The threads that brought me here.

My work sits at the intersection of clinical mental health counseling and visual communication. I bring over 19 years of experience in creative education alongside my current clinical training, integrating design thinking, relational work, and trauma-informed care.

| Carrie A. Dyer,  LCMHCA, BFA, MFA, MA

| Licensure
   / LCMHCA / Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate, North Carolina

| Education
   / MA, Wake Forest University, Master of Arts in Counseling, August 2026
   / MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communication, 2006
   / BFA, East Tennessee State University, Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2004

| Professional Affiliations
   / CSI, Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society
   / ACA, American Counseling Association
   / ACC, Association for Creativity in Counseling Creative Arts
   / AMCD, Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development
   / CSJ, Counselors for Social Justice

| Specialized Training
   > EMDRIA-approved EMDR Basic Training, Kendhal Hart, PLLC, 50-hour training, July 2025
   > Integrated EMDR & IFS (Internal Family Systems) Model, Kendhal Hart, PLLC, August 2025
   > EMDR for Psychosis and Complex Trauma (IcONN protocol), Dr. Paul Miller, September 2026
    > IADC, Induced After Death Communication, IADC International Institute, September 2026  

I completed a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Wake Forest University, where my training emphasizes integrative, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive care. My academic work explores the intersection of psychotherapy, neurodivergence, systems theory, and expressive approaches to healing.

Prior to entering the counseling field, I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design  from East Tennessee State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. My background in visual systems, design thinking, and creative education continues to inform my clinical work, particularly in the development of therapeutic tools that translate complex emotional experiences into accessible, relational forms.

I completed my clinical training through experiences in both outpatient mental health and residential substance use treatment settings. Under clinical supervision, I provide individual counseling, conduct biopsychosocial assessments, develop collaborative treatment plans, maintain clinical documentation, and participate in ongoing individual and group supervision to strengthen clinical skills and ethical practice.

My work is grounded in a trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming, and person-centered framework. I integrate evidence-based approaches—including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT), Narrative Therapy, and existential approaches—to meet each person's unique needs, values, and goals.

Throughout my training, I have worked with individuals navigating substance use disorders, trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, ADHD, relationship concerns, identity development, and major life transitions. I view healing as more than symptom reduction. My approach emphasizes curiosity, emotional safety, relational attunement, and understanding how a person's experiences, relationships, nervous system, and environment have shaped the story they carry about themselves. Together, therapy becomes a space to foster insight, resilience, and meaningful, lasting change.

I have experience working with clients navigating substance use disorders, trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, identity development, ADHD, AuDHD, ASD, and the long-term impacts of emotionally complex or unstable environments. My approach emphasizes emotional safety, relational attunement, and the pacing of therapeutic work in alignment with each client's readiness and nervous system capacity.

Before transitioning into clinical mental health counseling, I spent over 19 years working in creative higher education as a professor of graphic design and visual communication. In this role, I developed and led academic programs, mentored students, and designed curriculum focused on visual systems, storytelling, and conceptual thinking.

This background continues to shape my work as a therapist. I bring a deep understanding of how people process information visually, emotionally, and symbolically, and I integrate this perspective into the development of therapeutic tools, psychoeducational materials, and client-centered interventions.

My professional experience bridges creative practice and clinical work, allowing me to approach therapy not only as a process of symptom reduction, but as a space for meaning-making, identity exploration, and the reorganization of internal systems.

My areas of focus include trauma-informed care, neurodivergence (including ADHD), grief and loss, identity development, and the long-term effects of emotionally immature or unstable family systems.

I am particularly interested in integrative and experiential approaches to therapy, including parts work, somatic awareness, mindfulness-based practices, and expressive modalities that support emotional processing beyond verbal language.

In addition to clinical skills, I specialize in the design and development of visual therapeutic tools, including diagrams, maps, and structured frameworks that support emotional awareness, regulation, and insight. These tools are designed to enhance both client engagement and clinician communication within the therapeutic process.

My scholarship bridges counseling, creativity, visual communication, and systems thinking. I am particularly interested in developing therapeutic frameworks that help individuals understand executive functioning, identity, emotional regulation, and lived experience with greater clarity, compassion, and context.

As part of my graduate training at Wake Forest University, I developed Maps of the Self-Scape, an integrative visual framework for exploring executive function, identity development, and environmental influence. This project draws from Brown’s Executive Function/Attention Model, ecological systems theory, existential psychology, trauma-informed care, and neurodiversity-affirming practice.

My academic and clinical scholarship has explored ADHD, emotional regulation, rejection-sensitive dysphoria, trauma-informed counseling, neurodivergence, and integrative approaches to anxiety and depression.

| Selected Research [&] Presentations
   / Maps of the Self-Scape: Visual Framework for Executive Function and Identity Development
   / Literature Review: ADHD and Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria
   / Poster Presentation: ADHD, Emotional Regulation, and Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria
   / Research Review: Trauma-Informed Counseling and Neurodivergence
   / Case Conceptualization Research: Integrative Treatment Approaches for Depression and Anxiety

| Clinical Scholarship [&] Program Development
   / Workshop Development: The Adaptive Worry System: Turning ADHD Worry into Inner Guidance 
   / Clinical Presentation: Introduction to EMDR for Untrained Clinicians
   / Program Development: Creative Arts Therapy Group Proposal for Neurodivergent Individuals
   / Presentation: ADHD Crisis Planning, Safety Supports, and Strengths-Based Intervention Strategies
   / Clinical Consultation Case Study: Trauma-Informed Consultation Model Integrating Cultural Humility and Systemic Awareness

| Creativity & Teaching /  Creative Scholarship
   / Co-Founder and Creative Director: The FL3TCH3R Exhibit
   / Founder and Director: Graphic Design Collective
   / Curriculum Development: Design Pedagogy, Creative Problem-Solving, and Human-Centered Learning
   / Public Lectures and Presentations: Design, Creativity, and Interdisciplinary Visual Communication

| Emerging Research Interests
   / Trauma-informed therapy
   / ADHD and neurodivergence in adulthood
   / Creative and expressive arts therapies
   / Integrative therapy models including EMDR, IFS, and ACT
    / Jungian approaches to meaning-making, identity, and integration
   / Somatic and nervous-system-informed approaches to trauma

My work is grounded in the belief that healing is not linear, and that understanding the systems within and around us can create space for change, connection, and self-trust.