YVONNE CARRASCO, MSW, LCAS

No one can make a brand new start, but anyone can start from here and make a brand new end.                            -Dan Zadra 

I grew up outside of NYC and left as soon as I could. Even though I didn’t know why, all my life, even in high school, I was always interested in psychology, which eventually led to getting my clinical social work masters degree. While studying, I became aware of how I was trying to understand my family of origin and myself. Good parents who supported me the best they could, but whom I never felt connected to led to a chronic longing for family and connection.   

Additionally, I “treated” my anxiety and depression with alcohol and other substances until it didn’t work anymore. That happened as I returned to work after being a stay at home mom for over 10 years. The stress of balancing work  and family ultimately led to my 20+ year marriage ending. My crash and burn ended with me in residential substance abuse treatment.   

Eventually, I came to know a concept called “recovery.” Did you know that the term “recovery” refers to recovering the person we were meant to be? As I experienced firsthand, untreated mental health and substance use prevents us from knowing who we are: worthy of love and belonging with unique talents and gifts. 

Unhealthy coping, in its many forms, has its roots in shame. This shame can lead us to become avoidant, attack ourselves, attack others, or just withdraw altogether. To help reduce your shame, I will hold a non-judgmental space, allowing for growth, transformation, and increased self-compassion. 

 The road to recovery starts in many places. Some areas my work targets are: 

• Learning how to recognize when you need to re-charge yourself (self-care) before you are filled with overwhelm and stress 

• Identifying your self-limiting thoughts and developing believable challenges to them 

• Identifying relationship patterns that chronically lead to self-neglect and dissatisfaction

• Breaking patterns of comparison, worry and fear 

• Interrupting patterns of people pleasing 

• Learning how to navigate healthy connection to others in order to reduce isolation and loneliness

• Exploring and recovering from fear of failure, perfectionism, and inability to forgive yourself

• Exploring whether current substance use patterns are serving you

• How and what boundaries to set with a loved one you want to support who has addiction

In my work, I seek to balance compassion and accountability to empower you to find the healing and recovery you are worthy of. If you are open to exploring the possibility of recovery, reach out, and let’s take the first step together.