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 Clinical Mental Health Counseling (LCMHC). 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 performed 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.

After a "break" from professional counseling to be a stay-at-home mom, Kristan has returned to her passion - providing
a place and a space for people to share their thoughts, feelings, dreams, challenges, and worries.
In 2018, Kristan opened her own private practice, Seaford Counseling Services, in Matthews, North Carolina. 

Kristan's Story

It was the Fall of 2013, and 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 suddenly 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.  
The nutrients and oxygen that normally sustained her limbs were diverted in order to save her organs,
so the very medications that saved her life effectively killed her hands and feet.
Today she lives as a triple amputee, with her remaining foot missing the toes and heel.
But today she lives!

And she is as busy as ever - parenting those five children, driving them to various activities, 
volunteering at their schools, and trying to get dinner on the table most nights of the week.
She has also opened her own private counseling practice and has even become
a motivational and faith-building speaker. In short, Kristan has not let
disabilities slow her down, let alone stop her from doing what she loves - helping others.

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.