Meet Rose Caracostas of Elmwood Counseling

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rose Caracostas.

Hi Rose, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
After completing my Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Denver, my career started with working at AllHealth Network. While I was there, I worked on several different teams, supporting all different types of patients with varying mental health diagnoses. I worked with high-risk youth, cross-over youth, adults impacted by severe and persistent mental illness, suicidal ideation and attempts as well as youth who were hospitalized due to suicidal ideation, attempt, out-of-control behavior or homicidal ideation. I provided crisis stabilization services for them as well as therapy, short and long-term. It was at this time that I was trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) as well as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). I am now certified in EMDR. After being at AllHealth Network for seven years, I started my private practice, Elmwood Counseling Services.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting my own practice has definitely had its challenges. It was hard to start my own business/private practice because I did not even know where to start really. I knew that I wanted to work for myself and I knew that I wanted to see patients and walk them through their trauma, that was the “easy” part, the logistics of doing that were foreign to me. I felt like I had to get a pseudo business degree, so to speak. I surround myself with professionals that had started their own practices and asked a lot of questions, I researched how to start your own private practice and had to learn how to network well. I was able to overcome those initial struggles of starting my business with support from my family, my past and current colleagues, and knowing I am using the gifts that God has given me. All of those have definitely helped me get to where I am today.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My practice serves adolescents and adults who have an anxiety, depression, and/or trauma diagnosis. The training and certification that I have allow me to come alongside patients who struggle with maladaptive behaviors and have experienced trauma and help them to reprocess those traumatic events and desensitize the traumatic symptoms. The hope is that these patients can take back control over their lives and have a new sense of normalcy. It really is an honor to have a patient allow you be on their trauma journey with them and is what I am most proud of. I am so proud of all the work my patients do day to day and that I get to be a part of it in some way. I have learned so much from my patients, but learning about how resilient we are as humans, has been incredibly to witness firsthand.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I am also an adjunct professor at the University of Denver’s Graduate of Social Work program. I have taught at DU for a number of years and love to teach upcoming social workers about clinical skills, how to perform assessments and teach them about trauma and interventions used to treat trauma. I think this work keeps me current on my approach in my own work and challenges me in many ways as a person, professor and professional.

I’d also like to dedicate this article to my patients, past and present. Without them, I wouldn’t have the privilege and honor to do the work I so love and cherish. I would also like to dedicate this to my wonderful parents who have always supported me in all that I do and have picked me up through life when I fall. My husband and my two daughters, who are the light of my life. Thank you for all your support, love and sacrifice to help me achieve my goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: elmwoodcounselingservices.com