Today we’d like to introduce you to Carrie Hill.
Hi Carrie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
You bet. I’ll start off by saying that my path to becoming a licensed marriage and family therapist was very non-linear and looked a lot different than that of most of my therapist colleagues; I didn’t even formally study psychology or anything related to therapy until my 30s.
Growing up in Washington state, I was generally on the quieter side and always had a ton of interests, paired with a personality that can be described as an ever-learner. I’ve always loved studying foreign languages, reading and researching topics related to history and travel, and learning as much as I can about cultures other than my own. In college I considered a career in everything from working for the CIA to textile sourcing and production at an Italian woollen mill. Largely influenced by my family, who had started a business from scratch the year I was born and grown it into a successful company by the time I was 18, I ended up earning degrees in International Business and Spanish, which allowed me to continue pursuing my personal interests as well as indulged what I now know to be my entrepreneurial spirit.
After college I worked in a few different fields eventually finding my footing in the corporate world working as a Buyer in San Francisco at Old Navy and Gap brands for eight years. It was during this time that I was first introduced to DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) skills group, and experienced firsthand how the material taught in the group classes can quickly improve the quality of a person’s life. Like many millennials, mental health wasn’t really acknowledged at home growing up, and learning the life skills that DBT offered (for example, identifying and regulating emotions, understanding how thoughts influence feelings, learning how to set and maintain healthy boundaries) was a complete gamechanger for how I related to myself and others.
By then I had also learned about the concept of HSPs, or highly sensitive people, which acted as another key allowing me to unlock a major part of my identity. From that point on, I started dedicating a lot of my free time to learning different concepts of mental health, psychology, and therapy, with an emphasis on relationships. The more I learned about attachment theory in action (aka relationship attachment styles), nervous system rewiring (ie what the fight/flight/freeze response is and how to work with it), and energetic boundaries, the more I wanted to know.
Meanwhile I was still working my corporate job, and had started to realize that what I looked forward to and enjoyed most about my days were the hours spent mentoring and coaching my younger colleagues and direct reports towards their own personal growth, as well as working with and learning from the diverse group of individuals on my cross-functional teams. Eventually I decided to take the leap and officially pursue a career in mental health, so that I could continue to explore my personal passions while also making a living by sharing the insights and knowledge that I was gaining with others who could benefit from it. Later on, I was pleased to find out that many of the business skills I’d learned (like researching and analyzing trends, marketing and advertising, collaborating with others to achieve a common goal, navigating ambiguity and prioritizing conflicting priorities), would all come in handy years later when I eventually opened my own private practice.
I moved from San Francisco to San Diego in 2018 to attend graduate school at the California School of Psychology, aka Alliant International University. By that time I knew I wanted to be a licensed marriage and family therapist, and eventually start and run my own practice.
My objective in graduate school was to work with as varied a population as possible in order to know what therapeutic modalities and populations I wanted to specialize in. Starting in 2019, I worked as a trainee at the Center for Mindful Relationships in San Diego’s Bankers Hill neighborhood, working with individuals, couples, and families, as well as Hilltop Middle School and Palomar High School in Chula Vista, where I led school-based process groups for students. Because working two part-time jobs while attending full-time graduate school wasn’t enough, I also accepted a part-time role as DBT Skills Group Trainer at Personal Evolution Psychotherapy (PEP) in Mission Valley, San Diego. After completing my graduate program in 2020, I continued at PEP working with individuals, including children and teens, couples and families in both a Comprehensive DBT and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) setting. It was also at PEP that I first worked with the San Diego Child Welfare Services System as an Optum TERM Therapist providing therapy to children, parents, and foster families within the foster care system.
More than a year into COVID, in late 2021, I moved on to work at a non-profit, Stronger Together Community Services (STCS), where I was hired to create and run my own DBT skills groups, in addition to providing couples therapy and individual therapy to adults, teens, and children. It was at STCS that I was first trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), an evidence-based treatment for trauma that I continue to specialize in to this day.
In early 2023, five years after beginning my graduate program, and earning my master’s degree in marital and family therapy, accumulating 3,000+ hours of supervised clinical experience across five different work settings, and passing two state exams, I became licensed and opened my own private practice, Carrie Hill Therapy.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I want to acknowledge my privilege as a cis white able-bodied woman before answering this question. In many ways it has been a smooth road, because I had access to the resources and means that enabled me to earn a college and graduate-level education, live in high cost of living areas, and pursue employment opportunities of my choosing.
