Meet Carolyn Patterson, LMSW: Relational Therapy for Individuals and Couples
We are delighted to welcome Carolyn Patterson, LMSW, to the clinical team at Transcendent Self Therapy. Carolyn is now accepting new clients for individual therapy, couples therapy, and psychedelic preparation and integration, both in person in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and virtually throughout New York.
Carolyn works with people who know that something in their lives or relationships needs to change, even when the path forward remains unclear. She understands these inflection points as more than periods of uncertainty: they can also become meaningful opportunities to understand ourselves more deeply and consciously shape what comes next.
Her therapeutic style is compassionate, engaged, and collaborative. She brings genuine curiosity and humor into the room while creating a space where clients can speak honestly, feel seen, and explore parts of themselves that may be difficult to share elsewhere.
Understanding the Patterns We Carry Into Relationships
Carolyn works from a psychodynamic and relational perspective. This means that therapy may explore how formative experiences, early relationships, and family dynamics continue to influence a client’s present-day emotions and relationships.
People often enter therapy knowing that they are caught in a pattern but not understanding why it continues. You may find yourself repeatedly drawn to unavailable partners, avoiding conflict until resentment builds, feeling responsible for other people’s emotions, or struggling to trust that your needs will be taken seriously.
These patterns do not emerge in a vacuum. They frequently developed as intelligent ways of navigating our earliest environments and relationships. Carolyn helps clients approach them without shame, understand what they have been protecting, and develop new ways of relating that better reflect who they are now.
Couples Therapy for Monogamous and Non-Monogamous Relationships
Carolyn works with both monogamous and consensually non-monogamous couples and partners. Her affirming approach does not assume that there is one correct way to structure a relationship. Instead, she helps clients explore whether their relationships are grounded in honesty, mutual respect, emotional responsibility, and clearly communicated agreements.
She may be a particularly good fit for couples experiencing:
Recurring arguments that never feel fully resolved
Emotional distance or a loss of intimacy
Difficulty communicating needs and boundaries
Jealousy, insecurity, or ruptures in trust
Differing expectations about commitment
Challenges involving the transition to non-monogamy
Difficulty maintaining connection across multiple relationships
The effects of family history on a current partnership
A major life transition affecting the relationship
Rather than assigning blame, Carolyn helps couples identify the relational cycle that keeps them stuck. Therapy creates a place to slow that cycle down, understand what each person is protecting or longing for, and practice more direct and vulnerable forms of communication.
Family-of-Origin Experiences and Interpersonal Healing
The roles we occupy in our families can remain surprisingly powerful long after childhood. A person who learned to be the peacemaker may struggle to express anger. Someone praised for being independent may find it difficult to ask for care. A person raised around unpredictability may remain highly alert to changes in other people’s moods.
Carolyn has a particular interest in helping clients understand painful family-of-origin experiences and how they affect adult relationships, self-esteem, boundaries, and emotional well-being.
This work is not about blaming families or reducing present difficulties to the past. It is about developing a fuller understanding of the emotional environment in which a person learned to relate—and creating more freedom in how they live and connect today.
Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Therapy
Carolyn completed Columbia University’s Psychedelic Therapy Training Program and has received extensive education in psychedelic preparation and integration.
Preparation therapy can help someone clarify their intentions, consider expectations and concerns, and develop a grounded framework for approaching a psychedelic experience. Integration therapy offers space to thoughtfully process what arose afterward and translate insights into meaningful, sustainable change.
A psychedelic experience may feel profound, confusing, emotionally intense, or difficult to put into words. Carolyn helps clients explore the personal meaning of the experience without imposing a predetermined interpretation. Her psychodynamic and relational background allows her to connect emerging material with a client’s history, emotional patterns, relationships, and ongoing therapeutic goals.
Transcendent Self Therapy does not provide or prescribe psychedelic substances. Carolyn’s work focuses on legal, clinically appropriate preparation and integration.
Therapy That Considers the Larger Context
Carolyn recognizes that emotional well-being is shaped not only by individual psychology but also by cultural expectations, social identities, family systems, and broader experiences of power and belonging.
Her approach makes room for these realities rather than locating every struggle solely within the individual. Therapy is shaped around each client’s needs, desires, identities, relationships, and vision for their life.
Carolyn may be a particularly strong fit for clients seeking support with:
Family dynamics and family-of-origin wounds
Recurring interpersonal patterns
Carolyn earned her Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Vassar College.
She is currently accepting new clients for individual and couples therapy, psychedelic preparation, and psychedelic integration. Sessions are available in person at our Williamsburg, Brooklyn office and virtually throughout New York.
To learn more or schedule a complimentary consultation with Carolyn, visit https://ts-therapy.com/carolyn, call (718) 504-8800, or email admin@ts-therapy.com.