Kristopher Arman Bakhtiar, LSW, A.M.
Associate Therapist
Pronouns: However you experience me. I am comfortable with any pronouns.
Contact Info:
kris@empoweredconnectionscounseling.com
312-767-2057 x28
Education: Master of Arts (A.M.) in Clinical Social Work, University of Chicago; Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Cognitive Science, UCLA
I work with:
Individual adults
Adolescents
Relationships
Specialties:
I specialize in working with all kinds of individuals who have histories of being invalidated—who have had to fight to be seen. The impact of those kinds of environments can show up in many ways, and I am best prepared to help the following individuals:
Perfectionists, especially those within Creative Fields
Children of Immigrants (First-Gen Americans)
College Students and Recent Graduates
Men who have their walls up, struggling with intimacy, vulnerability, and communication
Non-conformists who occupy life’s gray areas and feel misunderstood under societal pressures
Partners struggling to balance individual needs with their commitments to each other.
Modalities:
I operate from an explicitly non-pathological clinical perspective, meaning that I adopt a lens that sees each individual’s struggles as their unique way of learning how to cope with the world around them. We all have learning histories, and they show up for each of us in incredibly different ways.
Throughout treatment, you will learn new ways to engage with your thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. By choosing to interact with your experience in new ways, you open the door to new outcomes. The result is a lifestyle that better serves you by organizing your behavior around your values, goals, and commitments.
To get specific, my clinical approach is primarily rooted in Relational Frame Theory and Contextual Behaviorism, with some concepts being pulled from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Also informing my practice are Motivational Interviewing (MI), Liberation-based Psychoanalytic theories, and Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology.
Relational Frame Theory
Contextual Behaviorism
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Liberation-based Psychoanalytic theories
Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology
Personal bio:
“It takes two to speak truth—One to speak, and another to hear.” — Henry David Thoreau (1849)
In the therapy room, my main role is that of the hearer. I approach each session through the lens that the person sitting across from me is the only individual who possesses the wisdom required to make change happen. I can only know what’s not working well in your life through your vulnerability and willingness to share that wisdom with me. I have lived only one life—my own—so advice-giving is pretty much out of the question (unless you were, well, me…).
That said, I am also not just a mirror to reflect what you already know. If what you already knew was working well for you, I don’t think you would be seeking treatment. Together, with my knowledge of the process and your knowledge of yourself, we will work toward cultivating your own sense of meaning in life. More than a standardized, manualized application of psychotherapy, I aim to create a space for new experience. To sit with painful emotions rather than move past or away from them.
We will begin every session with 5 minutes of mindfulness—selecting an “anchor” together, observing our minds’ attempts to pull our attention, and repeatedly choosing to make the moment about our mutual anchor—which will serve as a vehicle for us to train the muscle of attention. If we can have difficult thoughts, emotions, and urges without making the moment about them, we achieve the freedom to make our lives about what truly matters to us.
The goal of treatment is not to help the person across from me “feel good.” Rather, it is to help them get good at feeling—opening up a world of possibilities.
In the real world, you’d catch me riding around town in my ‘03 9-5 Aero with the windows down, bumping J. Cole, my Chihuahua Lux riding passenger.
During our initial sessions, you can expect: Establishing our relationship, grounded in authenticity, creating the space for us to begin working together. We will also clarify what aspects of your life are not working well for you, as well as what you would like your life to be about. Finally, we will establish a mutual understanding of the commitments we are willing to make to each other as part of our therapeutic journey.