I’m Kristi Gilleland, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Clinical Director, and therapist at The Banyan Tree Center in Athens, Georgia. I work with adults navigating trauma, anxiety, grief, relationships, and questions of faith and identity. I see clients in person in Athens and via telehealth across Georgia and South Carolina.

I’ve always been deeply curious about people. Not just their struggles, but the stories, relationships, joys, wounds, systems and experiences that shape them. I came into the therapeutic space through social work, starting with children and families at the Department of Family and Children Services and then spending nearly two decades in interdisciplinary medical settings. During this time, I worked with diverse client populations, while simultaneously building and leading behavioral health programs in integrated healthcare and nonprofit community health. I later trained clinicians across the country as a Subject Matter Expert in Collaborative Care for a national virtual healthcare platform.

Throughout this time, I have been so fortunate to supervise and mentor graduate students across social work, counseling, medicine, pharmacy, and public health, which shapes my deep belief that growth happens best in spaces that hold both safety and honesty together. Today, alongside my clinical and leadership work at The Banyan Tree, I serve as a Behavioral Health Consultant in the nonprofit sector and will soon be teaching as an Adjunct Professor in Social Work at the graduate studies level. I received my Master’s in Social Work from the University of Georgia in 2009 and my Bachelor’s in Psychology from North Georgia College and State University in 2004.

My style is warm, collaborative, and real. I believe clear is kind. I want therapy to feel like a real relationship, not a service you receive from behind a glass wall. I’ll tell you what I’m noticing, explain what I’m doing and why, and give you language to understand your own inner world, because understanding yourself is one of the most powerful parts of healing. Sometimes therapy looks like processing a painful memory. Other times it looks like opening that pile of mail together in session, rehearsing a hard conversation, or drafting the email you’ve been avoiding for three weeks. Good therapy meets you where you actually are. And yes, I love a good playlist that helps articulate what you’ve been feeling. Show me your favorite memes of the week. We will laugh, we will cry, and we will be real and human together.

“Being truly known by another person, and not abandoned for it, changes something that no coping skill alone can reach.”

Background and Credentials

• Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Georgia and South Carolina
• MSW, University of Georgia (2009)
• BS in Psychology, North Georgia College and State University (2004)
• Certified Integrated Behavioral Health Professional
• Certified in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
• Level I EMDR Practitioner, 40+ hours of training
• IFS-informed (Internal Family Systems)
• Adult Mental Health First Aid Instructor
• Advanced training in Perinatal and Postpartum Mental Health (PSI-GA Training Grant Recipient)
• Advanced training in Premenstrual Disorders, Perimenopause, Menopause, and Post-Menopause Mood Disorders
• Integrated Behavioral Health and Collaborative Care training, University of Washington AIMS Center (Americares/ECHO Chicago Training Grant Recipient)
• Advanced training in Motivational Interviewing, Somatic Approaches, and Narrative Therapy
• Adjunct Professor, UGA School of Social Work (beginning August 2026)
• Nearly 20 years of clinical and leadership experience

How I Work

• In person · The Banyan Tree Center, Athens GA
• Telehealth across Georgia and South Carolina
• Adults 18+

Approaches: EMDR · DBT · Psychodynamic therapy · IFS informed · Attachment-based · Somatic and nervous system informed · Motivational interviewing · Narrative therapy · Relational therapy · Trauma-informed · Integrated behavioral health · Mindfulness-based · Strengths-based

What I Specialize In

Trauma and Attachment Wounds in Athens, GA

Who I work with: Many clients arrive exhausted from living in survival mode for so long they’ve forgotten what it feels like not to be braced for something. They may struggle with anxiety, emotional overwhelm, people-pleasing, perfectionism, shutting down, or difficulty trusting themselves or others. Some have carried the weight of a painful or chaotic childhood that has quietly shaped their adult relationships in ways they can recognize but can’t seem to change. Others experienced a shattering event they can’t stop replaying. And some wouldn’t even call it trauma. They just know something feels off and has for a long time.

What we do together: Our work centers on helping your nervous system learn that it is safe, not just as a concept, but in your body. I help clients understand how past experiences, attachment wounds, and nervous system responses shape present-day thoughts, emotions, and relationships so they can get curious about their patterns instead of ashamed of them. We use approaches like EMDR, somatic work, and parts-based exploration to help the body process what the mind has long tried to carry alone. My deepest hope is that you leave this work not just surviving your past, but truly free from it.

