Hi, I’m Carol, and I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Addictions Counselor in North Carolina. I’ve been working in mental health, addictions, and/or crisis intervention since fields of mental health, addictions, and crisis intervention over 30 years ago when I was first in graduate school in Southern Illinois. I started volunteering at a drop-in crisis agency, and from that experience and my graduate school counseling work I fell in love with talking to people, getting to know them, hearing about what they were struggling with in the moment, what they were wanting to do, and what they were stuck with that was making it challenging to reach their goals. I took a circuitous route to getting my graduate degree in Rehabilitation Counseling with a mental health and addictions focus as I worked through some of my own issues, then I started working in residential and outpatient settings with people dealing with addictions, mental health issues, and eating disorders. After awhile I went back to school, this time in New Orleans, for a Master’s Degree in Social Work. Since then I’ve been continuing with crisis intervention, mental health therapy, and addictions work. I’m passionate about helping people look at their lives, notice what works and doesn’t work, identify what they want to be different, and help them find ways to accept what is or make changes that fit for them. Although I recognize sometimes we cannot change what is, I believe we can usually change what we think and believe about what is, which in turn changes how we interact within our relationships and the world around us. I am a compassionate, gentle, caring person who is highly ethical, believes every person can choose their own way to be in the world, and that every person has a right to do so within the limits of not hurting others and, preferably, not hurting themselves either. I am accepting of people of various races, cultures, beliefs, colors, values, sexual preferences, genders, etc. I am quiet, calm, easy to talk with, love cats and other animals, listen well, enjoy reading and listening to books, and watch minimal TV. I have lived in Washington, Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, and Colorado. I have worked extensively with military Veterans and come from a military family.