Carley Richards
- Honours B.A. in Psychology (2020), MSc. in Neuroscience (2018), Honours BSc. in Neuroscience and Mental Health (2016)
Carley earned their Honours BSc. in Neuroscience and Mental Health (2016), MSc. in Neuroscience (2018), and Honours B.A. in Psychology (2020), before completing an M.A. in Counselling Psychology at Yorkville University in 2023. They are currently a Registered Psychotherapist.
“Talk to as many people as you can so you have enough information to understand your options, and don’t be afraid to change your mind! It is never too late to switch paths. You will learn lots along the way, and none of it is wasted time.”
Brief description of what I do!
In June 2025 I opened my own psychotherapy private practice. I primarily focus on providing neurodivergent and queer affirming care to adults with ADHD, Autism, dissociation, and relational trauma. As of right now, my practice is 100% virtual and I see clients located all over Ontario.
What inspired your career path after graduation?
I went into the mental health field originally because of my own personal experiences and feeling failed by the system. I wanted to make a difference and help other people avoid some of the pain and suffering that myself and my loved ones had experienced throughout life. For a while, I was moving down the academia/research pathway in neuroscience. After my MSc. I even started a Ph.D. at Carleton and got through about a month of it before I realized this path wasn’t right for me. I remembered how much I loved talking to the participants in my MSc. study on depression, early life trauma and the gut microbiome, and realized, how I wanted to help people was through working directly with individuals face to face, rather than through high-level scientific research. It took me a while to work through some internalized intellectual elitism that had me stuck in the belief that holding a doctorate degree would make me worth more as a person, but once I did, I switched paths into counseling psychology and I couldn’t be happier!
What skills or experiences were most valuable after graduation?
One class from my Psychology B.A. really stood out to me, I think it was called Transition to Career? There were two assignments in that class that were absolutely influential. The first one involved finding professionals in the field to interview about what their job was like day-to-day. This helped me understand what a Psychotherapist actually does, and it helped me confirm that to help people in the way I was hoping to, becoming a Psychotherapist (rather than a Psychiatrist or Psychologist) really was the best route for me. The second assignment that really impacted me and shaped my journey was called “reflected best self”. For this assignment, we were required to ask different people in our lives to write a short reflection on our strengths. It was kind of scary and vulnerable to do, I was expecting the people I asked to kind of phone-it-in and write pretty generic responses but I was really surprised and touched by the results. It was one of the first times I really realized that other people deeply believed in my abilities. They saw strengths in me that I didn’t see in myself. I think about that assignment from time to time when the impostor syndrome kicks in. It reminds me to lean on my support systems too! I think this course hit me so hard because I underestimated it as an annoying bird-course or a repetition of high school career & civics class! Coming from neuroscience and being steeped in the medical model, focusing so much on p-values and effect sizes and all of that, I forgot how impactful interacting with people on a human level really is. I came into the course with all the intellectual elitism, thinking that because the course didn’t involve complex statistical analysis or studying complicated metabolic pathways it couldn’t possibly be an impactful or important course. I was definitely wrong! It re-confirmed for me that, as much as I love and value science, the magic for me is in human connection. That’s where the healing is. That’s where I am meant to be.
Are there specific Psychology courses, professors, or experiences that stood out during your time at Carleton?
Will never forget Dr. Guy Lacroix wearing a wizard costume to class!
What has been a highlight or proud moment in your career so far?
I keep having them over and over again every time a client of mine feels proud of themself, meets one of their goals, says no or sets a boundary, unapologetically self-accommodates themself, or does something brave that they’ve been afraid to try. Watching my clients learn to trust themselves after a lifetime of being told the way their brain works is wrong or broken fills me up in a way I will never be able to describe.