Heidi K. Carter, LPCC-S, LICDC

Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor

Heidi K. Carter (she/her) is a Supervising Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC-S) and a Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor (LICDC), specializing in treating mental health and chemical dependency issues. Heidi grew up in Valparaiso, Indiana, a small town in northwest Indiana. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Augustana College, her master’s degree in counseling psychology from Illinois State University, and her master’s degree in counselor education from University of Dayton.

In graduate school, Heidi worked with college students in the Student Counseling Center at Illinois State University. She also worked in a local mental health center during her graduate training with clients who had mental health and substance use issues. Her first job placement was working with adults who had suffered brain injuries at a rehabilitation center in North West Chicago.

Upon moving to Columbus with her husband, Heidi worked for a private practice treating children and adults who were referred by their physician. She also worked for a local mental health center with the chronically mentally ill population. She then moved on to working for Adena Medical Center’s outpatient counseling center with children and adults doing both groups and individual counseling.

Heidi has worked for the last 18 years with individuals with mental health, trauma, and addiction issues at CompDrug, Inc. where the primary clientele was individuals with opioid addiction issues on medicated assisted treatment. She had experience there with both individual and group counseling. She has been trained in EMDR (Eye movement Desensitization Reprocessing) since 2001 which is a therapeutic technique to assist individuals with unresolved trauma, grief and loss. Also, during her time there, she trained with Brené Brown and became a Certified Daring Way Facilitator. Brené Brown’s work focuses on shame resilience, vulnerability, self-compassion, authenticity and living a whole-hearted life. This certification allows her to facilitate both The Daring Way and Rising Strong curriculums in groups or individually to help people move through difficult shame issues. Heidi is trained as a generalist, and is comfortable working with most presenting concerns (trauma, addiction, grief/loss, depression, anxiety, life transitions, parenting, caregiver stress, co-dependency, chronic illness/health issues, and communication/relationship issues) and is passionate about working with people who have been marginalized by society. Heidi’s experience has had a focus and training in attachment theory looking at the influence of family of origin issues on how we develop as people and interact in relationships. She looks at how our experiences and traumas forms us, looking at the patterns we have fallen into, examining our values and helping you be your authentic self to allow for full connection in relationships. Heidi is also experienced in working with LGBTQ+ individuals