Karen L. Shurtz is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (M.F.T.) with an office in Thousand Oaks, California. Along with her husband, who is also a Marriage and Family Therapist, they hosted Live with Rick and Karen, a weekly live call-in therapist talk show on KDAR 98.3 FM for several years. She is President of GROWTH ENTERPRISES, a consulting firm in Thousand Oaks, California, which provides professional and personal growth seminars for individuals, corporations and churches across the Southland.

In her counseling practice, Ms. Shurtz specializes in working with depression and anxiety disorders, assertiveness training and relationship counseling including premarital counseling. She also works extensively in helping individuals successfully deal with life changes and stress management. Much of her experience has been with women’s issues and eating disorders, as well as providing parenting help from a Biblical perspective to adolescents and their families.

Karen began her consulting career as a Media Specialist, helping business people to prepare for media interviews and live press conferences. From there, as Director of Communications for an international communications consulting firm, she branched out into numerous other training areas. She now conducts seminars and workshops on various aspects of parenting and communication skills, including marriage retreats, public speaking and presentation skills, media relations, professional image enhancement, stress management, and developing a healthy self-image.

Her real passion is providing workshops entitled Healing the Wounded Self-Image for church groups.  Based on her own walk with God and her psychotherapy practice, she shares with audiences how to lead a more fulfilling and abundant life by understanding who we are in God’s eyes. 

Ms. Shurtz is founder of New Life Treatment Centers Wilderness Program, an outdoor therapeutic program for troubled adolescents.  And prior to this, she was a television news reporter, anchor and talk show host in California and Texas.  This, along with her experiences as a professional snow ski instructor, whitewater rafting guide and windsurfing enthusiast, allow her to bring a fresh and dynamic approach to her seminars and speaking engagements. She holds a Master’s degree in Marital and Family Therapy from Azusa Pacific University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from UCLA.

Currently, she enjoys training and racing in triathlons and riding her horse.  She and her husband have two children who continually encourage creative parenting. Ms. Shurtz is available for workshops, seminars, one-on-one consulting, counseling and public speaking appearances.