My name is LeAnne Carr and I’m a counselor.  We don’t have much control over what happens to us in our formative years and some of those events can have a devastatingly negative impact on who we turn out to be. Whether it’s bad parenting decisions, rogue relatives, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, that nasty little voice inside our head works hard to convince us that we are to blame for the bad things that happen to us. That can create problems that we’ll have to deal with for the rest of our lives. I’m there!

I’d like to share a bit of my story with you.

Play the Hand You're Dealt

Mom left when I was 2. Dad did a great job playing both parenting roles but abandoning a 2-year-old is going to create problems for a child no matter what you tell them. I thought my mom left because of me. I thought maybe I hadn’t loved her enough or I wasn’t good enough, so she went to find another family. I thought I was worthless. Too this, or too that. I didn’t know that she had her own set of problems. I didn’t know I had nothing to do with her leaving.

My struggles with abandonment manifested through anxiety and depression, which drove me to self-medicate using a number of different chemicals. I did a lot of things I’m not proud of to support my bad behavior. I even stole money from my Dad’s coin jar (a big deal to me) to buy drugs. I thought he didn’t know it but he did.

I’d drive around under the influence believing I was invincible. I shudder now when I think about…I could have killed someone. Things got so bad in my head that I even tried to, “check out a little early”, but I couldn’t bring myself to complete the task.

My Dad spent several years carrying a bail-bondsman’s business card in his wallet because he was sure I was going to get myself arrested. He knew what I was doing and eventually told me he, “was disappointed”. For some that wouldn’t affect any change, but for me, my relationship with my Dad was stronger than any addiction and I began to seek help to find a way out of the black hole I had created. That was my introduction to the world of counseling.

Where to Now, St. Peter?

I tear up when I think about what I put my Dad through, mostly because I can’t go back and change that part of my life, for him. The good news is that we do have choices when it comes to scripting the rest of our lives. TV and the movies make the perfect life look like the norm. Pop-culture fabricates an image of the ideal life, the perfect woman, and how real men act.  We buy into it and hold on to it as our benchmark but it’s a lie. No one lives a perfectly planned life from birth to death; no one.

Been There. Done That. Let Me Help.

There will be challenges going forward, that's what life is. How you choose to deal with them will be the difference between a good life and one of self-torture. But first, we need to address those issues you’ve been wrestling with. Only once we sort out the mess that is your history, and make sense of it for you, will you be able to rightly assess anything else going forward.

I do what I do because I know what it feels like to hate yourself and disappoint those you love. I don’t yet know what part of your journey has driven you to your breaking point and this particular website page, but nothing would make me happier than to help you find and understand the truth. Then you can forgive and learn to love yourself again. Sometimes you have to, “go home” first, before you move on. If only just for a little bit.

Please call me.