Therapist in Poughkeepsie, NY | Somatic, Art & Gestalt Therapy

I created Creative Now Therapy because I could not find a space that took both the clinical and the sacred seriously at the same time. So I built one. I offer virtual therapy across New York State for the healers, deep feelers, and soul seekers who have outgrown surfaces and are ready for something that actually reaches the ache. If you have been carrying more than you show and have started to suspect that insight alone is not going to be enough, this is where I want to meet you.
Poughkeepsie anchors the heart of Dutchess County along the Hudson, a city that holds far more than it is usually given credit for. The Walkway Over the Hudson stretches nearly a mile across the river, the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world, connecting two shores that the city has always known how to hold in tension. Vassar College and Marist College bring a persistent undercurrent of inquiry and becoming. The waterfront is being reimagined. The neighborhoods of Midtown and Arlington carry a diversity and complexity that tells a more honest story about who actually lives in the Hudson Valley. This is a city in the middle of figuring out what it is becoming, and many of the people I work with are too.
In a city this layered and this alive, there is a particular kind of person who holds it all from the inside. The social worker who absorbs the community's grief and has no container for her own. The Vassar alumna who moved back and cannot articulate why she feels further from herself than ever. The caregiver who knows every resource in the county and will not use a single one for herself. I work with that person. As a therapist in Poughkeepsie, NY who goes deeper than the diagnosis, I am willing to sit in the complicated and stay there until something real moves.
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Here’s what our work might look like:

We Begin in the Real Moment


We don’t have to dig through your entire history to start healing,  we begin with what’s happening right now: your breath, your posture, the tightness in your throat, the image you can’t shake.


We Drop Into the Body (and the Beyond)


Together, we drop in slowly and intentionally, tracking sensation, emotion, and the symbolic language of your body. We name what’s been exiled, what’s been performing, and what’s quietly asking to be witnessed.

We Unwind Shame, Self-Attack, and Old Survival Roles


Your body holds the places where you learned to shrink, overgive, or turn against yourself. We track these patterns with compassion until they soften, loosen, and lose authority.


We Integrate the Work Into How You Live, Love, and Lead


Your insights don’t stay in the room, they become embodied. You speak up without collapsing, rest without guilt, show up without masking, and move through your days with more presence and fewer spirals.

Explore my services and specializations


You have probably tried the talking. You can narrate your patterns with precision and watch yourself fall into them anyway. The gap between understanding and actually being different is where somatic therapy lives, and it is where I spend most of my time with people. I track what the body is doing while we speak. The shift in your breathing when a certain name comes up. The stillness that arrives in your chest right before you change the subject. The hands that tighten right when ease should be possible. None of this is wrong. All of it is information. And the body, it turns out, is far more honest than the mind about what it is actually holding. Over sessions, we learn the language your nervous system speaks and we begin, slowly and genuinely, to respond to it differently. I offer this work entirely online, which means it travels with you wherever you feel most at home in the Poughkeepsie area. What eventually opens is not just relief. It is the experience of actually being inside your own life again.
Some of what you are carrying did not arrive with language and will not leave through it either. It is older than the story you have built around it, and it lives in places that words have been circling for years without quite landing. I use art therapy as a way of opening that door. I guide the creative process in sessions as a form of access, not as homework or a technique but as a genuine way of reaching what is underneath. The image that emerges, the color that surprises you, the mark that comes out sharper than expected, all of it is speaking. And once we can see what is speaking, we can begin to respond to it. Nothing artistic is required of you. No skill, no identity as a creative, no history with making. I am interested only in what the process reveals. What tends to arrive through it is older and more honest than anything the mind had ready, and once it has been given a form, it can finally, genuinely begin to shift.
I find that the people I work with who are most drawn to gestalt therapy are the ones who have already done a great deal of self-work and have started to notice that the self-work is not quite penetrating the thing that keeps happening. They can see the pattern. They can explain it fluently. And then it happens again. That is exactly the territory I am interested in. Gestalt therapy is not about going back. It is about noticing what is happening right now, in this breath, in this moment, in the specific way this particular conversation is moving through the body. The pattern lives here, not only in memory. We work with what is actually alive in the room rather than what the mind has already organized into a story. What changes is not the story. It is the body's relationship to the moment. The reflexes that have been running the show begin to soften, not because we identified them but because something in the nervous system started to trust a different possibility. That is the work I am here to do with you.
There are parts of you that have spent years making themselves smaller so the rest of your life could stay intact. The anger that got called difficult. The longing that felt too extravagant. The desire for something wilder and truer than the life you assembled. Shadow work is where I go to find those parts with you. This is not about reopening old wounds or dragging painful material into the light without purpose. It is about reclaiming the energy that went into suppression. Because what gets buried alongside the pain is usually the most vital thing, the creativity, the power, the full range of who you actually are before you learned which parts were acceptable. For those in Poughkeepsie who move through a world that demands a certain kind of steadiness and have not had a space to be honestly unsteady, I want to offer exactly that. I am not looking for the composed version of you. I am looking for the real one.

