Back to top
Image

Kristina S. Brown, Ph.D., LMFT

Department Chair, Marriage & Family Therapy
she/her

Credentials & Education

Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy, Syracuse University
M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy, University of San Diego
Awards
2024, Accepted “professional” invited to Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2)
2023, Family Relations Top Cited Article published in an issue between January 1, 2021 to December 15, 2022. Academic Women and Their Children: Parenting During Covid-19 and the Impact on Engagement in Scholarship
2021, SSTAR’s Best Conceptual Poster Award for Chasing the Two-Headed Dragon: Using BDSM to Manage Endometriosis Pain
2020 Excellence in Teaching Award, Adler University
2014 Distinguished Service Award for Education from the Missouri Association for Marriage & Family Therapy (MOAMFT)
2014 President’s Award from The School of Professional Psychology at Forest Institute
Springfield Business Journal’s Class of 2013, 40 Under 40 (Missouri)
2009 Honored as Faculty Toast of Forest Institute

Area of Focus

Types of Therapy
Couple Therapy
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
Family Therapy
Premarital Counseling
I Treat
Couple and Marriage
Issues I Treat
Couples Conflict
Women's Issues
Therapists in Therapy
Affairs & Infidelity
Work / Life Balance
Empty Nest Issues
Family of Origin Issues
Divorce / Marital Separation / Post-Divorce Adjustment
Families with Chronically Mentally Ill Members
Medical Illness / Chronic Illness / Disability
Divorce Impact on Children
Special Needs Children & Their Families
In-law Relationships
College (Transition to)
Adult Children & Parent Relationship Issues
Perfectionism
Premarital Counseling
Remarriage
Sibling Issues
Step or Blended Families
Show All
Languages
English

Publications & Presentations

Editor of the Feminist Family Therapy Book Series:

  • Women’s Health: Gender and Pain (2025)
  • Women’s Health: Women and Cancer (2025)
  • Women’s Reproductive & Sexual Health (2025)

Walker, N.J, Park, C.N., Brown, K.S., Hawkins, T. (2025). Feminist Intersectional Couple, Relationship, and Family Therapy. In J. Jodry & K. McCleskey (Eds.), Feminist Intersectional Therapy: Fourth Wave Clinical Applications. Rowman & Littlefield.

Brown, K.S. (Ed.). (2024). American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Systemic Ethics Textbook. AAMFT.

Sterrett, E., Sutton, A., Brown, K.S., Culver-Turner, R., Ketring, S., & Rastogi, M. (2023). “I was simply trying to make it through the day”: A collaborative autoethnography of Couple/Marriage and Family Therapy Program Directors in a diversity and anti-racism peer consultation group. Family Process, 63 (2), 594-611. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12907

Brown, K.S. (2023, November). Endometriosis afflicts millions of women, but few people feel comfortable talking about it. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/endometriosis-afflicts-millions-of-women-but-few-people-feel-comfortable-talking-about-it-203829

Brown, K.S. (2023, March). Moving in with your partner? Talking about these 3 things first can smooth the way, according to a couples therapist. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/moving-in-with-your-partner-talking-about-these-3-things-first-can-smooth-the-way-according-to-a-couples-therapist-194226

Bender, S., Brown, K.S., ^Kasitz, D.L.H., & ^Vega, O. (2023). Kids at the door: An autoethnography of our shared research identity as academic mothers in virtual collaboration. In S. Trocchio, L. Hanasono, J. J. Borchert, R. Dwyer, & J. Harvie (Eds.), Academic Mothers Building Online Communities: It Takes a Village (pp. 319-342). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26665-2_20

Brown, K.S., ^Schmidt, B., ^Morrow, C., & Rougeaux-Burnes, G. (2023*). Pre-cohabitation conversations for Relationships: Recommended questions for discussion. Contemporary Family Therapy, 45, 131-145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-021-09594-6 *Published online in 2021

^Paquelet, D.R., & Brown, K.S. (2023). Parental alienating behaviors in Noah Baumbach’s high-conflict divorce films, The Squid and the Whale and Marriage Story: A cinematherapy tool for (training) mental health providers. Contemporary Family Therapy, 45, 450-462. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-022-09656-3

Brown, K.S.*, & Gale, J.* (2022). Dyadic interviews: A chronological review of the literature with research recommendations. Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research, v16(n3), 196-206. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1359947 *Co-first authors

Brown, K.S., Bender, S., Lambrechts, A., Boutelier, S., Farwell, T., ^Martinez-Suarez, A., & ^Larasatie, P.^ (2022). “Set your soul on fire”: A feminist-informed co-constructed autoethnography of sixteen multidiscipline, multicultural, and multilingual globally located academic women exploring gendered academic productivity during Covid-19. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 6(2), 242-264. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12291

Brown, K.S., Farwell, T., Bender, S., Boutelier, S., Leonoqicz-Bukala, I., ^Martinez-Suarez, A., & ^Lariset, P. (2022). “Part of something larger than myself”: Lessons learned from a multidisciplinary, multicultural, and multilingual international research team of academic women. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211073209

Bender, S., Brown, K.S., ^Kasitz, D., & ^Vega, O. (2022). Academic women and their children: Parenting during Covid-19 and the impact on engagement in scholarship. Family Relations, 71(1), 46-67. http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12632 *Top cited article published in an issue between January 1, 2021 to December 15, 2022 (also listed under Honors & Awards) *Top cited article 2022-2023 among work published between January 1, 2021 to December 15, 2022 (also listed under Honors & Awards)

Brown, K.S., Bender, S., ^Vega, O., & ^Kasitz, D. (2021). Academic womxn and their partners: Managing scholarly expectations within the couple relationship in quarantine. Family Relations, 70(4), 939-954. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12572

Brown, K.S., ^Iverson, L., & “Cari.” (2020). Using BDSM (bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism) to manage endometriosis pain: A case report. Journal of Pain Management, 13(4), 395-399. https://novapublishers.com/shop/volume-13-issue-4-journal-of-pain-management/

Diamond, R., Brown, K.S., & ^Miranda, J. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on the perinatal period through a biopsychosocial systemic framework. Contemporary Family Therapy, 42(3), 205-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-020-09544-8

Brown, K.S., ^Londergan, K., & Bluvshtein, M. (2020). And they lived happily ever after: An intimate closeness of Systems and Adlerian Theories in the case of a transgender couple. The Journal of Individual Psychology, 76(1), 128-140. https://doi.org/10.1353/jip.2020.0023

Brown, K.S. (2019). #metoo: Sexual harassment within Psychology, Social Work, and Marriage/Couple and Family Therapy training programs. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 31(4), 195-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952833.2019.1676958

Torres Bernal, A., Le, K., West, A. M., & Brown, K.S. (2017). An examination of rates, rank, advancement, and salary of women faculty in COAMFTE-accredited training programs. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 29(1-2), 88-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952833.2016.1268449

Harvey, R., Brown, K.S., Miller, B., Williams-Reade, J., Tyndall, L. & Murphy, M. (2016) Theory into research practice: Reflections and recommendations on collaborative feminist research. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 28(4), 136-158. https://doi.org/10.1080/08952833.2016.1235410

Insurance

Out of Network Reimbursement
Self Pay

Locations