Carla DePalma, LPC, ATR

Welcome! I’m Carla, an art therapist and counselor here at Mala. It’s bittersweet to have you here, since I’m glad you’re taking this step to heal, and I also imagine it’s been hard for you and that’s part of what brings you here. I feel privileged to learn about and bear witness to your experiences, and to further assist you in your therapy exploration.

I earned my Master’s in Counseling Psychology: Art Therapy at Adler School of Professional Psychology (now called Adler University), in Chicago, Illinois. I am a registered art therapist (ATR) and fully licensed as a counselor in Illinois. My licensure in the state of Michigan is currently in-progress.

I have experience working with children, adolescents, teens, young adults, and adults in a variety of mental health settings, including: partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, outpatient therapy settings, community agencies, and schools. I have worked with individuals 10 and older, families, couples, and groups. My approach is gentle, genuine, compassionate, and humorous.

I hope to support you with a variety of needs. Some issues I have explored with clients include: anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, relationship conflicts, life transitions, explorations of intersecting identities, and more. I am most at home using art therapy with somatic-focused mindfulness techniques, and I may gently challenge you to create art with me. However, I also pull from different therapeutic tools to help you heal, such as: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), brainspotting (BSP), and experiential therapies.

Outside of therapy, I also enjoy spending time with my partner, hiking, reading, writing, painting, playing guitar, D&D, watching movies, and quoting these aforementioned movies incessantly.

I look forward to getting to know you.