Professional background

Kristen Turner is a licensed professional counselor passionate to integrate her decades of experience in counseling, coaching, and competition, into a faith-based holistic counseling practice.

Kristen has a master's degree in counseling from the University of Texas at Austin, and spent years at UT as an Academic Advisor as well as working with Men's and Women's Athletics as an Academic Mentor.

Kristen's occupational calling to work as a counselor came through a gospel counseling class she participated in at her church. Inspired by the opportunity to integrate her clinical psychological training with a faith-based lens, she spent the past eight years working as a counselor at the Austin Stone Counseling Center, working with clients in all seasons of life. Equipped with specific training in Sport Psychology, she is currently pursuing certification as Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology. Most recently, Kristen was invited to become a preferred provider for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Health.

Personal background

Kristen grew up in Colorado, and to this day, the mountains are her favorite place to be. Kristen's father was a psychologist and mother was a middle school counselor. She was deeply impacted by watching the way her parents compassionately cared for others. Athletically minded, her parents were early generation triathletes and embarked on a family adventure, moving from Colorado to Hawaii when Kristen was 13.

Kristen was a Division I distance swimmer and cross-country runner at Pepperdine University and graduated in 1991. In college, Kristen raced internationally in triathlon, competing on the 1989 USA National Team, winning an age group gold medal in the Olympic Distance World Championships at the age of 19. During this time, she achieved two consecutive Triathlon Today All-American awards. Post-college, Kristen continued to compete, and in 1998, her family was the first family of four to ever compete in and finish the Hawaii Ironman.

Kristen met her husband Nate at Pepperdine and they were married in 1994. For over a decade they worked together as personal fitness trainers and ran a youth sport business called Sport Speed Austin. In 2012 they were named one of Austin Fit Magazine's 10 Fittest Couples. Nate is now an Athletic Director at a private school in Southwest Austin. Kristen and Nate have three children who also love sports.