Extensive Experience with Academic
Pressures & Concerns

I have extensive experience working with students, faculty, and staff. Before going into private practice, I worked at the counseling centers of a number of universities, including Harvard University, Lesley University, and Elon University. And for over ten years, mostly in a private-practice setting, I have worked with many professors, faculty, graduate students, and college students.

Therapy for Duke, UNC, NC State, & Other College Students

Students often face a number of challenges and stressors. I can work with you to better understand these concerns, offer support, and help you develop more effective skills and tools.

Why Counseling Can Be Helpful for College Students

College is often a wonderful time where students develop independence, maturity, and intellectual growth. And this time can also be fraught with pressures and demands, including

• Academic pressures
• Extracurricular demands
• Parental expectations
• Race, ethnicity, nationality, or other cultural identity issues
• Sexual orientation or LGBTQ concerns
• Gender identity issues
• Feelings of social inadequacy and self-esteem issues
• Anxiety and depression
• Homesickness
• Relationships and interpersonal concerns
• Stress
• Illness or death of a loved one
• Career concerns and pressures

Why Counseling Can Be Helpful for Graduate Students

Graduate students share many of the same concerns as undergraduate students. In addition, graduate students also contend with additional stressors such as

• Juggling family and academic responsibilities
• Dissertation pressures
• Departmental politics

"Carolyn Stevenson is a wonderful therapist. She really helped me through a difficult patch in my life. I had never been to a therapist before, but found that her warm sense of humor and keen listening skills created a safe space for me to talk about whatever was on my mind. Because she has worked in a variety of academic settings, with students as well as professors, she is very familiar with the particular pressures of academic life. I also appreciated her familiarity with meditation and mindfulness practices. I always left our sessions feeling like she had helped me gain some new insight or that she had shared some practical methods for coping with daily stress and anxiety. I would strongly recommend her as a therapist."

- former client

"I came to Carolyn because I was going through an enormous life/career change. At that time I was anxiety ridden and could not stop replaying and brooding over recent events. From my very first appointment I was impressed at how carefully Carolyn listened to my underlying concerns and how empathetic she was regarding what I had just been through. Carolyn is wicked smart, down to earth, and has a great sense of humor. These qualities made it easy for me to open up to Carolyn and provided me with a great resource for both ideas and self-examination. With Carolyn’s help I was able to face my new challenges head on. Today, the anxiety and brooding have subsided and I feel far more centered than I have in years."

- former client

"Carolyn has been a great help to me. In fact, I think I have grown more through therapy than any of my classes. With her support, I was able to address many of the issues that made me physically ill for the last 5 years and gain agency in my life again."

- former client

(See other testimonials)