Professional Experience

Kristan Seaford, raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, has a bachelor's degree in English and Psychology
with a minor in Marketing from Duke University. Kristan's early career was as a
marketing executive for a small advertising agency.
While she enjoyed her work, she was looking for something more. 

Kristan returned to school and received her master's degree in Counselor Education from Wake Forest University
as well as a NC License in Professional Counseling (LPC). Her counseling experience began
in several colleges where she served as an academic, career, and personal counselor. She then joined
a local private practice, where she used play therapy with children and traditional therapy with adolescents and adults.
She focused her attention on individuals, groups, and families suffering through anxiety, depression, 
eating disorders, abuse, divorce, and other life transitions. In addition, Kristan is a Gottman-trained marital therapist.

After a "break" from professional counseling to be a stay-at-home, Kristan has returned to her passion - providing
a place and a space for people to share their thoughts, feelings, dreams, challenges, and worries.
Kristan has opened her own private practice, Kristan Seaford, LPC, in Matthews, North Carolina. 

Kristan's Story

It was the Fall of 2013. Kristan Seaford, a 38-year-old stay-at-home mom with five young children,
had so far managed to avoid the bugs that her kids had been passing around like balls.
She liked to think that her flu shot and her cardiovascular health were providing her a protective shield - she was an avid runner
and taught classes in weight training and athletic conditioning.  

However, Kristan's life screeched to a halt and then veered in a new direction when catastrophic illness struck.
What began as the flu and strep throat turned into pneumonia and a life-threatening condition called septic shock.  
After 100 days, a medically-induced coma, six hospitals, and a miracle; she survived. 

However, the powerful treatments and medications that saved her life also changed it for ever.  
Today she lives as a triple amputee, with her remaining foot missing the toes and heel.

And she is as busy as ever - parenting those five children, driving them to various activities, 
volunteering at their schools, and even teaching group exercise classes again at the YMCA.
She has also become a motivational and faith-building speaker, a personal counselor, blogger, and writer. In short, Kristan has not let
disabilities slow her down, let alone stop her from doing what she loves— helping others.

Fun, Funny Facts about Kristan

Kristan is a nerd at heart - she loves books and has a literary fiction collection that is both categorized and alphabetized. She's obsessed with Ted Talks and can often be found watching them while working out on her at-home elliptical.

Kristan is a sugar junky - she loves sugar cereal. Her favorite food pre-amputations was Jelly Belly jelly beans. Now she has been forced
to change to sweet and sour Twizzlers or sour gummy worms (They are easier to grab with prosthetics).

Kristan has a magic closet full of prizes. Any kid who has spent time at her house knows that prizes can be earned
for things like cleaning up the most trash from the yard, winning the backyard obstacle course, or settling a fight between her kids.

Kristan never in a million years would have predicted that she'd be a pastor's wife with five "PK'"s (Preacher Kids) in tow.  With a pastor for a dad and a therapist for a mom, at least she can predict what the kids will talk about in their own therapy.

She has always hated doctors. And shots. And blood work. Even x-rays. Oh my, how things have changed! 

Kristan hates anything with buttons or a screen. Or maybe they hate her. It's hard to keep track. Maybe it's both, or maybe it just depends on the day.

She is a cancer survivor (Twelve Mostyears, and counting.) Stage three melanoma. 

Kristan loves a deal: off-brand cereals, The Dollar Store, toys and clothes from consignment sales, and Aldi.

Kristan loves to indulge in her favorite TV shows: Grey's Anatomy, Orange is the New Black, Call the Midwife, The Handmaid's Tale, and Atypical.
Most often, she can only be caught watching them while she’s exercising — otherwise she feels guilty for “wasting” time.
Perhaps this is a remnant from her Catholic upbringing?

Want to know more about Kristan's journey? Read her Caring Bridge site (which chronicles the day-by-day of her life threatening illness) here.