My passion is to join women in their personal journey to find wholeness and wellness in a very broken world by providing a safe, nurturing and truthful presence that allows for personal growth, healing and hope.

Christi (McElrea) Lange was born Denver, CO, and raised in Mountlake Terrace, WA. She met her husband-to-be, Dugan Lange, in junior high school. For 41 years they were best friends and then husband and wife.

Just a few years into their marriage, Christi and Dugan took their young family to Ghana, West Africa. For 14 years they worked to improve the lives of simple, village people. It was a blessed but challenging time as they learned another language and culture and gained a greater understanding of how the rest of the world struggles to eke out an existence. The came away knowing that they received as much as they gave.

Christi's passion to help continued to burn after she returned to the Northwest. This led her to earn her Masters in Counseling in 2002 and then on to become a licensed State of Washington Mental Health Counselor. Since that time Christi has worked at a community mental health center for families and children at risk, trained other aspiring counselors and started a private practice.

2010 was a mind numbing and heart breaking year. Dugan was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma cancer and passed away seven short months later on December 7, 2010. Christi was shattered by the sudden loss of her life partner. She decided to take a sabbatical to heal from this impossible tragedy

Thanks to the support of true friends and family, especially her two sons, Jason and Kyle, Christi found the healing she needed. She can now rejoice in Dugan's life and embrace a life-long sadness. "I see beauty more clearly because of Dugan's perspective on beauty, creation and life," she expresses.

Part of her healing process was to journey to the land of her ancestry, Ireland. Accompanied by a dear friend, they lived with the locals. She could imagine and almost feel the way her great grand parents may have lived. This was a journey not only of sites and sounds but of soul searching and healing. She returned stronger, more full of life, and carrying a broader perspective, a deeper understanding and a calmning acceptance of our mortality.

Fortified with the assurance that anyone can overcome anything provided they have love, support and guidance, Christi opened LifeStar Counseling in January, 2013. "It has been a long, hard road of life lessons that have made me stronger today then I was before Dugan's passing. My hardship gives me an even deeper passion and understanding to begin helping others again," she explains.

Christi believes in following your passions, seeing them realized through hard work and dedication, or, simply, a commitment of time. Other passions in her life include baking, flowers, reading, music and enjoying different forms of artistic expression.

If you would like to contact Christi, please visit her Contact page, here.