
Anna Christie received a B.A. in World Religion and Creative English from the University of Waterloo in 1979. She went on to study for an M.B.A. from City University, Seattle in 1981-2. After staying home to raise three children, she was called into the Ministry (not the Ministry of Transportation or Magic) and attended Vancouver School of Theology, receiving an M.Div. and being ordained in 1989.
While at Vancouver School of Theology, Anna studied pastoral counselling and hospital chaplaincy among her other studies. Her main area of focus was in Rogerian/Person-Centered therapy. In her ministry, Anna did pastoral counselling for grief and loss as well as marriage and family counselling. In 2006 she completed a 2-year Graduate Diploma in Clinical and Pastoral Counselling from Living Systems: Education, Counselling and Research in Vancouver. This school specializes in family systems (Bowenian) therapy. She did her Internship and Residency in private practice with emetophobics (under the supervision of Randy Frost).
In 2010 Anna moved from her long career in Ministry in the United Church of Canada to work with emetophobics full-time. For her licensing requirements she completed courses in Statistics, Research Design and Psychology at Athabasca University in Alberta, along with 100 hours of required supervision and was subsequently licensed by the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors (BCACC). Her registration # is 6269.
EXPERIENCE
As of September, 2020, I have seen over 130 clients with emetophobia. I have also “talked” with more than a thousand of them online in my capacity as moderator of emetophobia.org.
PERSONAL WORK
Anna prides herself more in her personal therapeutic work than her education. She has completed over 300 hours of her own work, over half with noted Vancouver Psychologist Dr. Geoffrey Carr. Anna’s work was first in CBT to overcome emetophobia and later in Emotion-Focused Therapy for her personal and spiritual growth.
CLIENT REVIEWS
Although many potential clients wish to see client reviews or testimonials, I consider it unethical to ask clients for these, and my licensing body forbids it in our code of ethics. This is also true for Psychiatrists, Psychologists and most registered Psychotherapists. In fact, if you see someone who has client reviews they are probably not licensed and it might be a good idea to stay away from receiving help through them.
SUCCESS RATE
Many people contact me to ask what my “success rate” with clients is. The truth is, there is no such thing as a therapist’s success rate; there is only a client’s success rate. While some therapists are incredibly unhelpful, none can truthfully say that they have a success rate of 100% or 90%, etc. What I CAN say is that when a client turns up for sessions, diligently does the assigned homework, sticks with me and works hard to overcome their phobia, then nearly all of them recover. Unfortunately, many clients do not put the work in that is necessary for recovery.
LICENSING
I am licensed (registered) by the British Columbia Association of Clinical Counsellors (“BCACC”). My official designation is “Registered Clinical Counsellor” (RCC). Registration #6269. You can find me listed on the BCACC website here: https://bc-counsellors.org/counsellors/anna-christie/