Meet Crystan Straub, MA, LLC, CAADC, NCC

I am a therapist with a longstanding commitment to helping people heal from trauma, posttraumatic stress, addiction, grief, and the relational wounds that often follow them into adulthood. Much of my work centers on supporting individuals who have spent years in survival mode and are ready to understand themselves with greater clarity, compassion, and choice. I also work with patterns of codependency and the ways trauma, attachment, and substance use can shape relationships over time.

I hold a master’s degree and am a Limited Licensed Counselor in Michigan. I am also a Nationally Certified Counselor and a Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor. I bring over eight years of experience working in inpatient treatment settings with individuals struggling with substance use, trauma, PTSD, and borderline personality disorder. My background includes extensive group facilitation, transitional care from detox to residential treatment and from residential to outpatient care, and long-term work with family members affected by addiction and alcoholism.

My clinical approach is grounded, collaborative, and practical. I most often integrate Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, with additional influence from existential, somatic, psychodynamic, and inner child work. I place strong emphasis on emotional regulation, self-understanding, and helping clients make sense of long-standing patterns without shame. Therapy with me is not about forcing change before safety exists. It is about building stability first, then creating space for insight and growth.

A defining strength of my work is inner child healing. In addition to my clinical training, I bring more than two decades of experience working with children, including extensive grief-related work, art-based processing, and creating emotionally safe environments that support regulation and resilience. I carry this perspective into my work with adults, helping clients reconnect with parts of themselves shaped by loss, neglect, or unmet emotional needs.

I work with children, teens, adults, couples, and families, and welcome clients at different stages of healing. While much of my clinical background has focused on adult and group-based treatment, I am particularly interested in continuing to expand my work with couples and adolescents within a supportive, trauma-informed framework.

I have extensive experience supporting individuals and families impacted by suicide and have been involved with the Children’s Grief Center of the Great Lakes Bay Region since 2015. I have received specialized training in trauma-informed group work, including in-person training with Stephanie Covington, and have facilitated trauma-focused groups for both men and women in residential treatment settings. My work often includes helping clients understand anger, boundaries, self-worth, and the impact of trauma on relationships, while fostering accountability, emotional awareness, and healthier ways of relating to others.

I believe healing is not about erasing the past or becoming someone new. It is about understanding where you came from, recognizing how your experiences shaped you, and developing the skills and self-trust needed to move forward with intention. I offer therapy as a steady, respectful partnership for clients who want to heal deeply and live with greater clarity and balance.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT helps build skills in emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. I use DBT to support clients who experience intense emotions, relationship instability, or patterns that feel hard to interrupt. The focus is on balancing acceptance and change so you can respond to emotions without being overtaken by them.

Solution-Focused Therapy

Solution-focused therapy emphasizes what is already working rather than staying anchored in problems. Together, we identify strengths, exceptions, and small, meaningful steps that move you forward. This approach is practical and empowering, helping you create momentum even when things feel overwhelming.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (R-EBT)

R-EBT focuses on identifying and challenging rigid or self-defeating beliefs that contribute to emotional distress. This approach helps you understand how thoughts, emotions, and behaviors interact, and supports the development of more flexible, realistic ways of thinking that reduce unnecessary suffering.

Somatic Therapy

Somatic Therapy focuses on the connection between the body and emotional experience. It helps you notice how stress, trauma, and emotion show up physically and learn ways to regulate your nervous system through awareness, grounding, and gentle body-based strategies. This can be especially helpful when emotions feel hard to access or words feel insufficient.

Inner Child and Psychodynamic-Informed Work

Inner child work helps explore how early experiences shaped emotional responses, beliefs, and relational patterns. I use this approach to support healing around grief, attachment wounds, unmet needs, and long-standing emotional pain. The goal is not to dwell in the past, but to understand it well enough to respond to yourself with compassion, clarity, and choice in the present.

Existential Therapy

Existential therapy explores meaning, identity, values, and responsibility. This approach can be helpful if you are navigating questions about purpose, direction, loss, or major life transitions. It supports honest reflection and helps you move forward in ways that feel aligned with who you are and what matters to you.

You do not need to know which approach is right for you before starting therapy. We decide together what feels most supportive and adjust as your needs and goals evolve.