“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” — Carl Jung
Griffin Carter — trauma-informed therapy for adolescents and adults navigating substance use and recovery, built on relationship and grounded in evidence.
How I work
Evidence-based, relational, and paced to you. No one-size-fits-all.
Trauma-informed care
Complex trauma and PTSD, paced to your nervous system. Drawing on narrative, CBT, DBT, and Gestalt — not one method forced.
Substance use & recovery
Individual work for adolescents and adults navigating substance use and co-occurring concerns — from early questioning to sustained recovery, nonjudgmental and harm-aware.
Anxiety, mood & identity
Anxiety, mood, adolescent development, identity, and the relationship patterns underneath — space to understand and build something different.
Process & psychoeducational groups
Six ongoing groups, each built on a 12-week arc. Open a syllabus to see the shape of it.
Trauma-focused CBT and interpersonal process, contained and confidential.
12-week syllabus
- Introduction & psychoeducation
- Psychoeducation & caregiver skills (parallel caregiver session)
- Relaxation skills
- Affective expression & regulation
- Cognitive coping I
- Cognitive coping II
- Trauma narrative preparation
- Trauma processing skills
- In-vivo mastery of trauma reminders
- Conjoint family skills session
- Enhancing safety & future development
- Review & maintenance
Emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness — practiced, not just explained.
12-week syllabus
- DBT orientation: goals, dialectics & problem-solving
- Mindfulness: three states of mind, what & how skills
- Distress tolerance: STOP & TIPP skills
- Distress tolerance: pros & cons, urge surfing
- Distress tolerance: radical acceptance & willingness
- Distress tolerance: distraction, self-soothe, improving the moment
- Emotion regulation: check the facts, opposite action
- Emotion regulation: problem solving & the wave skill
- Emotion regulation: build mastery, cope ahead, PLEASE skills
- Interpersonal effectiveness: DEAR MAN
- Interpersonal effectiveness: GIVE, THINK & FAST skills
- Walking the middle path, validation & wise-mind values
Working the thought–feeling–behavior loop: noticing, reframing, and real-world practice.
12-week syllabus
- Introduction to CBT
- Identifying automatic thoughts
- Challenging negative thinking
- Behavioral activation
- Problem-solving skills
- Stress management & relaxation techniques
- Mindfulness skills
- Managing difficult emotions
- Effective communication
- Values & goal setting
- Relapse prevention
- Review & maintenance
Recovery process groups with relapse prevention and 12-step literacy.
12-week syllabus
- Understanding addiction & recovery
- Building motivation & commitment
- Identifying & managing triggers
- Urge surfing & craving management
- Cognitive restructuring I
- Cognitive restructuring II
- Emotional regulation
- Effective communication & boundary setting
- Lifestyle balance
- Building support networks
- Relapse prevention planning
- Maintaining long-term recovery
Here-and-now relational work — the patterns show up in the room, and that's where they change.
12-week syllabus
- Group formation & safety
- Communication patterns
- Emotional awareness
- Trust & vulnerability
- Giving & receiving feedback
- Conflict & difference
- Group halfway process
- Power & control
- Intimacy & boundaries
- Family patterns & transference
- Integration & application
- Closure & saying goodbye
Space to move through grief and loss alongside others who understand.
12-week syllabus
- Introduction to grief & group orientation
- Understanding your grief journey
- Expressing grief emotions
- Managing grief triggers & difficult times
- The grief narrative — telling your story
- Making meaning after loss
- Complicated grief factors
- Continuing bonds with the deceased
- Identity reconstruction after loss
- Rebuilding social connections
- Growth through grief
- Integration & continuing the journey
Each syllabus is a representative arc — groups flex to the people in the room.
About Griffin
I'm an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (CA #160322) with a master's in applied psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles and 1,300 supervised clinical hours toward LMFT licensure. My work is in intensive outpatient and residential settings — substance use, co-occurring disorders, individual therapy, group facilitation, and crisis and trauma care.
My approach draws on narrative therapy, CBT, DBT, and Gestalt, held inside a trauma-informed, family-systems lens. Change happens in relationship — at a pace you can trust.
“People aren't their symptoms. The story can be rewritten.”
Ready when you are.
A free consultation to see if we're a fit — no pressure, just a conversation.
Book a consultation
Request an appointmentBefore you reach out
What does it cost?
$150 an hour, flat — individual sessions and groups alike.
Do you accept insurance?
Not at this time — sessions are self-pay at $150 an hour, individual and group alike.
In-person or online?
Individual sessions are online. Process groups meet in person. I work with clients located in California.
What happens in a first session?
A full intake for outpatient-level care — your history, what's bringing you in, and the paperwork (consents and releases). From there, we shape a plan together.
Do you work with adolescents?
Yes — I work with adolescents and adults, with a particular focus on substance use, trauma, and identity.
Get in touch
Tell me a little about what's bringing you here — I'll get back to you.