breathe.connect.balance

Kristy Joy, LCSW, CCTP-1

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional
200-Hour Certified Yoga Instructor

Kristy Joy (she/her) is a licensed clinical social worker, certified clinical trauma professional and a 200-hour certified yoga instructor. She believes that the foundation of holistic counseling allows people to honor all parts of themselves and empowers them to make healthy and constructive changes on their journey of self-discovery. 

She is the co-owner of The Village Center for Holistic Therapy, which was established in Shaler Township in 2017 and the West End Village on 11-1-11. It is a specialized holistic therapy  group practice and strives to merge community wellness with mindfulness-based practices along with outpatient mental health services for individuals, couples and groups.

Kristy has expanded those mindfulness offerings with inJOY, founded in 2019. This is a space to dispel the myths of meditation. Located at the Rabkin Japanese Zen Gardens in Tarentum, inJOY began as a passion project for Kristy, but has seen so much success that she is now expanding the range of meditative offerings, private events and interactive workshops at the space. She strives to guide people from all walks of life to gain inner awareness.

Throughout her career, Kristy has supported individuals and couples at all stages and phases of life and specializes in treating anxiety, mood disorders, trauma, grief and loss and life transitions. Through a therapeutic relationship, she works to honor the physical, emotional, psychological, communal and spiritual aspects of well-being.

Currently, Kristy is working toward her second meditation teacher certificate with Ralph De La Rosa, LCSW.  This training brings together the wisdom of Somatic Experiencing, Internal Family Systems and Tibetan Buddhism, with a focus on developing new insights and gaining deeper access to self-compassion.

She completed her mindfulness meditation teacher training with Lodro Rinzler in 2019, author and Buddhist meditation teacher based in New York City. Lodro led a Buddhist leadership training program called the Institute for Compassionate Leadership before co-founding NYC's premier drop-in meditation studio, MNDFL.

Kristy completed her master’s in social work from the University of Pittsburgh in 2006, with a focus on direct practice and received her credentials as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in 2008. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education of Persons with Hearing Loss. 

Prior to becoming a social worker, she worked at Pressley Ridge School for the Deaf (PRSD) as a teacher for children ages 16-21 and is fluent in American Sign Language (ASL). She has worked with the LGBTQ community extensively as a therapist for children, adolescents and families. She also developed a center for first responders to meet their mental health needs.