LPC, 9 years of experience
New to Grow
Hi, I’m Carrie Allen, MS, LPC, NCC — a trauma therapist, creative soul, and lifelong student of what it means to be human. I’m licensed in Alabama, Missouri, Texas, and Florida, and I specialize in helping clients untangle the effects of trauma, stress, and relational pain so they can reconnect with their sense of self, safety, and purpose. My work is grounded in trauma-informed care, combining science, compassion, and a healthy dose of humor. I draw from Trauma-Focused CBT, Attachment-Based Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, and Child-Parent Psychotherapy (I’m trained, not certified, in CPP). These approaches allow me to meet clients where they are—whether that’s building emotional safety, rewriting old narratives, or learning how to regulate the nervous system and reengage with life on your own terms. Therapy with me is collaborative, relational, and real. You won’t get a blank stare or a “how does that make you feel?” on repeat. I show up as a human first and a therapist second—curious, grounded, and genuinely invested in helping you move toward healing that actually lasts. Together, we’ll explore how your past experiences shape your present patterns, and how to build a future that feels aligned with who you’re becoming. Outside of sessions, I recharge through writing, gaming, crocheting, and wandering in nature. I’m a proud stepmom to two amazing girls, a lover of deep conversations, and a firm believer that healing often shows up in the small, ordinary moments—cooking dinner, laughing with friends, or finally exhaling after a long day. If we work together, you can expect honesty, empathy, and the occasional well-timed laugh. I’ll challenge you when it’s needed, hold space when it’s heavy, and remind you that you are not broken—you’re growing.
Our first session is about slowing down and getting to know you — your story, what’s bringing you to therapy, and what you hope will be different. There’s no pressure to share everything all at once. You set the pace. My role is to create a space where you can feel safe enough to start unpacking what’s been heavy, curious enough to explore the patterns underneath, and supported enough to begin imagining change. We’ll spend time talking about your goals, your background, and what has or hasn’t worked for you in past therapy experiences. I’ll also review any assessments you’ve completed and provide transparent clinical observations on possible diagnoses or symptom patterns that may be emerging. I’m a clinician who focuses on symptom reduction and overall functioning rather than getting caught up in labels — understanding what’s happening and why matters far more than the name it’s given. I’ll share more about how I work — including the trauma-informed and attachment-based approaches I draw from — so you know what to expect moving forward. Think of our first session as the beginning of a collaboration rather than an evaluation. My goal isn’t to fix you; it’s to understand your world, your strengths, and the systems that have shaped you. From there, we’ll start building a healing roadmap that fits who you are and honors the pace your nervous system needs.
My greatest strengths as a therapist lie in connection, curiosity, and clarity. I have a way of helping people feel seen — not just for their pain, but for their strength, humor, and resilience. Clients often tell me they feel comfortable opening up quickly because I show up as a real person, not a blank slate. I believe healing happens when we feel safe enough to tell the truth about our experiences and brave enough to stay curious about what comes next. Part of what shapes my work is that I, too, come from a background of personal trauma, generational patterns, and family ties to many veterans. I understand what it means to rebuild from difficult experiences and to live with both strength and sensitivity. I’m also neurodivergent and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, which means I bring an intersectional lens to my work — one that honors difference, identity, and belonging. I don’t identify with the majority, and I don’t view that as something to overcome — it’s something that informs how I create space for those who’ve never quite fit into boxes, either. I am not a Christian counselor, and I do not incorporate my own spiritual beliefs into sessions — unless you want to bring yours into the work. My role is to honor and hold space for your values, your worldview, and your meaning-making process without imposing my own. Clinically, I blend Trauma-Focused CBT, Attachment-Based Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy, and reflective work from Child-Parent Psychotherapy (trained, not certified). I balance deep trauma knowledge with practical, down-to-earth strategies that help clients understand how their nervous system, attachment patterns, and beliefs interact — and how to gently shift those patterns toward healing. I’m not afraid of the hard stuff — grief, shame, trauma, identity work, or the messy middle of change. My strength is helping you navigate it without judgment, while guiding you toward insight, stability, and genuine self-compassion. Whether you need to understand your story or finally feel free from it, I’m here to help you do both.
