Featured Therapist for March, Carla Krash
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists. This month’s Featured Therapist is Carla Krash, LSW, MSS, MFA. Learn more about her in the below interview!
What makes you unique as a therapist and as a person?
I have been an artist/designer my entire life, exploring creative ways to use a variety of materials in the objects I create. A metaphor I employ to provide a framework for thinking about the therapy process is the exploration of material qualities; smooth or rough; hard or soft; heavy or light; fragile or indestructible. As an artist I choose materials becauseof their particular attributes and use those qualities to create something new. The same is true in the therapeutic process. Together clients and I collaborate to create a new experience using the materials (i.e., the strengths) they already possess. I view therapy as a way for my clients to recognize and draw on their own strengths to create change in their lives.
Describe a typical first session with you.
Entering therapy with a new therapist (or for the first time altogether) can be an anxiety-producing experience for many people. The goal of the first session is to get to know one another a little bit and for me to find out what’s going on that’s bringing you to therapy. I’ll do this by asking some questions about your current situation (we’ll get to more history-taking questions in following sessions). Hopefully by the end of the session you will feel you have entered into a safe, non-judgmental space with a “real,” unintimidating, non-stigmatizing, and unshockable person who can help you through whatever challenging situation you are facing.
What do you consider to be the goal of therapy? What do you help your clients work towards?
I view therapy as a place to work through issues in collaboration with a person who is deeply committed and caring. Through careful guidance my clients can get to the bottom of things and release burdens that they are carrying in a safe and effective way. By reframing thinking patterns clients can work their way out of depression, anxiety, grief, questions of self-worth, and relational conflicts in ways that last.
Why did you decide to become a therapist? What drew you to counseling as a career?
Experiencing depression and anxiety early in life provides me with the ability to possess a deep sensitivity for the pain people carry and the frightening feeling that things “will never get better.” Through my own therapeutic journey with a therapist who really “got” me I’ve learned how extraordinary change is possible. This experience inspired me to want to help others in their journey towards wellness and authenticity.
Carla Krash, LSW, MSS, MFA is a Staff Therapist at our Center City and Blue Bell, PA Offices; she currently sees clients via online therapy. To set-up an appointment, you can reach her at ckrash@councilforrelationships.org or 215-382-6680 ext. 7005.