“ALL ROADS LEAD TO GROWTH.”

Melody Beattie

CARLA’S STORY

Transitions are hard. Whether it’s a change you’re welcoming or railing against, the process can be agony. We feel stuck. We feel frustrated. We get hit with a wave of excitement only to experience a wave of fear behind it. The decision feels right. Then it feels all wrong. Sound familiar?

That was me when I decided to become a mental health counselor. I left my job and a 15+ year career in journalism and PR/marketing to follow my heart. It was one of the most terrifying things I had ever done in my life, but I knew in my gut it was what I needed to do. I had reached a point in my previous career where I had become extremely burned out, was sick all the time, and just overall unhappy. By the time I left my job, my adrenal glands were nearly depleted of cortisol due to stress and I was diagnosed with a chronic illness. Something needed to change.

YOUR HEART KNOWS THE WAY

Following your heart isn’t always easy. But mine felt pulled to do this work. Along the way there were supporters, and also a few naysayers, but I kept going because I knew what was right for me.

There is a poem by Mary Oliver, “The Journey,” that I have framed and hung over my desk in my home office. I clung to it during previous tough transitions in my life, and I return to it over and over whenever I encounter another growing pain. Oliver writes:

“But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice, which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do—determined to save the only life you could save.”  

For me, the poem speaks to listening to your heart and finding your own voice, even if it means that certain choices may turn your world upside down. That’s how I felt following my dream to be a counselor. It was a journey of finding my new voice and going after something that meant so much to me.

One thing you’ll learn quickly about me is that I love a good quote. There’s one in particular by Rumi that captures my own life’s journey and that I often share with clients to bring them solace: “The wound is the place where the light enters you.”

Like so many of us, I have experienced a lot of painful things in my life, but those life experiences have also opened me up in positive ways and allowed me to empathize with clients’ own personal struggles. I believe wholeheartedly that pain and suffering exist to teach us something, and that it does not always happen “to you” but “for you.” It can sometimes guide you in a different direction in your life, help you grow in a new way, or lead you down a path you weren’t expecting. It can simultaneously break you and open you up all at once.

WHY I’M A COUNSELOR

I met my first counselor sophomore year of college during a time where I was experiencing depression but didn’t yet have the words to identify what it was. My counselor helped me find the words and understand what I was experiencing and how best to manage it. I saw counselors on and off throughout the rest of my life during various significant life changes and crises that I needed help navigating. Each person helped me heal and grow in various ways and helped shape my life and who I am today. In some way, they were each leading me toward my own path of becoming a counselor.

I have always had a heart for others. Counseling was always something I had in the back of my mind. It took a series of major life changes for me to take the leap and pursue my dream. I chose this field because I have personally experienced the benefits of counseling. I wanted others to experience the same deeply healing and safe space that my counselors have given to me. Counseling changed my life.

MY COUNSELING PHILOSOPHY

I work with adults ages 18 and older, with a focus on trauma, chronic illness, depression and anxiety. However, these four areas are not exclusive to the variety of presenting concerns I’ve worked together on with clients. Often, we come to counseling thinking we have one issue we want to tackle only to discover in that first session that we are actually multifaceted creatures with many layers and intersecting identities that cross many different spheres in our lives. Imagine that! In addition to the clinical interests mentioned above, I also have worked with clients who are experiencing common concerns such as self-esteem, burnout, life transitions, relationship concerns and women’s issues. I especially enjoy working with college students.

At my core, I am a person-centered counselor. What that means is that I will meet you where you are and go at your own pace. I believe that while I am a licensed counselor, YOU are the expert of your life. I won’t give you advice or tell you what to do, but I will help you tap into your own inner wisdom to find the answers. I view the counselor-client relationship as a collaborative effort built on empathy, authenticity and acceptance. I aim to provide a safe, comfortable and supportive space for clients to explore their feelings and thoughts and find meaning in their lives. I honor and affirm all identities that my clients hold and approach each individual with a multicultural lens, taking into account the ways in which a client’s culture, ethnicity and spirituality, for example, impact them.

My primary therapeutic method incorporates person-centered techniques that aim to help clients remove barriers in their life and become more authentic and more fully themselves. I am trained in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing or EMDR, a therapeutic treatment that is effective in helping individuals heal from traumatic or disturbing events in their life. I also integrate elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and mindfulness and meditation into my work with clients. In addition, I often utilize expressive arts therapy techniques to help clients access deep emotions at times when finding the words is difficult. This may take the form of collage, poetry, or drawing, to name a few. The creative arts provide an outlet for channeling and transforming feelings and thoughts and inspire clients to gain new insight and meaning into their lives. 

MY QUALIFICATIONS & THOSE LETTERS AFTER MY NAME

Counseling Background: I started Space to Heal Counseling and Wellness, PLLC in September 2019. From August 2017 to May 2019, I worked at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Campus Violence Response Center (CVRC) helping individuals whose lives had been impacted by violence, including sexual assault and interpersonal violence. During my first year at CVRC, I served as Client Services Assistant, providing non-clinical counseling and advocacy services to faculty, staff and students in crisis. The following year I became the CVRC’s first counselor trainee providing individual counseling, as well as co-facilitating group counseling for survivors. In addition to my role at the CVRC, I also provided individual counseling for college students (undergraduate, graduate and PhD) at UNCG’s Nicholas A. Vacc Counseling and Consulting Clinic (February 2018 to April 2019).

Credentials: Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate (LCMHCA,#A15037); Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC, #1232256). As a LCMHCA, I am pursuing licensure as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) in North Carolina. Currently, I am providing counseling services under the direct supervision of Dr. Allison Pow (LCMHC, LCMHCS, NCC, PhD).

Education: I earned a Master’s in Science (M.S.) in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the Department of Counseling and Educational Development at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2019), which is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP). I earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English from Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York (2002).

You can also check out my LinkedIn profile to view my full work history.