Kirstina Quast

Kirstina Quast is a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) based in Minnesota who helps people facing grief, loss, and end-of-life concerns alongside common struggles like anxiety, depression, and trauma. She also supports people dealing with relationship and parenting strains, addiction, burnout, and the stress of major life changes. Her tone is practical and straightforward, focused on what can change now.

She brings nine years of clinical work across adult and child mental health, residential treatment, child welfare, and adoption and foster care services. That background shapes her approach to family patterns, attachment questions, and adoption-related challenges. Kirstina pays attention to how past experiences influence current relationships and parenting choices.

Kirstina uses a mix of methods to meet each person's needs. She draws on attachment-based work to look at connection and caregiving patterns, client-centered listening to follow each person's priorities, cognitive behavioral techniques to shift unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, EMDR for processing traumatic memories, and motivational interviewing to support change. She tailors strategies and keeps sessions practical and goal oriented.

She prefers collaborative work where the person is seen as the expert on their own life. Sessions focus on clear steps, creative problem solving, and coping tools that fit daily routines. Kirstina emphasizes realistic plans for grief, caregiver stress, and end-of-life concerns while helping people build skills for relationships and mood management.

For someone overwhelmed by loss or transition, she offers steady, down-to-earth support and a focus on usable steps forward.

Approaches that translate to online care

Attachment-based work looks at patterns of connection and how early relationships affect current bonds; online sessions can help people notice and change those patterns through conversation and relationship-focused exercises. Client-centered therapy centers on listening and following the person's priorities, using reflective dialogue to clarify goals and emotional needs in each session. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors, which often translates into homework and practical exercises between sessions.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will talk with the person about their needs, goals, and preferences and then try methods that seem likely to help. That process is collaborative and may shift over time as progress and priorities change.

Confirm current session options before booking, since exact formats are not specified here. Many people find online sessions helpful because they can fit therapy into a busy day, avoid travel time, or make it easier to attend from a different city within the same state. Online work also supports carrying practical skills into daily life through digital worksheets and check-ins between appointments. The focus is on making therapy useful and manageable within everyday routines.