LOS ANGELES VIRTUAL THERAPIST
About Carrie
HEY THEREI’m Carrie (she/her) — a therapist for thoughtful, overwhelmed humans trying to be good people in a complicated world.
My work blends curiosity, humor, and relational depth to help you get clear on who you are, what you need, and how to move through life with more ease, self-trust, and permission to be unapologetically imperfect.
FROM FILM, TO FOOD, TO FEELINGS
How I Became a Therapist
On the first day of grad school, my favorite professor said she loves being a therapist because it gives her permission to be nosy. I felt that so hard. After a meandering search throughout my 20s for my best-fit career, I knew I was in the right place.
Before becoming a therapist, I had a brief stint in the entertainment industry and then… opened a pudding food truck. Yes. Pudding. Sitcom energy, I know.
Those experiences gave me insight into working with clients in the entertainment world, the service industry, as well as business owners/entrepreneurs. I know both what it feels like to be part of a machine and to be the one holding everything together.
But I also realized I wanted to help people in real time– not just feed them (though dessert remains important). Therapy turned out to be the missing puzzle piece. Turns out, being nosy (in a loving way) really is a career path. Who knew?
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WORK TOGETHER
My Approach to Therapy
Imagine sitting across from someone with a deep appreciation for nuance and zero interest in pretending life is simple. We talk, we make connections, we laugh about how absurd being human can be, and we get real about what’s not working — and what might help.
A FEW THINGS YOU CAN EXPECT:
✔ Less “serene whispery meditation voice” more “warm confidant with actual clinical training”
✔ Depth + humor can coexist (we are pro-emotional-range here)
✔ Curiosity > judgment
✔ You don’t have to have it all figured out to start — that’s kind of the point
Therapy that feels like an opportunity, not an obligation.
Don't get me wrong, therapy is hard work— and a big investment of time, energy and financial resources.
But I’m also a big believer that it can be fun sometimes, even if we're dipping into heavy and challenging territory.
My goal is for sessions to feel less like obligations and more like opportunities, not only for growth but also for a mental reprieve from having to seem like you've got your shit together.
EMBRACE COMPLEXITY, FIND BALANCE
How I Think About Change
Most of us crave clarity, certainty, and control — all very understandable human desires. But life is rarely simple or straightforward.
I help clients get more comfortable with complexity. Because when we increase our capacity for things to be complicated, we start to recognize that we're not flawed for finding them challenging.
It feels complicated because it IS complicated. Not because we're not good/smart/resilient/whatever else enough to figure it out.
Being a Marriage and Family Therapist means I look at systems and relationships– families, culture, identity, capitalism– because nothing happens in a vacuum.
Through our work together we look at what shaped you and what’s currently impacting you. My hope is that what now feels like disorganized baggage will start to resemble a fully equipped toolkit instead.
The Official Deets
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I consider myself a trauma-informed postmodern therapist, and the majority of my training is in Relational Gestalt therapy. My approach also emphasizes collaboration, cultural humility, and harm reduction. This basically boils down to my belief that change comes from increasing awareness of yourself, your values, your relationships, your context, and the political and social systems that impact you.
Through that expanded awareness, you are able to make more informed decisions about how you want to move through the world and especially how you relate to and connect with others.
Postmodern therapy emphasizes that the client is the expert of their own experience. I am not here to tell you what’s wrong with you or to give you advice and solutions for how I think you should behave. My role is essentially to be an interpreter between you and a deeper understanding of yourself that you just haven’t been able to access on your own.
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My specialties include:
Perfectionism
Body image struggles
Eating orders/disordered eating
Sex and relationships
Entertainment industry professionals
Business owners
New parents
Challenging family dynamics
Teens
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Carolyn Smolen, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #163870
MS in Marriage and Family Therapy from USC
BA in Film Studies from Wesleyan University
Special Trainings: Relational Gestalt
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The majority of my post-graduate training has been in Relational Gestalt Therapy at The Relational Center, and I continue to train and mentor there.
I got my start in the mental health field crisis counseling LGBTQIA+ youth, and began as a therapist in practicum working with middle and high school students. I have also worked full-time in partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient (PHP/IOP) eating disorder treatment with both teens and adults.
BECAUSE THERAPY IS RELATIONAL…
A bit more about me
I’m originally from San Francisco, and now live on the east side of Los Angeles with my husband, our son, and our huge, super fluffy orange cat who makes frequent cameo appearances during sessions.
Things I love:
Cooking and baking, I’m a major food nerd
Scoping out LA restaurants from fine dining to holes in the wall
Being outdoors, probably because I grew up a summer camp kid (big time camp counselor energy over here)
Strength training (but continually trying to do it without diet culture nonsense)
Low stakes competition – one of my silliest hobbies is betting with friends on the outcomes of certain reality game shows (I’m in several draft leagues)
Basically: I’m a real person who shows up as one. I want you to feel like you can do the same.