I work best with people who are ready to look beneath the surface — the ones who sense there’s more to their story than anxiety, burnout, or “just needing to get over it.” My clients are often helpers, healers, perfectionists, deep feelers, and overthinkers who’ve spent years taking care of everyone else while quietly carrying their own pain. Many come to me after trauma, loss, or relationship struggles have left them feeling disconnected from who they are, stuck in survival mode, or unsure how to trust themselves again. Together, we focus on rebuilding safety, identity, and connection — both within yourself and with others. I love working with clients who are curious about their emotions, even when it’s uncomfortable, and who want therapy to be both a space for healing and for growth. Whether you’re processing childhood trauma, navigating attachment wounds, managing stress, or learning how to stop being at war with your own thoughts, I’m here to help you find steadier ground and a more compassionate way of being. My ideal clients aren’t looking for quick fixes — they’re looking for understanding, direction, and genuine change. If that sounds like you, we’ll likely work well together.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a structured, evidence-based model that helps children to process and heal from trauma using the PRACTICE framework: Psychoeducation, Relaxation, Affective modulation, Cognitive coping, Trauma narration, In-vivo exposure, Conjoint sessions, and Enhancing safety. With children and teens, TF-CBT emphasizes play, creativity, and caregiver involvement to build emotional regulation and a sense of safety through storytelling and skill practice. For adults, the same framework is developmentally adapted to focus on insight, meaning-making, and autonomy—integrating mindfulness, narrative writing, and schema work to promote integration, self-compassion, and empowered living beyond trauma.
In my practice, I use attachment-based strategies to help clients understand how early relational experiences shape their current patterns of connection, trust, and emotional regulation. Therapy often begins by identifying the client’s attachment style—secure, anxious, avoidant, or disorganized—and exploring how these patterns influence their relationships, self-concept, and responses to stress. I focus on creating a secure therapeutic relationship where clients can safely experience consistency, empathy, and repair, often modeling what healthy attachment feels like. With children and teens, I incorporate co-regulation, play, and caregiver involvement to strengthen secure bonds and teach parents to respond with attunement and validation rather than control or avoidance. With adults, I integrate inner child work, parts work, and relational mindfulness, helping them notice when old attachment wounds are activated and learn to respond to themselves and others with greater compassion and boundaries. Across all ages, attachment-based work centers on safety, connection, and emotional attunement as the foundation for healing and change.
In my practice, I integrate principles from Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), a trauma-informed, relationship-based model designed to strengthen the bond between a child and their caregiver. While I am trained—but not certified—in CPP, I use its core elements to help families understand how trauma, stress, and intergenerational patterns impact their relationship. With children and caregivers, sessions focus on creating a shared narrative about difficult experiences, enhancing emotional attunement, and promoting safety through consistent, nurturing interactions. The therapy emphasizes reflection over reaction—helping caregivers see the meaning behind a child’s behaviors rather than just the behaviors themselves. When working with adults, I adapt this reflective practice to explore their own early attachment experiences and how these influence current relationships and self-regulation. This “adult-modified” version invites clients to slow down, observe emotional triggers with curiosity, and develop greater compassion for both their younger and present selves. Whether with parents or individual adults, the goal remains the same: to cultivate insight, emotional safety, and relational repair as pathways toward resilience and secure connection.
In my practice, I operate from a Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) framework, which recognizes that trauma—whether acute, chronic, or complex—can profoundly shape how individuals think, feel, and relate to others. This approach is grounded in the principles of safety, trustworthiness, collaboration, empowerment, and cultural humility, and it guides every aspect of my clinical work. I focus on creating an environment where clients feel emotionally and physically safe, where choice and voice are emphasized, and where symptoms are understood as adaptive survival responses rather than pathology. With children and adolescents, trauma-informed work often includes predictability, sensory grounding, and co-regulation, helping them build skills for safety and control within their bodies and relationships. With adults, I adapt this framework into a reflective and integrative process, combining education about the nervous system, mindfulness-based regulation strategies, and strengths-based narrative work. Across all ages, Trauma-Informed Care means I prioritize relationship and context before intervention—meeting clients where they are, honoring their lived experiences, and supporting them in reclaiming a sense of agency and connection.
In my practice, I integrate Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) principles to help clients develop a kinder, more balanced relationship with themselves—especially when struggling with shame, self-criticism, or trauma-related guilt. CFT is rooted in the understanding that our minds evolved for survival, not happiness, and that emotional suffering often arises when our threat system dominates. I use this model to teach clients how to engage their soothing system through mindfulness, visualization, and compassionate self-talk, helping them shift from self-judgment to self-understanding. With children and teens, compassion work is woven through storytelling, metaphor, and play, helping them externalize critical thoughts (“the bully brain”) and practice nurturing responses (“the helper voice”). With adults, I expand this into values-based reflection, imagery, and inner parts dialogue, guiding them to recognize the protective intent behind harsh self-talk and to cultivate inner warmth, courage, and wisdom. Across all ages, compassion-focused work supports healing by fostering emotional safety, resilience, and a sense of shared humanity—reminding clients that growth doesn’t come from perfection, but from compassionately reconnecting with their whole selves.