That being said, my biggest struggle to date has been scaling back the breadth of my interests and passions and choosing a specific niche to specialize in. Moreover, once chosen, because that niche is very personal to my own lived experience, it has been an extra challenge to manage the ongoing feelings of vulnerability that can come with having your brand essentially be your name and the energy of your presence. In this way, one of the most challenging aspects of my job has been taking the continual risk of allowing myself to be really seen and known by others.
Not every therapist chooses to do this, but because I see my role in the field as someone who can help and support others to overcome similar obstacles to my own, being authentic and genuine is necessary in order to normalize the lived experience of identifying as both high achieving and highly sensitive. I want folks who could benefit from my services to be able to find me, and see themselves in the information that I share and tools that I provide. I want to be for others what I myself wish I’d had when I was younger, and being able to proudly self-identify as both high achieving and highly sensitive, and speak to the specific challenges of navigating this junction in identities is both vulnerable and a necessary part of my work.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Carrie Hill Therapy?
I am the owner and founder of Carrie Hill Marriage and Family Therapy Inc., A Professional Corporation dba Carrie Hill Therapy. I specialize in trauma-informed therapy for high achieving and highly sensitive people. Using coping skills and evidence-based therapies like mindfulness, Attachment-Focused EMDR, and IFS, I provide other highly sensitive and high achieving folks with a holistic approach to overcoming the effects of trauma and complex trauma.
Many of my clients are strong performers at work and generally high achievers, however deep down they feel that something is “wrong” with them, they may question why they feel things so intensely, or harbor fears of being too much, difficult, not enough, or unlovable. They may struggle to understand why they sometimes think, feel, and act in ways that are not in their best interest. They may have certain triggers that bring out a side of them that they don’t like or don’t know how to manage, and they may struggle to trust themselves or advocate for their needs and wants in relationships. Relationships in general may be difficult for them, and they may find themselves frequently pursuing connections that demonstrate a recurring toxic pattern or that don’t feel good or bring out the best parts of themselves.
I’m known amongst my colleagues as specializing in Attachment-Focused EMDR, being IFS-informed, and blending the two approaches through a newer type of therapy called Super Resourcing. After being trained in Standard Protocol EMDR in 2022, I sought out training in specialty Attachment-Focused EMDR in 2023. Attachment-Focused EMDR uses a modified protocol that’s designed specifically for complex and developmental trauma. I’m currently working towards AF-EMDR certification, a process that takes years of training and consultation. After replacing standard protocol EMDR with Attachment-Focused EMDR in my practice, I’ve found the attachment-based approach to be much gentler, effective, and client-centered. Super Resourcing uses the same scientific approach as Attachment-Focused EMDR, but focuses on expanding the general positive experiences in a client’s life including increasing positive emotions, deepening positive feelings in the body, and creating and strengthening new positive self-beliefs. I use Super Resourcing as both a standalone therapy to target the symptoms of complex trauma, as well as incorporate it into Attachment-Focused EMDR sessions.
What sets me apart from other therapists is the nature of my approach; I am very change-oriented and work from my own lived experience. I do not expect my clients to come in every week and simply talk about their problems; in fact, if that is what a client is seeking, I let them know that I am not the best fit for them. I work best with folks who are ready to explore with self-compassion and curiosity the ways in which their default thoughts and behaviors might be holding them back, and who are open and willing to learn, practice, and apply new skills and tools in their everyday lives. I try to practice what I preach, and model for clients firsthand that they too can overcome the effects of complex trauma and live a life with more joy and peace.
If I could share anything with you, the reader, it would be to let you know that it is possible to break free from old patterns of behavior and heal, that instead of doubting yourself, or ping-ponging between feeling “too much” and “not enough”, it is possible to learn to embrace and celebrate your strengths while simultaneously accepting and holding the parts of yourself that you might not appreciate with non-judgment and self-compassion. Over time you can learn how to effectively protect and prioritize your energy, and gain the self-trust and self-worth that you didn’t develop earlier in life!
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
It’s a lot easier said than done, but what I would tell folks who are just starting out is to try not to care what other people think, and to live a life that feels authentic and genuine to you. Others may not understand, and that’s okay. It’s not your job or responsibility to make them understand either. Life is short and our time and energy is finite and precious; choose wisely who and what you invest yours in.
Oh, and it’s always okay to change your mind.
Pricing:
- Session with Carrie $220
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.carriehill.co
Image Credits
Amber Fallon Photo
