Mary Sue McCarthy, LCPC, CCTP
About Mary Sue
Prior to beginning her counseling career in 2013 as an addictions therapist, Mary Sue served as a Transformative Mediator and Educator for the Baltimore City Circuit Courts, Family Law Division, mediating high conflict custody and visitation cases. She continues this work as an educator for parents needing co-parenting skills, and preparation for mediation.
Seeking to increase her capabilities in providing reparative experiences, Mary Sue returned to graduate school in her 50’s to obtain her Master’s degree in Counseling from McDaniel College. Her initial interests focused on addiction counseling and group facilitation.
Through this work, she quickly understood that substance abuse can often be a symptom of deeper concerns including PTSD, complex developmental trauma, unrelenting anxiety, chronic depression, and grief.
To Mary Sue, trauma can mean many things including loss of relationships, and community, accidents, divorce, major life disappointments, natural disasters, as well as abuse, neglect and assault. Trauma is something that happens to a person leaving behind implicit, disturbing memories, which may cause a person to feel overwhelmingly sad, fearful and alone and perhaps most importantly stuck in the trauma-time. Trauma recovery is not something one can think their way out of. Rather trauma recovery requires the linking of implicit trauma memory stuck in the emotional part of the brain to the rational and executive functions of the brain.
Informed by a neurobiological approach to trauma treatment, Mary Sue’s practice blends several therapies and theories including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), IFS Parts and Structural Disassociation Theory along with Attachment Theory. Mindful self-observation, learning to be curious and notice without judgment are also central to Mary Sue’s practice.
To further deepen her practice in trauma resolution, Mary Sue has spent hours in supervision training to become certified in EMDR. She is trained as a Level 1 Sensorimotor Therapist. Mary Sue is a staunch advocate of continued education and exposure to newer and proven best practices. She currently participates in several peer supervision groups including trauma-oriented approaches.
In private practice in Hunt Valley, Maryland, Mary Sue welcomes clients 35 years and older for support with recovery from trauma and related symptoms including addictions, depression, social isolation and "feeling stuck".
My therapy practice is founded on my belief that inherent in everyone is the ability to:
- Know their wants and needs
- Declare their own truths
- Find the best way forward
As your therapist, my role is to support you in your journey, at whatever place you start, to help you clear the way, navigate through the storms, and celebrate the sunshine.
- Mary Sue McCarthy, LCPC, CCTP