Carley Foster, LCPC
Meet Carley
she/her
I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) in the state of Maryland, currently offering integrative psychotherapy for individuals age 18 and above. Originally from a rural Appalachian community in North Carolina, I feel most at home when my feet are bare and I can see mountains on the horizon.
My first introduction to experiential therapy happened at an inpatient substance use center in Wisconsin, where I completed my Master’s Degree. After watching my internship supervisor direct a 90 minute group with this method, the course of a career I hadn’t even started was shifted completely. I wasn’t sure what I had seen, I just knew I had to learn it. The mystique brought me to my first action methods workshop about six weeks post-graduation. Since then, a passion for these methods has become one of my greatest strengths as a clinician.
After dedicating hundreds of hours to learning experiential methods, I have become an active member of the Mid-Atlantic region’s psychodrama community. I have trained and held multiple leadership roles with the Laurel Psychodrama Training Institute since 2018. I have also served as a board member of the Mid-Atlantic Collective (MAC), a psychodrama-focused professional organization, and held committee positions in the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama (ASGPP).
Approach
The methods I use combine psychodramatic role play, somatic (body awareness) mindfulness, and strengths-focused work. A trauma-informed framework is central to my practice and an area where I receive ongoing, supervised training. I do my best to approach trauma work gently, mindfully, and with consent.
I am also currently a student of Somatic Experiencing, a therapeutic model designed for healing trauma and stress disorders. This theory provides much of my therapeutic framework and approach to trauma, combined with the other experiential modalities I know and love. You can learn more about experiential therapy and how I practice it here.
Philosophy
We are all doing the best we can with the tools we have.
Some of us did not get the resources and support we really needed early in life and learned to survive in spite of it.
The body, mind, and spirit are connected and act together to form our system.
Therefore, the most profound healing occurs when they are addressed at the same time.
Every person holds the capacity for change when our needs are adequately met.
Part of healing is uncovering our unmet needs and being able to access them in new, adaptive ways.
Western culture tends to discourage true embodiment and authenticity.
Finding these things for ourselves is a radical act.
My therapeutic style has evolved from work in multiple levels of care and with individuals of diverse backgrounds, identities, and needs, such as:
-Early and sustained recovery from problematic substance use
-Those with a loved one experiencing problematic substance use
-Early and sustained recovery from eating disorders
-LGBTQIA+ communities (I am not trained in WPATH letters at present)
-Specific Learning Disorders such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and Dysgraphia
-Other helping professionals such as nurses, educators, and mental health providers
