Dr. Georgina Panting-Sierra is a licensed mental health professional with over 15 years of experience helping individuals, couples and families improve their relationships and overall life satisfaction. 

Georgina specializes on working with people struggling with depression and anxiety. She also focuses on issues pertaining to women, such as stress management for the working mother, parenting and abuse prevention and treatment.  Georgina is also a Certified Prepare-Enrich (www.prepare-enrich.com) facilitator, and enjoys working with engaged and newlywed couples. Her experience also extends to blended families and relational problems

As a Latina, Georgina has invested a significant portion of her professional life, providing services for Latino immigrants who benefit from Spanish speaking services as well as offering workshops on parenting and couples issues to Hispanic churches and the Latino community. 

Georgina has a vast experience educating and supervising counselors in training. She is an affiliate professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, in the Master level Counseling programs and the Latino/Latina Studies Program. At Indiana Wesleyan University, she is an adjunct professor in the online Bachelor’s degree in Addiction Counseling. She is a State-Qualified Supervisor for Master level interns of mental health and marriage and family counseling.

Dr. Georgina Panting-Sierra received her Doctoral degree in Counseling Education from Northern Illinois University and her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Wheaton College.  She was born and raised in Honduras, where she received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the Autonomous National University of Honduras. 

Georgina is married and has two grown stepchildren and three younger children. She enjoys photography, reading, listening to music and watching movies with her husband. 

Dr. Javier Sierra holds licensures as a licensed mental health counselor and as a licensed marriage and family counselor. He has over 20 years of national and international experience in the counseling field, helping others reach their maximum potential.
Javier’s experience includes helping individuals, couples, families and groups on a variety of issues, specifically those related to biracial and bicultural couples, anger management, depression and anxiety problems. In addition, he has dedicated a significant part of his professional life to train, supervise and mentor other counselors.  He is a Certified Prepare-Enrich facilitator, and counsels and mentors engaged and newly wed couples. One of his professional passions is to help more seasoned couples enrich their relationship.  
Dr. Sierra was born and raised in Honduras. As a Latino, he has a strong interest in counseling other Hispanic immigrants in their native language, Spanish. He has led national and international workshops and conferences for the Hispanic community on topics such as: parenting, effective communication, intimacy and marriage.  
Javier invests a substantial part of his time teaching and supervising counselors in training. He is an associate professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in the Master programs in Mental Health counseling and Marriage and Family counseling and the Latino/Latina Studies Program. He also teaches online courses as an adjunct professor for Indiana Wesleyan University in the Addiction Counseling program.
Dr. Sierra received both his doctorate and master’s degrees in Clinical Psychology from Wheaton College. He is married and has five children.  Javier enjoys jogging, listening to jazz and classical music and watching movies with his wife. 

 

 Christi Polk, M.A., RMFT

 

Christi Polk is a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist Intern working toward her state licensure.  As a wife and mother, she knows that relationships can be the source of our greatest joy, but also the source of many challenges. She considers it an honor to walk alongside clients in their personal journeys in order to develop healthier and more meaningful relationships. 

Christi has experience working with pre and post adoptive families and is passionate about strengthening families through the adoption process. She has received a certificate from the Florida Department of Children and Family Services as an Adoption Competent Counselor.  Loss and attachment are two key areas she focuses on to help families face the challenges of adoption. She is also a certified instructor for Beyond Consequences Parenting Education (http://www.beyondconsequences.com/) which emphasizes the The Stress Model and a "love based" approach to parenting. 

In addition, Christi focuses her counseling on helping individual, families and couples in the following areas:

• Phase-of-life transitions 

• Depression

• Anxiety and fear

• Stress and burn out

• Parenting

• Relational problems and conflicts

• Grief and loss

• Sexuality issues

• Personal identity and self-esteem

• Spiritual problems

Christi is also a Certified Prepare-Enrich (www.prepare-enrich.com) facilitator and enjoys working with engaged couples preparing for marriage or married couples who desire to improve their relationship. Christi earned her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Central Florida. She worked in Human Resources for several years before making the decision to stay at home full time with her children.  Once her children were old enough to attend school, she returned to school earning her Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling from Asbury Theological Seminary. Christi and her husband have two young boys and in her spare time she enjoys reading, decorating, and spending time with her family.