Todd Carter, LPCC-S, LICDC

Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor

Todd A. Carter (he/him) is a Supervising Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC-S) and a Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor (LICDC), who specializes in treating mental health and chemical dependency issues. Todd grew up in Groveport, Ohio. In 1990, he received his Bachlor’s degree in psychology from Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. In 1992, Todd received a Master’s degree in counseling psychology from Illinois State University and in 1996, he obtained second Master’s degree in counselor education with a focus on Social Agency Counseling from the University of Dayton. In 2002, Todd completed the level II training for EMDR, a specific therapeutic technique used to assist clients in resolving traumatic experiences.

During his graduate studies, Todd worked with college students in the Illinois State University Counseling Center. He also worked at a local mental health center with clients dealing with mental health and substance use issues. Todd’s Master’s Thesis looked at how people adjust to multiple grief and loss experiences. Following graduation, Todd lived in Chicago working for two years at Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, the largest mental health center in the city where he worked with chronically mentally ill clients with a history of multiple psychiatric hospitalizations.

In 1994, Todd and his wife, Heidi returned to the Columbus area. Todd worked in the Emergency Services Department at Southeast, Inc., a mental health center serving clients with chronic mental health and substance use issues. Todd worked next at Netcare where he preformed mental health and substance abuse assessments on clients seeking linkage to community mental health services. 

While Todd would consider himself a generalist, in that he works with a variety of mental health and addiction issues, Todd also has clinical areas of specialization in grief, trauma, and the treatment of PTSD. His approach to treatment is a combination of looking at the influence family of origin experiences have on the development of mental health and addiction issues, the impact of traumatic events on brain chemistry with a strong belief in utilizing psychiatric medications for symptom management/treatment of these chemical imbalances in the brain with a large focus on the utilization of Medicated Assisted Treatment in the long term treatment of addictive disorders.

Todd places importance on helping clients gain an understanding of the impact traumatic events have on clients’ present day functioning without continuing to allow these experiences to define our personhood/life legacy. Other foci of his work with clients includes examining different kinds of dysfunctional attachments with others with the hopes of adjusting interactions toward healthier ways of relating to others, and skill development of sensory modulation/grounding techniques to decrease emotional dysregulation/high states of physical arousal (living in a tense body/fight, flight, or freeze (sympathetic nervous system) with the goal of spending more time in a relaxed body (parasympathetic nervous system).

For the last 21 years, Todd worked at Compdrug as a counselor providing individual and group therapy services to clients on Medicated Assisted Treatment for Opioid Dependence. Todd also served as a clinical supervisor for professionals seeking their independent counselor license. Experienced in working with LGBTQ+ individuals.