Christine Turo-Shields

Gifted

Christine has a personal and professional passion of working in the world of the gifted. . . raising both a gifted and a profoundly gifted child, she has worked with hundreds more, including children, teen, and adults. She knows the blessings and burdens of the minds of our brightest! Many gifted individuals struggle with emotional angst, relationships, academic achievement and personal fulfillment. They often struggle with special needs/twice-exceptionalities as well. As an expert in the GT/HA world, she has consulted with multiple school districts on case consultations regarding gifted students as well as conducted and coordinated trainings and presentations for educators and parents. She coaches gifted parents, introducing them resources which will aid in navigating their children’s world emotionally, socially and behaviorally.

Christine has been an integral part of developing the Gifted Family Program for Central Indiana Mensa – a program so successful that it won the American Mensa Gifted Children Program Award for 2010. She has been published in the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) newsletter and was a presenter at the NAGC national conference in 2013. She has consulted with PGR (Profoundly Gifted Retreat) as a member of the Behavior Team. She will also be offering presentations for SENG on Trauma & the Gifted Teen.

Specialized Training

• Anxiety Management and Emotion Regulation
• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
• Indianapolis Gestalt Institute
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Postpartum Support International
• Star Behavioral Health Provider (Military Training)
• Systematic Desensitization

Professional Memberships & Certifications

• Member, National Association of Social Workers
• Licensed Clinical Social Worker
• Licensed Clinical Addictions Counselor
• Certified in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy

Anxiety Disorders 

For those who struggle with generalized worry to heart-pounding panic attacks to raging outbursts, the impact can be bothersome to debilitating.

Christine’s highly effective treatment approach includes CBT, progressive relaxation, mindfulness, visualization, etc. Agitation and relaxation cannot physiologically exist in the body at the same time – Christine creates confidence in clients that they have the strengths, power and tools to impose a relaxed body posture by over-riding their mental agitation and intensity.

Her brief treatment approach is provided in both individual and group settings successfully in both children and adults for managing anxiety, panic, phobias and rages.

Trauma/Abuse/PTSD

Christine is certified in EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which is a highly effective treatment for trauma. As a Indiana State Board Member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, she works extensively with survivors of suicide loss, including providing suicide prevention trainings at local churches, schools and interested organizations. She also provides clinical support to those suffer with postpartum mood disorders, and she has been a trainer for Postpartum Support International regarding the effectiveness of EMDR with those who have experienced birth trauma or have a history of sexual abuse.

Additionally, she is a nationally trained provider for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and is a member of NCMEC’s Family Advocacy Outreach Network, providing therapeutic services and support to local families with missing and exploited children to address family trauma, reunification and adjustment.

Clinical Supervision / Professional Self-care

As owner of Kenosis Counseling Center, Inc., a community-based private practice, she provides clinical supervision to graduate interns as well as professionals who are working towards licensure.

Guiding them as they develop clinical skills, she encourages professional caregivers to also make self-care a priority, become more mindful, practice balance, and thrive rather than exist. She has received training through Vanderbilt’s Distressed Physicians Program and has worked with ISMA to support physicians as they navigate professional pressures.

Christine believes that daily investment in self enhances a professional’s ability to tend to others’ needs over the long-term.