Carolyn Parker, MA, MS, LCPC

Licensed Professional Counselor

Master's in General Experimental Psychology

Clinical Specialties or Interests

My practice is eclectic, which means I use a wide variety of approaches and techniques to serve all sorts of clients, such as teenagers, couples, families, and adults of any age up to 65. I treat anxiety and depression and I primarily use a strengths-based approach. I am interested in couples work as well, and for families I like to use a systems approach. I also have some training in internal family systems. In my practice, I use many techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy, somatic experiencing, mindfulness, and Gottman Institute techniques. I also particularly enjoy trauma-informed work.

Why or how did you get interested and involved with counseling?

Counseling is who I am, but it took me a long time to find that out. I've always loved people and listening to their stories. I have a natural curiosity to want to know people and make connections and I love developing relationships. It took me a while to discover that about myself, but I'm glad I did--it's better late than never! Most of us don't stay in one career for our whole lives anymore anyway.

One of the cool things about counseling is that we focus on people's strengths and what they bring to the table already. We can also help people through transitions or when they feel stuck. There are lots of tool to help people discover passions as they grow and change throughout their lifespan.

Why have you remained passionate about counseling? What motivates you to continue each day? What keeps pulling you into it?

What really works best in this field is the relationship that the client and therapist develops. Real change can only happen within a good therapeutic relationship. For example, often there are ways where we become injured within a relationship but we also heal within them so the therapist-client relationship can facilitate that healing. It's very important to me to build relationships. I'm so fond of my clients and that's what really motivates me to do this work. It's so awesome to witness them begin to see themselves in a better light that becomes motivating for them too. I started here at YFC as an intern and I've been here for about 4 years and I still have clients that I started seeing as an intern. It's been so humbling to journey with them through the therapy process.

How do you like to work with clients? How do you connect with them?

I approach every client with an attitude of "what can I learn?" I try to leave my opinions and biases outside of the office. I'm always monitoring that with clients. I meet them where they are and do my best to do that every session because we never know where someone has been all week.

Do you have a favorite wellness strategy that you use with clients?

There really is no one great "fix." For me, I don't want to do a band-aid solution; instead I want to heal the wound. There are different types of therapy and I like to focus on healing wounds by dealing with the deeper parts rather than staying surface-level. This is very different from focusing on a specific strategy. There are specific activities and things that we can do, which can be very helpful, or they can just act like a band-aid and just cover the wound rather than truly heal it. So we can use strategies but with the mindset of using them to heal the deeper parts of our wounds rather than scratching the surface. Sometimes we need to put a band-aid on top because it's not the right time to go deeper--and that's okay--everyone travels on their journey at their own speed.

Success with clients

In terms of the therapy process, watching how sometimes things have to get worse before they get better is a real challenge for me as a therapist. And sometimes clients really can get worse and come through that really challenging part to get better then actually gives more momentum to the therapeutic relationship to keep working together and continue growing. Growth is not a linear path--there are lots of ups and downs. Sometimes people will get to the point where they accomplish their goals and then they're done. And that's awesome too!

In the context of counseling and your role, can you share any challenges that you've faced along the way and how you've managed them?

During training, I noticed that I had a difficult time putting myself out there and that made me question whether I could do this. With my academic background, I was focused on synthesizing research so when I started my counseling degree the focus shifted to developing my own individual opinion about different topics. But I was able to overcome it! And my first client was challenging of course because it was the first! And currently, the challenge is that there's so much that we have to hold as therapists right now with the pandemic as well as the new changes that have come up with technology. I also go to therapy myself and I am still a relatively new therapist so I have been trying to focus on finding balance.

What do you love about being a part of the YFC team? How would you describe YFC in a few words?

I love the team! I love the gifts that each individual brings to the table and how our collective sum is truly greater than the parts. And from a personal perspective, I was on the auxiliary at first, which is how I was introduced to YFC. And then I left the auxiliary and decided to go back to school to become a counselor. And it's truly a gift that I ended up here! But the more that I learn about YFC now from many different vantage points, I just love the organization and what we stand for and the people more and more as time goes on. This is something I have never experienced. Also, the integrity and real transparency of YFC on all levels, staff, board, auxiliary, community, etc. is great. For all of those reasons, is just awesome!