Anxiety, Burnout, and High-Functioning Stress in Athens, GA

Who I work with: A lot of my clients are highly capable people who look like they’re managing well from the outside while internally feeling overwhelmed, depleted, or caught in a relentless loop of overthinking. They’re often responsible for everyone and everything around them, crushed under a mental load they feel like they’re carrying alone. They’ve learned to equate rest with guilt. Some have been running this hard for so long they’ve lost touch with what calm actually feels like, or who they are when they’re not in crisis management mode.

What we do together: I help clients understand the why underneath the anxiety rather than just managing the symptoms. Together we explore nervous system regulation, boundaries, self-compassion, and the patterns rooted in chronic stress or early survival strategies. Therapy becomes a place where you can finally exhale, where you learn at a cellular level that you do not have to earn rest, care, or your own worth through over-functioning.

Relationships, Boundaries, and Family-of-Origin Dynamics in Athens, GA

Who I work with: These clients often feel emotionally drained, stuck in dynamics they can name but can’t escape, and caught somewhere between guilt and resentment. Many grew up in environments where boundaries, emotional safety, or consistent attachment were hard to come by, and they’re now trying to unlearn patterns that once helped them survive but no longer serve them. They want to understand why relationships feel so hard, and they want something different.

What we do together: We approach relational patterns with curiosity rather than judgment. I help clients identify the attachment injuries, protective strategies, and nervous system responses that show up in their relationships, often without their awareness. Together we work on boundaries, not as walls but as expressions of values and self-respect, communication, emotional regulation, and building relationships that feel more authentic, reciprocal, and safe. Real healing often happens right here in the therapeutic relationship itself.

Grief, Life Transitions, and Identity in Athens, GA

Who I work with: Something has changed. A loss, a relationship ending, a diagnosis, becoming a parent, children growing up, a career shift, leaving a faith community, or simply arriving at a season of life that doesn’t look the way you expected. And suddenly you don’t recognize your life or yourself anymore. Grief doesn’t always look like crying. Often it looks like numbness, restlessness, low-grade irritability, or a quiet sense that something is off that you can’t quite name. Many clients feel embarrassed that they’re struggling, like they should be handling this better.

What we do together: I hold space for all of it, including the parts that are contradictory, inconvenient, or don’t make logical sense. We’ll grieve what was lost, make meaning of what has changed, and begin to develop a vision for who you are and what you want on the other side of this transition. You don’t need to arrive knowing what that looks like. Finding out is part of the work.

Faith, Spirituality, and Integration in Athens, GA

Who I work with: Some people arrive wanting to explore how faith and mental health intersect and wanting a therapist who will honor that rather than sidestep it. Others come carrying real hurt, confusion, or disconnection related to spiritual experiences, religious systems, or communities that caused harm. Many have spent years feeling like they had to choose between their faith and genuine psychological support, and the splitting of those two things has cost them something.

What we do together: I’m rooted in a Christian faith tradition and I believe deeply that spiritual, emotional, and relational healing belong together. That said, I always follow your lead. If faith is central to your healing journey, we’ll bring it fully into the room. If your relationship with faith is complicated, evolving, or absent, I’ll hold that with equal care and without judgment. I believe healing is available to every person, and I will meet you exactly where your faith lives, with honesty, without pressure, and without an agenda.

A Few Things I Want You to Know

Before your first session: You don’t need the right words, a perfectly organized story, or “enough of a reason” to be here. You’re allowed to show up exactly as you are, uncertain, messy, scared, or unsure where to even begin. My hope is that this space becomes somewhere you can be exactly who you are and start to discover who you might become when we can lay some of that weight down together. I’m so glad you’re here, however you found your way.

Something I wish more people knew: Healing is not about becoming a completely different person. More often it’s about helping your nervous system feel safe enough to reconnect with the person you already are, underneath the survival strategies, the shame, and the exhaustion. And the most powerful thing therapy can offer isn’t always a technique or an insight. Sometimes it’s simply being unalone in your pain. Being truly known by another person, and not abandoned for it, changes something that no coping skill alone can reach.

Who I do my best work with: Everyone who walks through the door has a story worth understanding. I especially connect with people who have been carrying things quietly for a long time and are finally ready to put some of it down.

One more thing: I believe therapy should feel human. I value authenticity, honesty, humor, and the kind of transparency that helps people feel less alone. I believe curiosity is more healing than shame, that boundaries are an act of care, and that joy is a form of resistance worth fighting for. To me, the invitation to step into someone else’s story is the highest honor. I don’t take lightly the trust it takes to allow that to happen.