Carolyn Barker has been a Clinical Social Worker in private practice since 2004. She works with individuals struggling with a variety of challenges including anxiety, depression, relationship issues, personal growth, and traumatic life experiences. She is an approved supervisor for the Registered Clinical Social Work designation through the Alberta College of Social Workers. As a sessional instructor with the University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work she has taught several courses relating to clinical social work practice and acted as practicum supervisor to many developing social workers. More recently, Carolyn has received certification in EMDR and is a EMDR Consultant in Training.
Carolyn is passionate about her work with clients, and is excited to join each person on their unique healing journey. She is respectful of her client’s goals for the therapy and seeks regular feedback to ensure that these goals are being met. With curiosity, she will invite the consideration of life challenges through a new perspective in order to open space for understanding and action. She believes that the solutions are within us and that all of us have strengths and resiliency to help us deal with life’s complications.
Therapeutic Approaches
EMDR
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a well researched therapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma.
ART
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is a therapy that fosters rapid recovery by changing how the brain stores traumatic memories and imagery. ART has roots in and includes elements of existing evidenced-based modalities such as EMDR. The treatment program incorporates memory visualization techniques that are enhanced by the use of horizontal eye movements, as well as memory reconsolidation, a way in which new information is incorporated into existing memories.
CBT
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a way of focusing on the cognitive processes that produce feelings. The approach helps by changing people's behavior and attitudes with a deeper understanding of thoughts, images, beliefs, and attitudes. The treatment is customized for each person with regard to differences in personalities and specific needs.
Solution Focused Brief Therapy
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a short-term goal-focused evidence-based therapeutic approach which incorporates positive psychology principles and practices and which helps clients change by constructing solutions rather than focusing on problems. In the most basic sense, SFBT is a hope friendly, positive emotion eliciting, future-oriented vehicle for formulating, motivating, achieving, and sustaining desired behavioral change.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness may be fundamentally understood as the state in which one becomes more aware of one's physical, mental, and emotional condition in the present moment, without becoming judgmental. Individuals may be able to pay attention to a variety of experiences, such as bodily sensations, cognitions, and feelings, and accept them without being influenced by them. Mindfulness practices are believed to be able to help people better control their thoughts, rather than be controlled by them, as well as to manage the physiological arousal that can accompany them. Mindfulness-based interventions are now widely accepted methods of addressing the symptoms associated with many commonly experienced mental health challenges and/or emotional concerns.
Fees
