About John C. Carr
John C. Carr, LICSW, is a licensed independent clinical social worker/psychotherapist based in Boston Ma. He specializes in working with men and fathers, twenty- and thirty-somethings and people needing anger management. He is a parent educator and author of “Becoming a Dad: The First Three Years,” which has sold more than 40,000 copies and is part of the Great Expectations Series from Sterling Publishing. John lives in the suburbs of Boston with his wife and three children.
Parenting and Fathering
Although John had conducted programs for parents in a variety of settings throughout the 1990’s, his professional interest in fatherhood became more personal when he and his wife had their first child in 2001. At the time, John was in a psychoanalytic training program where he found that the literature rarely mentioned the importance of a father’s presence in childhood development. This did not correlate with John’s experience as son and now as father. With a dramatic rise in dual career households, fathers are more involved, so therefore more important than ever. There is plenty of research that supports the idea that an involved loving father makes a significance in a child’s life. John believes that this is an opportune time in our history to be a father and has committed himself to helping fathers be the father their kids need them to be. John’s counseling practice provides safe opportunities for fathers to get the emotional and practical support they deserve and need.
John counsels fathers individually and in groups. Both forums help fathers come out of isolation and connect with themselves and other men. When fathers tell their stories they realize they are not alone, they make sense of their parental role and they see the impact their own parents had on how they parent. Through this process dads discover new ways to parent and in some cases break a cycle of abuse, neglect or emotional detachment.
Finally, John’s personal experience as a father of three has both humbled and expanded his compassion for what it means to provide a secure base for his children.
20’s and 30’s Somethings
John’s interest in working with twenty- and thirty-somethings was born from his own growth in that period of his life. He sees many people in this age group, and helps them figure out their own place in the world and answer big questions like: Who am I? What do I want? How do I get it?
People transitioning into adulthood need a place to process these questions as they come to understand themselves and the world. This group tends to be on the cusp of big life decisions around marriage, work and overall life goals, while at the same time, trying to assert their sense of independence. John will see these people for individual sessions he also finds group therapy a great forum for self discovery. As a 50-something himself, John has come out on the other side and has a real heart for the opportunities and challenges this population faces.
Anger and Stress Management
John has worked extensively with clients needing help with anger/stress management. He has been trained and mentored by Dr. Richard Pfeiffer, MDiv, PhD, the founding director of Growth Central LLC. John and Dr. Pfeiffer worked together conducting workshops and seminars for healthcare providers with anger/stress management. It was here that John learned the critical role of shame in the expression and experience of anger. In his practice, John uses Dr. Pfeiffer’s Real Solution Anger Management Workbook, which helps people reduce their levels of anger in provocative situations. Participants learn what their anger is not to be gotten rid of but more, to be understood and potentially used for good. We do this by examining trigger thoughts and discovering ways to respond productively versus react destructively. John will typically work with someone for 12 consecutive weeks using the workbook as a guide, but can also work with someone on an ongoing basis when appropriate. John believes that many angry reactions are grounded in a need to protect something very precious to oneself (your sense of self, safety and wellbeing) .
Education and Experience
John received his B.A. in Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1989. He worked as a mental health worker on an inpatient psychiatric unit for seven years at the prestigious NY Hospital Cornell Medical Center in White Plains NY. This invaluable experience convinced him to get a Master’s degree in Social Work. He graduated from Hunter College School of Social Work (The Silberman School of Social Work) in NYC in 1998 with a concentration in group work. He is indebted to that program for launching his academic studies in mental health. He began his post-master’s career at Steinway Child and Family Services in Astoria Queens, in the late 90’s, where John implemented the “Parenting Journey” curriculum to rave reviews. Soon thereafter he received the organization’s Social Worker of the Year award for his work with parents. John decided to get additional in-depth clinical training, enrolling in a three-year certificate program in Psychotherapy and Spirituality from the Blanton-Peale Institute in NYC. He joined the Blanton-Peale staff as a resident psychotherapist until he opened his private practice in 2002. Since 2002, John has been in private practice in Manhattan. He has written and been trained in a few parenting curricula. He was first trained in 1998 in “The Parenting Journey” Curriculum and in 2004 in the “All Men Are Sons” Curriculum and has written two curricula, one for teens and parents entitled “Bridging the Gap: Exploring Ways to Improve Communication Between Parent and Teen” and “M.O.M.S.: Mothers Offering Mutual Support“- designed to help single mothers parent more effectively.
John received a certificate in Parent Education and Parent Guidance from Adelphi University’s The Institute for Parenting. This training program is grounded in Attachment Theory and Parent/Child Mental Health.
Professional Affiliations