Begin Therapy in Poughkeepsie and Come Back to Yourself

I hold virtual sessions for clients across New York State and feel a particular connection to the communities of Dutchess County and the mid-Hudson Valley. If you are in Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, Wappingers Falls, or the surrounding area, I want to hear from you. Because sessions are held online, the space comes to you wherever you feel most like yourself.

What clients say...

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When I first met Cris, I was at a moment in my life where I was unsure of every possible direction. All of my decisions were based on fear and a recent change in my health had me wondering what kind of life I would have and holy crap I'm going to die. Being in front of Cris's intellect, warmth and grace literally gave me strength I didn't know was there and the assurance of my ability to navigate conflict with grace and evenness. A truly gifted guide and stellar human being.

- Grey
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Cris has been integral to my growth. She is incredibly kind, understanding, and supportive, while also challenging me to face things I may have been ignoring/dismissing. I’m really grateful to have been able to work with her.

- Autumn
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Cris is a wonderful therapist. As a pediatrician, I was prone to over-thinking. She has helped me to work through my thoughts and to be in tune with my body.

- Lisa

hi i'm crisCristina Maria Fort Garcés-Somatic Therapist & Nervous System Healing

I am a licensed psychotherapist and somatic guide offering virtual therapy across New York State, including Poughkeepsie and the surrounding Dutchess County region. My work draws from somatic therapy, art therapy, gestalt practice, and shadow work to create a space where the deep feelers, the spiritually curious, and the professionally steady and privately unraveling can finally stop performing and start coming home. Not everything that aches in you needs fixing. Some parts are asking to be seen, remembered, and reclaimed.

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FAQ about my psychotherapy services

  • How does virtual therapy work?

    Sessions are held weekly through a secure, HIPAA-compliant Zoom link. You only need a private space, a stable connection, and a device with a camera and microphone. Each session lasts 45 minutes and is designed to build trust and continuity, allowing the process to unfold with depth and safety.



  • What kind of therapy do you offer?

    I offer somatic therapy, gestalt therapy, shadow work therapy, and eco art therapy. Each modality blends intuitive insight, spiritual reflection, and body awareness to support deep healing and self-understanding.



  • What if I need to cancel or reschedule a session?

    Please give at least 48 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule. Late cancellations will be charged in full. You may cancel up to four times per year with proper notice at no charge. This structure helps maintain the flow and depth of our work together.



  • What if I’m not sure this is the right fit?

    You can book a free 15-minute consultation to see how it feels to work together. This conversation helps us sense alignment before beginning the process.



  • With whom do you work and where?

    I work with women and gender-expansive adults based in NYC metro area and serving clients across New York. My clients often seek clarity, healing, and energetic balance as they move through transitions or rediscover their purpose.