Fifteen years in the room, and a doctorate earned along the way.

How she works

Christie began seeing clients more than fifteen years ago. The formal training came alongside the work rather than before it — a master's in educational psychology, guidance and counselling first, then the doctorate five years later from Ignatius Ajuru University of Education in Port Harcourt.

That order matters. She did not learn about people from a textbook and then go looking for clients. She was already in the room, and went back to understand more precisely what she was seeing.

The assessment is rigorous. The room is kind. Most people expect one or the other.

Psychologist and minister

She works as both and refuses to separate them. For many of the families she sees, faith is not a decoration on the problem — it is the framework the problem lives inside, and a counsellor who cannot speak that language is working with one hand tied. Equally, faith is not a substitute for assessment, and she will refer to a psychiatrist or a doctor without hesitation when that is what is needed.

If you would rather she left faith out of the room, say so when you book. She will.

What she has written

Shaped, Not Sentenced is forty-five short lessons on healing your past and choosing who you become. A Leap Over Divorce is about what it takes to stay, and when staying is the harder and better thing. Both came out of the practice rather than around it.

Training and membership

• PhD, Educational Psychology, Guidance and Counselling — Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt
• Master's in the same field
• Member, Counselling Association of Nigeria — Rivers State Chapter (CASSON10029)
• Over fifteen years in practice with individuals, couples, families and schools