Carrie Virginia Pate

Therapy Center

 

Your story isn’t over. Let’s write what’s next.

Welcome and congratulations on taking the first step towards expanding into something new! Whether you are wanting to heal old wounds, make sense out of your current situation, or make some changes, you need a space. As humans we are naturally curious. Therapy is a supportive place to explore new ideas or ask important questions to develop the life you want to live.

When people ask me what therapy is, the most important part of the answer is that space. What it becomes depends on the people doing the work. It is your growth and your life. Here is the dedicated time and place to foster that building work. It’s good to see you.

 
“The acorn becomes an oak by means of automatic growth; no commitment is necessary. The kitten similarly becomes a cat on the basis of instinct. Nature and being are identical in creatures like them. But a man or woman becomes fully human only by his or her choices and his or her commitment to them. People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day by day. These decisions require courage.”
— Rollo May

Carrie V. Pate, PhD, LCSW

I've been working with people on the Gulf Coast since 2010, paying close attention to what moves people forward, and what doesn't. A proud W girl, I completed my MSW at the University of Georgia and later my PhD at Saybrook University in California. I kept seeing clients here while branching out to learn more. Staying mattered to me.

What draws me most is what happens when someone gives themselves permission. Not performance improvement, but actually becoming more themselves. There's potential in people that they can't quite see yet, and something genuinely shifts when they catch even a glimpse of it and reach.

Something that shapes how I work: I was quiet for a long time. Not because I had nothing to say, but because I hadn't learned yet that I was allowed to say it. Finding my voice changed things. That experience sits at the center of how I understand people and what I believe is possible in a therapy room.

Change is not a solitary act or single moment. It is a progression with many pieces, and usually interactions. Think about everything you know, even the simplest skills. How much of it did you truly figure out alone? We learn by exposure, by relationship, by someone showing us a different angle, or having the opportunity to develop it. Needing that isn't weakness. From the top life achievements we want to reach to the habits we’d rather leave behind us, we developed them in our environment and through interactions, even when we were figuring it out on our own. It's how growth works, too. Connecting with others, including a therapist, isn't surrendering your independence. It's using every resource available to you to grasp what you want for yourself and having the courage to see that things could work another way.

The past is not your entire destiny. You decide what comes next.

How do I find out about appointment information?
What is therapy like?
But what makes a therapist qualified?
“Real freedom exists in the ability to pause between stimulus and response, and in that pause, choose. ”
— Rollo May

Rooted in Insight. Growing on Your Terms.