Kara Corbett
Hey there, I’m Kara! I don’t think therapy needs to feel overly clinical or formal. I want sessions to have the comfort of sitting down with a cup of coffee (or, if you’re like me, a cup of hot cocoa) and having a real conversation, while still being intentional about what brought you here and what we’re working toward. There’s room for the hard stuff, honesty, humor, asking questions, making connections, and figuring things out together. I want therapy to be a space where you can be yourself, not worry about saying things perfectly, and—maybe most importantly—feel like you can exhale. I work with adults navigating anxiety, depression, life changes, relationship struggles, self-esteem, or just feeling stuck and knowing something needs to change. I tend to be pretty conversational, honest, and direct. We’ll talk through what’s going on and try to understand the patterns underneath it, but I also want to help you figure out what to actually do with that understanding. I genuinely enjoy working with people with different backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives. You don’t have to believe what I believe for us to work well together—you get to bring all of who you are into the room, and I’ll meet you there with curiosity and respect. My job is to understand you, not convince you to see the world the way I do. At the same time, I may be your therapist, but I’m still human too, and my faith is an important part of who I am. So, for clients who want a therapist who understands that part of their life too, faith can absolutely have a place in our conversations—whether that means talking about your relationship with God, wrestling with questions, or bringing Scripture or prayer into a session if that’s something you want.
First session
Our first session is really about getting to know each other and giving me a chance to understand what life looks like for you right now. You don’t need to show up with a perfectly organized explanation of what’s wrong or a list of therapy goals. If all you know is, “Something needs to change, but I’m not even sure what,” we can start there. I’ll ask questions, but this isn’t an interview and there aren’t any right answers. We’ll talk about what’s been going on, what’s been feeling difficult, some of the experiences that have shaped you, and what you’re hoping might be different. We’ll also talk about what you’ve already tried. If you’ve been in therapy before, I want to know what you liked, what actually helped, and what made you think, “Yeah, I never want to do that again.” Just as importantly, the first session gives you a chance to get a feel for me. Therapy is personal, and I think feeling comfortable with your therapist and being able to trust them matters. You’re allowed to decide whether I feel like the right person for you, too. And if you’re a little skeptical after finding out I don’t like coffee, that’s okay too—I get it. By the end, my hope is that you feel like I have a good understanding of you and what you need from therapy, and that we have a sense of where to start. You definitely won’t leave with your entire life figured out—we’d both be pretty impressive if we pulled that off in 50 minutes—but we’ll start figuring out what you want to be different and how we can work toward getting you there.
Strengths
Once we get past that first session and settle into working together, you’ll probably notice pretty quickly that I’m an active therapist. I’ll listen and give you space when you need it, but I’m also going to ask questions, point out patterns, offer a different perspective, and respectfully challenge you when I think it might be helpful. Sometimes we’ll talk about really hard things. Sometimes we’ll laugh. Usually there’s room for both. One of the biggest strengths I bring to therapy is being able to balance empathy with honesty. I can sit with you in something that’s really hard without immediately trying to fix it—but I also won’t leave you there. Sometimes you need someone to understand how hard something is, and sometimes you need someone who cares enough to say, “Okay, but what are we going to do about it?” I think good therapy has room for both. I’m also genuinely curious about people. I don’t assume I know your life better than you do, and I’m not here to tell you what you “should” do. I want to understand how you got here, what shaped you, why certain patterns make sense for you, and what keeps pulling you back into them. My job is to help you slow things down, see things that can be really hard to see when you’re in the middle of them, build skills, and sometimes ask the uncomfortable question you’ve been avoiding. I also think therapy works best when you don’t feel like you have to perform for your therapist. You can show up after a terrible week, have no idea what you want to talk about, be frustrated with yourself, use humor to get through something hard, or disagree with me. In fact, I hope you’ll tell me when you disagree with me. I’d much rather have the real version of you in the room. Ultimately, I want you to feel genuinely supported and understood, but I also want therapy to challenge you. My goal isn’t for you to become really good at therapy—it’s for what we do in these sessions to eventually show up in the rest of your life. Because at the end of the day, therapy isn’t about getting really good at talking about yourself for 50 minutes. It’s about what starts to change in all the hours in between.
Ideal clients
You might be someone who looks like you’re doing pretty well from the outside but internally feels anxious, overwhelmed, disconnected, or just tired of functioning on autopilot. Maybe you’re going through a major life change, struggling in your relationships, questioning who you are or what you want, or realizing that the ways you’ve always handled things aren’t working anymore. I also work well with people who are pretty self-aware. You may already understand some of your patterns and even know exactly why you have them—but knowing why hasn’t necessarily helped you change them. You don’t need to have everything figured out before coming to therapy, and you definitely don’t need to have the perfect therapy goals. I care much more about whether you’re willing to be honest, curious about yourself, and open to being challenged sometimes. If you’ve read this far and found yourself thinking, “Yep, that sounds like me,” there’s a pretty good chance we’ll work well together.
Treatment methods
Strength-Based
It’s easy to come into therapy with a running list of everything you think is wrong with you. I’m interested in that list—but I’m also interested in what you’re already doing right. We’ll pay attention to the strengths, values, relationships, experiences, and parts of yourself that have gotten you this far and figure out how we can build from them.
Solution-Focused Brief Treatment
Not everything needs to be unpacked for six months before you can start changing it. Sometimes we need to understand the past, and sometimes we need to focus on what’s happening right now and what would make tomorrow a little better. I’ll help you identify what’s already working, what isn’t, and the small, realistic changes that can start moving you in the direction you want to go.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Sometimes trying really hard not to feel anxious, sad, uncomfortable, or uncertain ends up taking over your life. With ACT, we’ll work on making room for those feelings without letting them make all of your decisions. We’ll also figure out what actually matters to you and whether the choices you’re making are moving you toward—or away from—the life you want.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Sometimes our brains are very convincing without necessarily being very accurate. I use CBT to help you catch the thoughts and beliefs running in the background and look at how they’re affecting the way you feel and respond. Together, we’ll question the ones keeping you stuck and work on finding perspectives that are both realistic and actually helpful.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I pull from DBT when you need practical tools for the moments when emotions take over. That might mean figuring out how to get through a really difficult moment without making it worse, manage intense emotions, set boundaries, communicate what you need, or handle conflict differently. I’m a big believer that coping skills have to work in your actual life—not just sound good on a worksheet.
Location
Virtual sessions
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Licensed in
- MaineLicense LC16818
- MassachusettsLicense LICSW128116