New Perspectives Center for Counseling Staff

The relationship forged between client and therapist is one imbued with a transformational power. In our sessions, I will meet you exactly where you are and my attention will be focused entirely on your progress and personal growth. Together we will explore your unique landscape and come to discover where and who you are.

I’m Cara Michelle Connor, MFT Trainee. My therapeutic practice is informed by modern relational psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychodynamic depth work, as well as ritual spirituality, psychedelic integration, and Zen meditation. In my work with individuals, adolescents and couples, I strive to ensure that my practice welcomes people of all ages, races, bodies, ethnicities, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic realities. I have experience supporting folx around heartbreak, relationship, insecurity, sadness, grief, trauma, chronic pain, illness, substance use, life transition, existential issues, psychedelic exploration, feelings of overwhelm, feelings of emptiness, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

No matter where you find yourself on your journey, collaborating closely with a psychotherapist can be an opportunity for tremendous change — as well as for a peace that comes only from engaging honestly with yourself in an environment free from judgment and conventional expectations. If you’re reading this, now is the time to get the assistance you’ve been looking for, and allow someone to join you at this pivotal moment in your life.

“It is your Light that lights the worlds” — Rumi I believe that each of us is capable of finding our own path to healing. We have the right to connect to the essential goodness and life within us, no matter where we’ve come from. I believe each of us holds innate wisdom and resilience, that is there for us to discover. In my role as a therapist, I see myself as your companion and guide along the way as you find your own unique path. My intention is to hold a compassionate space for you to explore and make meaning out of your own story. My approach is collaborative, integrating strengths-based modalities such as relational psychodynamic, gestalt, and narrative approaches, with insight oriented and body centered modalities. I bring with me many years of experience working in the creative field and have seen how powerful a force creativity can be in recovery and healing. I incorporate into my practice a passion for the creative and expressive arts as another pathway to discover an embodied sense of aliveness and connection that may have been lost, or never known. Among my personal and professional interests are the intersection between chronic illness and trauma, complex and intergenerational trauma, somatic and mindfulness-based healing practices, social and environmental justice, dreamwork, mythology and drama therapy.

A traumatic event can be life-changing. We may feel as if the person we once were has been permanently changed. In many ways, this is true. We may feel anxious, confused, and isolated. Yet trauma can be transformed into increased resilience and new capacities. I have a strong conviction that with the right conditions, we can heal from adversity. If fact, we can thrive. My work is to provide a safe relationship that can support the body’s intrinsic capacity for healing and the mind make new meaning.

I have completed a Master’s degree in counseling psychology at Meridian University. I am a graduate from the Somatic Experiencing Institute and am EMDR-trained. I’ve had a long standing meditation practice that started when I was working on my undergraduate degree in Buddhist and Western Psychology. My mother is an immigrant to this country, and I have lived in Europe for nine years; I have compassion for the outsider.

I also have a long history in the performing arts and thus love to support creative people and remove the obstacles that prevent us from being the person that we are meant to be. My approach is humanistic and trauma-informed. I incorporate somatics, mindfullness, parts work and creativity into therapy sessions. I look forward to meeting you!

"There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” -Leonard Cohen

The cracks show up in your dreams, your slips in speech, the connections in what you speak about week to week ….that’s what I listen for in the room. We look for what your inner Self is trying to communicate to you, what you don’t know that you don’t know. You can say anything in the room … or nothing. The breaking open of the heart allows the love in.

“Why do we focus so intensely on our problems? What draws us to them? Why arethey so attractive? They have the magnet power of love: somehow we desire our problems; we are in love with them much as we want to get rid of them . . . Problems sustain us — maybe that’s why they don’t go away. What would a life be without them? Completely tranquilized and loveless . . . There is a secret love hiding in each problem” -James Hillman

My studies have included extensive work with dreams, the medicine of indigenous people, the deep listening of Freud & Lacan, the deep love in the heart of the Shaivite, Tantric traditions, and the place of LGBTQI2Spirit people in the world in terms of gifts and purpose.

“What does it matter how many lovers you have if none of them gives you the universe?” -Jacques Lacan

I have a passion for working with people, especially those looking for assistance with emotional and psychological challenges. I hold a Master’s degree in Psychology and am currently a Doctoral student in Clinical Psychology. My emphasis is depth psychology, which includes working with creative/expressive arts, dreams, and the therapeutic modality of Sandplay therapy. My theoretical orientation is primarily psychodynamic oriented psychotherapy, or insight oriented therapy, highlighting ecological, feminist, humanistic-existential, multicultural and spiritual perspectives.

My approach to psychotherapy is to focus on you holistically, which includes recognition of your gifts as well as areas where you may be experiencing difficulties or barriers that may be hindering you. I strive to provide a safe place for you to explore and express yourself authentically, with an emphasis on respect, reflection, self knowledge and growth.

If you're looking at this site, there's probably some part of your life that you're considering changing: a job, a relationship, a way of dealing with people or situations that isn't working as well as you would like. Having a therapist to talk out your ideas and feelings with can make the changing you want to do easier.

I'm a seasoned intern who's worked with many women, men, and couples, from many different places and situations. I offer you an interested listener who can also make suggestions, based on my training and experience; then you decide what choices you want to make. If you would like, we can use drawing, role playing, and sand tray work as part of your therapy. I have a special interest in working with couples, with artists and musicians, and with everyday problems of work and personal relationships. I'd be happy to talk with you about the life changes you want to make.

In today's fast-paced and intense world, life can sometimes be overwhelming and isolating. It is easy to lose one’s way and sense of inner direction. I believe that each person has the capacity to heal themselves and to grow. I work with clients to help them re-discover and access their own inner wisdom, which allows them to connect with their sense of meaning and purpose and to work towards creating the life that they want. My approach is tailored to the needs of each client, and I use a variety of theories and modalities, including solution-focused, somatic, Adlerian, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, all grounded in the core conditions of counseling: congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard. My areas of specialization include: career counseling, anxiety, depression, disability and chronic illness. I also speak Spanish and have experience working with clients from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. If you are struggling to find a career that is a fit for you, or you need help improving your resume, interviewing and networking skills, I can help you do this. I also have a strong awareness of disability-related issues, and thus, bring a social-justice perspective to my work with individuals who are members of underrepresented or marginalized groups. I believe we cannot understand people without looking at the contexts, or environments, (both physical and social) of which they are a part. Whether you are looking for support through a difficult life, or career transition, or you are struggling with anxiety and depression, my goal is to help you gain the clarity, support, and tools you need to live a life of happiness and fulfillment.

I am passionate about the wisdom, courage, health and joy that lives within every person. Each of us contain the keys to healing our lives, and living to our fullest potential. We contain all that we need. I empower my clients with the tools that they need to work with themselves, thus fostering independence and self-sovereignty. I draw from a broad spectrum of psychotherapeutic modalities in order to best facilitate each client's unique process and path towards self awareness, healing and balance. Some modalities that I use are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychosynthesis, guided visualizations, creative expression and mindfulness.

I meet my clients where they are with empathy, unconditional positive regard and a strong belief that clients hold their own wisdom and healing, and that my job is to help them to uncover that natural drive towards health and wholeness.

I have a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, CA. My approach is humanistic, client focused, transpersonal and psychodynamic.

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." ~Rumi