Meet Carl
Carl’s an award-winning therapist, author, and researcher specializing in the impact of culture on our individual and collective well-being.
But before arriving here, Carl traveled down many roads — including a decorated career in the engineering field — until he transcended his internalized culture and reclaimed his natural self.
Here’s Carl’s bio in his own words…
Chapter 1: Carl the Engineering Professor
Both my parents fled war-torn countries as children, so I understand why they wanted me to grow up to be a doctor or an engineer. They believed these careers would grant me a lifetime of security.
I wanted my parents to be happy with my choices, so I studied my heart out in school, won awards and scholarships, and (skipping ahead) earned my PhD in Electrical Engineering from McGill University at the age of 27.
After a lot of tire-kicking on different ways of being an engineer, I finally moved on. I tried working at a giant corporation (nope!), built a startup with a few colleagues (better!), and ended my engineering career immediately after being granted tenure as a professor at Colorado State University.
A part of me wants you to know that I was a successful engineering professor (with a million-dollar research lab funded by the NSF and NASA; multiple professor and researcher of the year awards; over a hundred articles and two books published). But in truth, the accomplishments that matter most to me are the people I touched along the way and the students whose lives I helped shape. For me, it’s always been about people.
(Curious about Carl the Engineer? You can find my seven-page engineering resume from the year 2000 here.)
Chapter 1: Carl the Engineering Professor
Both my parents fled war-torn countries as children, so I understand why they wanted me to grow up to be a doctor or an engineer. They believed these careers would grant me a lifetime of security.
I wanted my parents to be happy with my choices, so I studied my heart out in school, won awards and scholarships, and (skipping ahead) earned my PhD in Electrical Engineering from McGill University at the age of 27.
After a lot of tire-kicking on different ways of being an engineer, I finally moved on. I tried working at a giant corporation (nope!), built a startup with a few colleagues (better!), and ended my engineering career immediately after being granted tenure as a professor at Colorado State University.
A part of me wants you to know that I was a successful engineering professor (with a million-dollar research lab funded by the NSF and NASA; multiple professor and researcher of the year awards; over a hundred articles and two books published). But in truth, the accomplishments that matter most to me are the people I touched along the way and the students whose lives I helped shape. For me, it’s always been about people.
(Curious about Carl the Engineer? You can find my seven-page engineering resume from the year 2000 here.)
Chapter 2: Carl the Professional Counselor
Within days of meeting my wife, she shared with me that she went to counseling. I responded with, “Oh, what’s wrong with you?” Luckily, our budding relationship survived that conversation and (jumping ahead) I eventually realized I’d found both the person I’d spend my life with and the career I would spend my life building.
I resigned from my professorship, earned graduate degrees in professional counseling, then opened a private practice. My parents responded with disbelief, “You’re going to give up a secure, tenured future for the pennies your clients will pay you?” Yep. I sure was. For twelve wonderful years.
Along the way, I joined the International Integrative Psychotherapy Association, a wonderful group of committed professionals, and became a certified supervisor and trainer for future psychotherapists.
(Give my counseling resume from the year 2011 a read.)
Chapter 2: Carl the Professional Counselor
Within days of meeting my wife, she shared with me that she went to counseling. I responded with, “Oh, what’s wrong with you?” Luckily, our budding relationship survived that conversation and (jumping ahead) I eventually realized I’d found both the person I’d spend my life with and the career I would spend my life building.
I resigned from my professorship, earned graduate degrees in professional counseling, then opened a private practice. My parents responded with disbelief, “You’re going to give up a secure, tenured future for the pennies your clients will pay you?” Yep. I sure was. For twelve wonderful years.
Along the way, I joined the International Integrative Psychotherapy Association, a wonderful group of committed professionals, and became a certified supervisor and trainer for future psychotherapists.
(Give my counseling resume from the year 2011 a read.)
Chapter 3: Carl builds a (Big) Social Enterprise
The only drawback to being a therapist in private practice is, paradoxically, that it’s lonely. I loved the rich experiences I shared with my clients, but I missed the colleagues I had enjoyed in my earlier career. So, I decided to solve two problems at one time.
Colorado was short on therapists, especially therapists willing to work with Medicaid clients, and I was short on colleagues. So, I built a group practice that would give clients easy access to the care they needed, and gift me with the colleagues I so missed. And it grew. And Grew. And GREW. Within six years, there were 250 of us working together! We had such good people and such great times, with everyone committed to helping people heal and to creating a meaningful organization. We shared meals, spent time sharing about our lives, and together, we built a remarkable place to work.
And then, one day, it all just felt too big. And someone (Lifestance Health) came along and asked if they could buy the place from me. It felt like the right time and they felt like the right people, so I said “yes.”
(Curious about the organization I built? Here’s the front and back of our brochure from early 2020, and our webpage in early 2020, soon after the pandemic landed.)
Chapter 3: Carl builds a (Big) Social Enterprise
The only drawback to being a therapist in private practice is, paradoxically, that it’s lonely. I loved the rich experiences I shared with my clients, but I missed the colleagues I had enjoyed in my earlier career. So, I decided to solve two problems at one time.
Colorado was short on therapists, especially therapists willing to work with Medicaid clients, and I was short on colleagues. So, I built a group practice that would give clients easy access to the care they needed, and gift me with the colleagues I so missed. And it grew. And Grew. And GREW. Within six years, there were 250 of us working together! We had such good people and such great times, with everyone committed to helping people heal and to creating a meaningful organization. We shared meals, spent time sharing about our lives, and together, we built a remarkable place to work.
And then, one day, it all just felt too big. And someone (Lifestance Health) came along and asked if they could buy the place from me. It felt like the right time and they felt like the right people, so I said “yes.”
(Curious about the organization I built? Here’s the front and back of our brochure from early 2020, and our webpage in early 2020, soon after the pandemic landed.)
Interested in learning more about the organization today? Here’s the webpage of its current incarnation.
Chapter 4: Carl the Cultural Creative
At some point, I realized that the journey my clients take — from traumatized and isolated to liberated and connected — is the very same journey our culture is ready to embark on. I believe that most of us are eager to move away from the isolation of consumerism towards the belonging of a collective culture.
Chapter 4: Carl the Cultural Creative
Within days of meeting my wife, she shared with me that she went to counseling. I responded with, “Oh, what’s wrong with you?” Luckily, our budding relationship survived that conversation and (jumping ahead) I eventually realized I’d found both the person I’d spend my life with and the career I would spend my life building.
At some point, I realized that the journey my clients take — from traumatized and isolated to liberated and connected — is the very same journey our culture is ready to embark on. I believe that most of us are eager to move away from the isolation of consumerism towards the belonging of a collective culture.
Now That You Know Me, I’d Value Getting to Know You
