I’m Carter, and that curiosity has been with me for as long as I can remember.
On a group trip with friends during senior year of high school, everyone was off doing their own thing and I spent most of my time talking to the older guests at our hotel because I found their stories more interesting. I’ve always been drawn to understanding people, especially the ones whose lives look nothing like mine.
I started college planning to follow my father into finance. Two years of econ and business classes confirmed that wasn’t for me, but a group psychology elective second semester of sophomore year pulled me in a completely different direction. I loved it so much that I frontloaded my junior and senior year schedule to earn a psychology degree alongside the economics one. After graduating, I landed a psychiatric research position at Columbia working with patients dealing with substance use disorders. The research side didn’t grab me, but building relationships with the patients and watching them get better did. That’s when I knew I wanted to be in the room with people long-term.
These days, I specialize in addiction, specifically sex addiction, and I work with adults navigating difficult relationship dynamics.
I’ve found myself particularly drawn to helping men in relationships with toxic partners who are trying to make sense of patterns they can’t seem to break. I’m also comfortable working with a wide range of issues because I love the nuance in how different people experience similar things in completely different contexts.
One thing that serves me well in this work is that I’m pretty unphased by the stuff that makes other people uncomfortable. In my niche, that’s essential. Clients need to know they can say the thing they’ve never said out loud without watching their therapist flinch. The most common feedback I get is “wow, that’s exactly right” because I help people feel understood in a way they haven’t experienced before, and I think that comes from the fact that I’m not faking interest. I’m curious about what makes you, you.
I also don’t buy into the idea that therapists are supposed to be these superhuman examples of perfect mental wellbeing. I’m a human being with human problems. I won’t bring my own issues into our sessions, but I will acknowledge that I understand what it feels like to experience loss, frustration, anger, and sadness because I’m a person living a life just like you are.
Alan Turing said “Sometimes it’s the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” As someone who was adopted into a family that looked nothing like the world expected, that quote has always resonated. I have a knack for sitting in the room with someone and being present, and that stems from the fact that I enjoy getting to know you. It really is that simple.
