About Karen Perlmutter, LISW-CP
Everyone makes perfect sense, once you ask the right questions.
I'm a licensed therapist in Mt. Pleasant, SC, and an addiction recovery therapist and educator. For nearly 20 years, I've worked with people in recovery and the families who love them. I also treat the depression, anxiety, and complicated family dynamics that so often come along for the ride. I don't walk in with judgment. I walk in curious.
I didn't plan on this work. It found me anyway.
I grew up in a family that raised foster kids, and I assumed I'd spend my career serving children in that system. Then, in 2007, a graduate internship placed me in a substance abuse clinic.
I'll be honest: I didn't walk in excited. I carried the same assumptions most people have about "those people." But when I started spending time with wonderful clients trying to turn their lives around, I found all of the honesty, vulnerability, and grit contagious. I realized pretty quickly that these were my people. We didn't share a story, but we shared a love of hard truths and figuring out what a life well lived looks like, even when life is complicated.
Over time, I became just as interested in the other side of the story: the families. They were facing their own fear, grief, and exhaustion, and most of them were getting little more advice than either "Kick them out!" or "You can't abandon them!" These families deserved better. So I set out to build it.
Standing between both sides of the mountain
In this field, a professional with personal history of addiction comes with built-in credibility, and maybe it should. My own story has plenty of messy chapters, but addiction didn't happen to be one of them.
I used to wonder if that was a disadvantage. Now I think it's part of what I bring. It gives me curiosity and compassion for both sides: the person struggling with the substance and the family that loves them. Often, it lets me be a bridge between two people who are hurting in very different ways.
What you can expect from me
People aren't broken
So I don't try to fix them. Therapy is a shaping process, and the way true, meaningful change happens in people is fascinating! We make one gentle change at a time, until one day you look up and realize things really are taking a different form. You are thinking differently, acting differently and feeling more grounded in the direction you're going.
It's a collaboration
It's in the name. I bring nearly 20 years of knowing how addiction works and what tends to truly create positive change. You bring what matters most to you, what you're ready for, and what you can live with. Neither of us has all the answers alone.
There's more than one right answer
I'll never hand you a rigid set of rules. What I will do is help you see more options than you could see on your own.
Honesty, kindly delivered
If I don't think I'm the right fit for what you need, I'll tell you, and I'll help you find who is.
When I’m off the clock
I'm a married mom of three, navigating the beautiful, highly imperfect world of being a working parent. My sweet cockapoo, Rosie, is my office sidekick most days. Most of my clients are eager for their Rosie-snuggle when they get to the office!
People often ask me, "How do you do this work?!" Honestly, it doesn't drain me. It fuels me. It's an honor to walk alongside people who are willing to grow. But I do try to practice what I preach, with ever-continuing work on myself, awareness of work/life/family balance (and that means boundaries sometimes!), and the importance of nurturing the important relationships in my life.
Where would you like to start?
In person
Private Counseling in Mt. Pleasant, SC
Individual, couples, and family therapy.
Online, at your own pace
Empowering Families That Face Addiction
A free mini-session and a private, on-demand course for anyone who loves someone struggling with addiction.