Professional Experience
Carol has over 20 years providing clinical social work and therapy services in both the public and private sectors of NOVA.
Carol started her career working in Fairfax County social services providing services to at risk elderly and incapacitated adults. She then worked for many years in community mental health at Prince William County Community Services Board (CSB) providing outpatient clinical services to seriously mentally ill and dually diagnosed adults. Services included intakes, diagnostic assessments and treatment planning; court ordered mental health evaluations; individual, group and family therapy; active case management services; risk assessment, crisis intervention and DBHDS Certified Preadmission hospital screenings.
While at PWC CSB, she was a member of the Critical Incident Stress Management Team and as such was trained to provide psychological first aid, served as a member of the “Adopt a Firehouse” program and was a facilitator for “Emotional Personal Protection” training for PWC Fire/Rescue department.
Carol transitioned to the private sector in 2011 and worked as a psychotherapist with Kaiser Permanente providing behavioral health services to adult Kaiser Members. Services included psychotherapy evaluations, diagnostic assessments and treatment planning; individual and group therapy; telehealth services; functional assessments, in addition to risk assessments, crisis intervention and hospital prescreenings.
While at Kaiser she served as a member of Behavioral Health Department’s Unit Based Teams in order to improve quality of services and was also the Health and Safety Champion for the Burke Behavioral Health department.
Carol has been working in private practice since 2018 first in a thriving practice in Prince William County and now also currently in Fairfax County at Clifton Therapy Associates.
Education
1. Virginia Commonwealth University; Arlington, VA
Master of Social Work, August 2000 (Micro/clinical concentration)
2. State University of New York/College at Brockport; Brockport, NY
Master of Arts (Psychology), December 1994 (Applied human services/ behavior change)
3. State University of New York/College at Brockport; Brockport, NY
Bachelor of Science, December 1991 (Psychology major/Anthropology minor)
Magna Cum Laude
Additional Training
Carol has received extensive training in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and has experience providing DBT skills training to clients both individually and in groups. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others. DBT was developed by Marsha Linehan and originally intended to treat Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). It has since been adapted to treat other mental health conditions. It can help people who have difficulty with emotional regulation or are exhibiting self-destructive behaviors. You can find further information regarding DBT at https://behavioraltech.org.
Carol is also trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR is a powerful therapeutic model that has been shown to ease distress associated with PTSD, mood issues, attachment issues and simple or complex trauma. EMDR has been seen to help clients develop positive resources as well significantly improve client’s functioning by working through difficult memories or past experiences. For more information on EMDR please view Linda Curran’s website at https://www.trauma101.com.