Carol Crawley, LMFT

Welcome!
I have a passion for working with couples, but my specialty is working with first responders. First responder marriages can have some unique challenges. Depending on the damage done to the relationship and the baggage brought into the marriage, this will determine our course of action. Every relationship is different, as the people in that relationship bring their own special gift to the table. I appreciate the complexity of each person and each relationship and will do my best to tailor each session according to your needs. It's my job to help you get to where you want to go, it's your job to do the work. Hope you like homework :)

Carol Crawley is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Associate Professional Clinical Counselor and Relationship Coach specializing in treating first responders and their families. She is a preferred clinician for the International Association of Firefighters Center of Excellence and volunteers as a clinician for the First Responder Support Network. She maintains a private practice in Knoxville Tennessee.

Married to a LEO for 28 years, I know first-hand the unique challenges these types of relationships face. In our sessions I strive to create an environment where it's safe to be authentic and take off the mask. Without safety it's almost impossible to cultivate a trusting therapeutic relationship. One in which genuine transformation can take place.

I specialize in working with couples struggling with infidelity, communication issues, emotional abuse, addictions, and trauma. Helping individuals take back ownership of their lives by teaching them somatic awareness. For a lot of first responders, the job can take a toll on their nervous system, disabling their awareness of physical sensations in their body. These physical sensations are actually emotions. We think with our brains but we feel emotions with our body. However, if one is disconnected from their own body, they may not be able to feel their "feelings". Not only are they disconnected from themselves they are probably disconnected from their loved ones as well. This ability to disconnect emotionally is like a superpower at work, but at home, it's like kryptonite. It's my job to help our heroes tap into their own bodies, so they can be heroes at home too. This new body awareness brings about authenticity allowing one to fully accept themself and learn to be vulnerable with those they love.

My style of coaching is not typical of the average life coach. Mainstream life coaching looks at the present and tries to move you from the present to the future you would like to create. However, what is more common than not with clients is that there are internal obstacles that prevent them from moving forward and reaching their goals. These internal obstacles need to be dealt with first. To do that we'll need to go backward before we can move ahead, surveying the clients past, to determine the origin of the obstacle. This is where my training in psychotherapy enhances my coaching. This is a quality that is unique to my style of coaching.

What you can expect from me as your coach is honesty, transparency, safety, assertiveness, confidentiality, and non-judgment. I tend to be pretty active in the session as I'm assuming you're wanting me to be more than just a good listener. However, if that's what you want, I can do that, it's your session. Otherwise, I'll be asking questions, providing psycho-education, challenging you at times to stretch you outside of your comfort zone. I'll also assign appropriate homework to reinforce the work we do in our sessions

Think of coaching as weight training for your brain. Just as in weight training for your body, if you are serious about building muscle mass, you're not going to go the gym and workout 1 day a week for 1 hour and expect to see results. To see significant results, you'll need to work out almost daily. The same is valid for coaching. If you want to see real results, you should be "working out" every day. And when I say "real" results, I'm not talking about behavior modification, I'm talking about real heart transformation.

What's the difference between counseling and life coaching?

Therapists work with individuals with mental health conditions, substance abuse, relationship difficulties, trauma, grief/loss, and a wide variety of day-to-day challenges and struggles. A therapist’s training allows them to work with people who have severe mental health issues, but they also work with individuals who are highly functioning but want more out of life by utilizing coaching tools and techniques.

Coaches work with people who are basically healthy and functional but not reaching their full potential. Coaching almost always addresses an individual’s mindset and attitude by uncovering self-limiting beliefs and negative self-talk. A person being coached is assumed to have all the answers they need within them; the coach’s job is to facilitate the discovery of those answers by asking the right questions.