Chris Pierce, CMHC, NCC
Clinical Mental Health Counselor | Utah Certified Domestic Violence Assessor | Certified Anger Management Specialist |Certified Mental Health & Nutrition Clinical Specialist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqF3mY80viA
About Chris
Chris Pierce, Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CMHC) with Connections Counseling Services. As a retired U.S. Army officer with 29 years of service and five combat deployments, Chris brings both clinical expertise and lived experience into his work. His personal journey through trauma, therapy, and rebuilding connection gives him a grounded, compassionate perspective on healing.
Chris helps individuals, couples, and families move from feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected toward clarity, resilience, and stronger relationships. He believes that even in hardship, growth and peace are possible. By understanding how the mind and body respond to stress, he helps clients create real, lasting change.
What to Expect Working with Chris
Clients describe working with Chris as structured, practical, and deeply validating. His client-focused, brain-based approach combines real conversation with guided insight to help you understand why you feel stuck and how to change it. Therapy is trauma-informed, non-judgmental, and focused on building emotional resiliency and self-reliance. Using clear explanations and step-by-step strategies, Chris provides tools you can use outside of sessions.
Specialties and Clinical Interests
Chris provides mental health therapy for adults, teens, children, couples, and families experiencing a wide range of challenges.
- Trauma and PTSD, including betrayal trauma and religious trauma
- Suicide, self-harm, and emotional crisis support
- Addiction treatment (substance use, pornography, and sex addiction)
- Anxiety, OCD, and depression
- Anger, emotional dysregulation, and stress management
- Sleep disorders (insomnia, nightmares) and sleep-focused recovery
- Relationship issues, attachment injuries, shame, and low self-worth
Therapeutic Approach
Chris uses an integrated, neuroscience-informed approach tailored to each individual, never a one-size-fits-all model. His work combines trauma-informed care, attachment-based therapy, cognitive and behavioral strategies, emotion regulation, and mind-body interventions. Therapy focuses on the whole person, including:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia & Nightmares (CBT-I, CBT-N)
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
- Imagery Rescripting, Imagery Rehearsal, Dream Scripting
- Mind-Body-Based Techniques
- Integrative Mental Health Nutrition
- Nervous System Regulation Therapy
- Developmental-Attachment Based Therapy
Education and Training
Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and a master’s degree in Adult Education. He is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CMHC) and a National Certified Counselor (NCC).
His additional credentials include:
- State Certified Domestic Violence Assessor
- Certified Anger Management Specialist II
- Certified Mental Health & Nutrition Clinical Specialist (CMNCS)
- Certified Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (C-DBT)
- Certified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia & Nightmares (CBT-I, CBT-N)
Chris’s master’s degree in Adult Education supports his use of adult learning models to help clients build insight, practical skills, and emotional self-reliance. Chris’s 29 years of military service, including graduation from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and extensive training in leadership and project management, inform a structured, goal-oriented treatment approach that enhances efficiency and effectiveness while remaining client-centered and tailored to each individual’s needs.
Location and Availability
Chris provides in-person treatment at the Connections Counseling Services Orem location and offers telehealth services throughout all areas of Utah.
A Little About Chris
Chris is a lifelong learner with a deep interest in the mind, body, and human resilience. He enjoys hiking and snowshoeing in the mountains, working on vehicles, home improvement projects, and writing. He is the author of Self-Health Andragogy: A Self-Directed Learning Approach to Mental and Physical Self-Care and is currently working on additional books focused on mental and physical wellness.
Married for over 25 years and a father of five daughters, Chris brings real-world experience into his work with individuals, couples, and families. His personal journey through trauma and healing—including individual and couples therapy to repair relational strain from military service—shapes how he shows up, with empathy, honesty, and a steady belief that growth and peace are possible, even after significant struggle.