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

I built Creative Now Therapy for the people who have survived things that others cannot imagine and are now standing in front of the next part of their life wondering what it is supposed to feel like. I offer virtual therapy across New York State that honors both the nervous system and the sacred, for the healers, caregivers, and soul seekers who need a space that can hold the full range of who they are and what they have been through.
Utica sits in the Mohawk Valley with a particular depth of character that is not always visible from the outside. The Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute holds a world-class collection in a Philip Johnson building that surprises every visitor who was not expecting it. The Adirondack Mountains begin their rise just north of the city. SUNY Polytechnic brings a current of technological inquiry to a community that has always been rooted in making things work. And Utica is home to one of the largest Bosnian communities in the United States, families who carried everything across an ocean and rebuilt their lives here with a resilience that is woven into the very texture of the city.
I work with the therapist in Utica, NY who is not afraid of complexity, who brings somatic and mystical and shadow work into the same space, because I know that the people of the Mohawk Valley carry a complexity that deserves exactly that. The survivor who is finally safe and does not know how to live inside that safety. The caregiver who absorbed everyone else's pain and has no container for her own. The person who built a new life and is discovering that the body still remembers the old one.
Soft-focus bouquet of pale cream and peach roses with green leaves in natural light

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


The body that has survived carries a particular quality of vigilance that safety alone does not dissolve. It learned to brace and to scan and to hold and to prepare, and those learnings were brilliant and necessary. But they do not turn off automatically when the danger is gone. Somatic therapy is where I help the body learn that it can. I work with what the nervous system is actually doing, not what the mind has decided it should do by now. The hypervigilance that feels like the price of safety. The numbness that is not an absence of feeling but the body's way of managing too much. The grief that has never had a container large enough to hold it. I track those things with you and we work with them slowly, carefully, at exactly the pace the nervous system can actually hold. I offer this work virtually throughout New York State. What opens over time is not the absence of what was survived. It is the discovery that the body can hold both what it has been through and what it is moving toward, and that these two things can finally be in the same room.
Making things has always been a form of survival in communities that had to carry their culture across distances. Art therapy in my practice draws on that intelligence, the knowledge that the hands can hold what the mind cannot organize and the image can say what the language does not yet have words for. I guide the creative process in sessions as a genuine form of access to what has been held in the body outside the reach of narrative. What emerges through image and mark tends to be older and more honest than anything the analytical mind had prepared. And what has been given a form can, finally, be worked with. Nothing artistic is required. I am not interested in what is made. I am interested in what the making reveals. And in communities that have always known how to carry their truth in things made by hand, this work tends to resonate in a particular and powerful way.
When the past is very large, the present moment can become difficult to trust. The pattern learned in one context reasserts itself in another. The reflex that made sense there is running the show here. Gestalt therapy is where I help bring the present moment back into focus, not by erasing the past but by giving the present something to actually hold. I bring what is alive right now into the center of our sessions. What is the body doing in this specific conversation. What the quality of this moment is offering that the history has not yet made room for. The pattern is here, operating in real time, and here is where I have learned that it can actually change. Over time, this quality of present-moment attention begins to give the nervous system new information. The old reflexes start to relax their grip. What was automatic becomes something closer to a genuine choice. And the present moment begins to feel like a place worth inhabiting.
Survival requires us to put certain parts of ourselves away. The sensitivity that felt too dangerous to show. The longing for beauty that felt too extravagant to carry. The desire to rest in a life where rest was never an option. Shadow work is how I help retrieve what went underground in the process of surviving, not to undo the survival but to complete it. Those parts are not lost. They are waiting. And they carry exactly what is needed for the next chapter of the life, the creativity, the desire, the capacity for joy that has been held in reserve since before the hard years. Shadow work is the work of bringing them forward. For those in Utica who have survived beautifully and are now standing at the edge of a life that asks them to do more than survive, this work offers exactly what that edge is asking for: not another strategy, but a genuine return to the full picture of who they are.

Begin Therapy in Utica and Discover What Comes After Surviving

I hold virtual sessions for clients across New York State and feel a particular connection to the communities of the Mohawk Valley. If you are in Utica, Rome, New Hartford, or the surrounding area, I want to hear from you. Because sessions are held online, the space meets you wherever you feel most yourself.

What clients say...

Five black stars aligned in a row on a white background

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
Five black stars aligned in a row on a white background

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
Five black stars in a row on a white background

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 Utica and the surrounding Mohawk Valley. My practice holds the somatic and the sacred together in a single space, for the survivors and caregivers and deep feelers who have carried everything and are now ready to discover what they have been carrying for themselves all along. Not everything that aches in you needs fixing. Some parts are asking to be seen, remembered, and reclaimed.

Woman in a colorful jacket standing by a rocky wall, smiling in sunlight.

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.