Clare A. Stadlen
Clare A. Stadlen
LCSW, CEDS-C
Background
Clare is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist-Consultant (CEDS-C), and the owner of CAS Counseling Psychotherapy Associates. She has three+ decades of professional experience in counseling and psychotherapy, focused on all the emotional complexities of living and being human (not limited to any diagnoses). Clare began her career in New York City where she obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from The New School for Social Research and her Master’s Degree from Columbia University School of Social Work.
In her therapy work, Clare’s current passion is working with life transitions beyond 30-something and helping women embrace the fullness of life, free from food and body “shoulds.” She also loves marriage counseling, the role of “therapist’s therapist” and supporting high-level professionals in finding balance and meaning outside of busy work lives.
In her consulting work, Clare offers two tracks:
Eating Disorder Treatment Consultant - Moving as needed between the roles of coach, guide, expert, advisor, case manager, advocate, and trusted friend, Clare helps parents navigate the rough waters of eating disorder treatment.
Breaking Free Consultant - Through individual intensives and focused support sessions, Clare helps women (40+) break free from the diet-binge cycle, to discover and embrace a peaceful approach to food and body, for good!
Clare’s early training in the treatment of trauma and eating disorders occurred while working at the Renfrew Center, an internationally renowned residential treatment center. She has subsequently served as a consultant for treatment centers in New Mexico and North Carolina. Clare continues to attend conferences and trainings regularly and has a particular interest in studying the intersection of mind-body experience and the new research into the brain and it’s generative (and re-generative) responses to attachment and interpersonal relationships. Clare also has a background in art and enjoys incorporating creative arts in the therapeutic process.
Clare is bilingual and has enjoyed the opportunity to provide therapy in both English and Spanish. She has lectured at high schools, universities, and international conferences on the subjects of body image, therapeutic modalities, and diversity in eating disorder treatment.
Philosophy
Having worked with clients experiencing depression, anxiety, relationship issues and struggles with food, weight, body image, and disordered eating, Clare recognizes that all mental health symptoms are in place for reasons. Clare utilizes the psychotherapy work to uncover those reasons and discover more effective means of caring for Self. Exploring family dynamics, life experiences, personal beliefs, and both conscious and unconscious aspects of Self are all part of the therapeutic process. Working with Clare involves engaging with conscious and unconscious material which surfaces in the psychotherapy room as well as bringing attention to body sensations, feelings, thoughts and behavior patterns, developing insights, and strategizing solutions.
Clare’s clinical orientation begins with recognition of the “continuity of being” – a concept rooted in Object Relations Theory, though also embraced and expressed in many therapeutic models. In practice, Clare’s approach incorporates a variety of theoretical schools, including Ego Psychology, Object Relations, Gestalt, Analytical, Cognitive-Behavioral, Family Systems, Feminist Psychoanalytic, Relational, Expressive Arts Therapies, Somatic (body-oriented approaches) and Mindfulness.
Joy
Clare finds joy in making things with her hands, swimming, learning languages, traveling, and spending time with loved ones.
Clare sees clients in Durham and offers consulting wherever videoconferencing is available.