https://www.carolynkuhfusstherapy.com/home daily 1.0 2025-02-12 https://www.carolynkuhfusstherapy.com/contact daily 0.75 2025-02-10 https://www.carolynkuhfusstherapy.com/aboutcarolyn daily 0.75 2025-02-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61fd5380f7d52a45746f917a/5ab051b5-3f86-4e43-8177-fe64f39c47a4/ProfilePic2025.jpg About Carolyn Carolyn Kuhfuss, LCSW (she/her/hers) Hi there, I’m Carolyn! I am a cisgender, able-bodied, queer woman. I was born and raised in Minnesota and have called Pittsburgh home for the last 20 years. I live with my husband, two children, and my black cats Luna & Coco. I have a Master’s in Social work from the University of Pittsburgh (2011) and am licensed in the state of Pennsylvania (#CW019741). After getting my degree, I practiced therapy in homes, schools, and mental health clinics before opening my private practice about 10 years ago. When I’m not working, I’m usually stressing out about how to both relax and be productive at the same time. I like board games, reading fiction, reality TV, and learning new things (roller skating and baking - not just pandemic past times!). I try to make my inner child proud of me and take care of those around me. One of my first mentors taught me that the core of therapy is holding “sacred presence” with other humans; a truth that continues to guide me to this day. I believe my clients are taking a wonderful, vulnerable risk by coming to therapy, and I do my best to be fully present with whatever they bring into the room. I am a trauma-informed, somatically-oriented therapist. If you want to know more about what that means, check out my explanation of treatment modalities. I am not currently accepting new clients. If you’d like to be put on my wait list, please shoot me a message. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61fd5380f7d52a45746f917a/1643998159978-7WQCV0L70I64AQ7QO6JB/unsplash-image-lUaaKCUANVI.jpg About Carolyn - Training & Certifications EMDR trained | EMDRIA | 2026 DBR level 2 trained | 2026 Safe & Sound Protocol (Music therapy) | 2022 Certified Clinical Trauma Professional | PESI | 2022 Fundamentals of Clinical Hypnosis | ISSTD | 2021 Influential Texts Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors | Janina Fisher Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection | Deb Dana Easy Ego-State Interventions | Robin Shapiro The Gift of Therapy | Dr. Irvin D. Yalom https://www.carolynkuhfusstherapy.com/treatment-modalities daily 0.75 2025-02-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61fd5380f7d52a45746f917a/459476ca-d8d6-4502-80ad-94b130e2f819/unsplash-image-pfSNx3Z12K8.jpg Treatment Modalities Therapist / Client Relationship Carolyn uses what’s “in the room” from the first day of treatment and throughout. Through building a healthy therapist/client relationship, past wounds are healed and current relational challenges are revealed. For this reason, feeling comfortable and connected to your therapist is the most important treatment “modality”. Studies have shown that the therapeutic relationship is the most consistent way to predict if therapy will achieve the desired results. Parts work Carolyn draws from the principles of Internal Family Systems (IFS), Ego State Therapy, and general systems theory to explore the various parts that make up the whole of us. Parts work allows us to see what’s happening inside from a more compassionate position: When we can find distance from a particular feeling or behavior, we usually see how that part of us is trying to “help” in some way. Parts work assumes that all of us have a competent, compassionate, and curious adult self (or core self) inside, and works to empower that part. With dissociative systems, Carolyn works with all of the people that live within the body. Commonly referred to as headmates or alters, Carolyn will build a working relationship with each person and help the system to move towards healthy coexistence with one-another. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) EMDR is an extensively researched and proven therapy technique that is largely used to help people recover from Trauma and PTSD, and get “unstuck” from looping and intrusive thoughts. It uses guided bilateral stimulation to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories and beliefs, reducing their intensity and frequency. https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/ DBR (Deep Brain Reorienting) DBR gets a layer beneath thought and emotion by targeting the initial shock energy present in the brain stem at the moment of a traumatic event. Have you ever felt your stomach drop, heat wash over your face, or felt a chill drape over your skin? Those are examples of shock energy moving in the body. DBR works to release shock energy that gets stuck in the body due to not having enough support and safety when a scary or traumatic event occurs. https://deepbrainreorienting.com/hypothetical-basis/ Somatic Noticing & Mindfulness Carolyn uses influences of somatic experiencing and mindfulness to repeatedly draw your attention to what’s happening in this very moment, instead of getting caught up in the “stories” in your head. Through a trauma-informed lens, this is done carefully and slowly, as body awareness is a tricky, and sometimes triggering, experience. https://www.carolynkuhfusstherapy.com/populationsserved daily 0.75 2025-02-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61fd5380f7d52a45746f917a/569bc76f-f204-4f70-99ae-79f0707d5070/IMG-9933.jpg