As I tend to my own inner flame, my mission is to help you reignite yours. Because, damn, you deserve it.
I know the toll perfectionism and high expectations can take. My experience working with ambitious, deep-feeling women means I understand how to help you let go of what isn’t serving you and rediscover what truly fulfills you, on your own terms.
Grief is an unpredictable journey, and my expertise ensures we honor its complexities without forcing a timeline. Whether it’s a profound loss or a pivotal life transition, I help you navigate this terrain with compassion and find ways to make sense of life in its new form.
With specialized training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), I guide you through the deeper layers of anxiety, trauma, and grief to uncover what’s holding you back. This approach helps you break free from old patterns and experience lasting emotional relief and resilience.
At my core, I'm a therapist who believes in meeting you exactly where you are—with empathy, honesty, and a bit of humor. That said, I have trained extensively in modalities I know will provide the best care for my clients.
Therapy is personal, and so is my approach
Why Choose Me?
Dr. Gabor Mate
"Knowing oneself comes from attending with compassionate curiosity to what is happening within."
You are more than your achievements or your ability to hold it all together. Here, you’ll learn to embrace a life led by authenticity, not perfectionism—where self-worth isn’t earned, but honored.
A Compassionate Space to Redefine Success
We’ll uncover the underlying wounds, beliefs, and narratives that keep you stuck. Lasting change comes from more than understanding why. Going beyond insight to action will reshape your relationship with yourself and your life.
Getting to the Root, Not Just the Symptoms
This is not a passive process. Together, we dig deep, challenge unhelpful patterns, and do the work—not just to understand, but to transform. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.
Therapy that moves you forward
The name Counseling Connected was born from a fundamental truth: healing begins within. We are wired for connection—to ourselves and others—but life's pressures, past wounds, and unrelenting expectations often sever these links. Many move through the world outwardly successful yet inwardly adrift, trapped in anxious thought loops, burdened by perfectionism, or disconnected from their own emotions.
True connection—deep, sustaining, and transformative—begins by restoring the relationship we have with ourselves, allowing us to build more fulfilling relationships, pursue meaningful work, and live in alignment with who we are.
A Connected Approach
I’m Cara Donahue, an EMDR-trained therapist and grief care specialist, here to do more than nod like a bobble head doll while you fill out a worksheet. Therapy with me is active, collaborative, and designed to help you define what “better” means for you—and chart a path to get there.
This is your space to bring all of you: the sarcastic, the tender, the frustrated, and the dreamer. Here, there’s room for your full self, whether you're untangling anxiety, navigating grief, or finding your way through life’s messiest transitions.
Therapy can feel vulnerable, but it’s also a partnership where you’ll find connection, clarity, and maybe even a laugh or two along the way. Let’s chat and start creating the life that feels truest to you.
Hi, I’m Cara—Therapist, Mentor, and Your Biggest Advocate
- MSW - Fordham University
- MA in Religious Studies - Yale University
- BA in History - Georgetown University
- CT license #10781
- MA LICSW (#000123442)
- FL out-of-state telehealth provider (#TPSW2612, http://www.flhealthsource.ce.gov/telehealth)
- ME LICSW (LC22728)
- EMDRIA trained EMDR therapist
- Certified Grief Informed Specialist - trained by Megan Devine
- Reiki Master
- Certification in EFT (Tapping) - Watkin’s method
She provides a secure environment for her clients to journey through the EMDR process and helps them to reach a stronger, freer and more authentic place. I cannot recommend her enough.
With EMDR psychotherapy, Cara can really help people to get to the roots of their problems.
But with Cara, I finally have a safe space to be honest. I know I will be treated with compassion, understanding and respect, even when I struggle to believe I deserve those things. Cara brings empathy, vulnerability and deep consideration of my true self to all of our work together, and I know I could never actually heal with less.
Sometimes the truth of what I'm going through feels too ugly to share with anyone.
Cara has been able to see into the shadows and guide me through a process that allowed me to understand the parts of myself that I've heretofore tried to hide. Due to her immense amount of empathy, without judgment, she creates a safe environment for me to delve into vulnerable areas of my experiences that I wanted to assess.
Cara helped me to find and develop my own capacities to live with even more authenticity and ease.
My clients have had great success in working with Cara; she is thoughtful, gentle in her approach, experienced in grief counseling and helping women navigate through different seasons of life that can sometimes come with heavy burdens, grief, and stress. Cara is well diverse in her areas of expertise and training so not only will you get the full package, but someone who is committed to seeing you reach your goals.
Cara is an absolute gem!
She really has helped a family member with their internal struggles and begun to trust in their own instinct again.
Cara is very patient, kind, and thorough.
Cara is not only a true professional, but she is supportive, warm, and authentic in her therapeutic approach.
Supportive, warm, and authentic.
But with Cara, I finally have a safe space to be honest. I know I will be treated with compassion, understanding and respect, even when I struggle to believe I deserve those things. Cara brings empathy, vulnerability and deep consideration of my true self to all of our work together, and I know I could never actually heal with less.
Sometimes the truth of what I'm going through feels too ugly to share with anyone.
She provides a secure environment for her clients to journey through the EMDR process and helps them to reach a stronger, freer and more authentic place. I cannot recommend her enough.
With EMDR psychotherapy, Cara can really help people to get to the roots of their problems.
Cara is not only a true professional, but she is supportive, warm, and authentic in her therapeutic approach.
Supportive, warm, and authentic.
She really has helped a family member with their internal struggles and begun to trust in their own instinct again.
Cara is very patient, kind, and thorough.
My clients have had great success in working with Cara; she is thoughtful, gentle in her approach, experienced in grief counseling and helping women navigate through different seasons of life that can sometimes come with heavy burdens, grief, and stress. Cara is well diverse in her areas of expertise and training so not only will you get the full package, but someone who is committed to seeing you reach your goals.
Cara is an absolute gem!
Cara has been able to see into the shadows and guide me through a process that allowed me to understand the parts of myself that I've heretofore tried to hide. Due to her immense amount of empathy, without judgment, she creates a safe environment for me to delve into vulnerable areas of my experiences that I wanted to assess.
Cara helped me to find and develop my own capacities to live with even more authenticity and ease.
Therapy is an investment in yourself—your growth, healing, and future. You are worth it.
30-minute initial consultation: A credit card is required to book the free consultation. A $50 fee will be charged for potential clients that do not keep the appointment. A 50% deposit is required at the time of booking an intensive. This deposit is non-refundable. The remaining balance is due on Day 1 of the Intensive. See the EMDR Intensives page for pricing on each option.
I do not accept insurance in order to protect your privacy and ensure our work remains centered on you, not a diagnosis or an insurance company’s limitations. Insurance requires a mental health diagnosis and may dictate the type, length, and frequency of therapy—decisions that should be made based on your needs, not bureaucratic policies. Instead, I offer a direct, confidential, and flexible approach that prioritizes your well-being.
If you plan to submit for out-of-network reimbursement, you will receive a monthly SuperBill with all necessary documentation for your provider. Fully self-pay clients will be provided with a Good Faith Estimate outlining expected costs.
Fees & Payment Policy
The first session lasts for one-hour, in order to get some housekeeping done and to begin our collaboration on your therapy plan. Each EMDR Intensive option includes a 90-minute pre- and post-interview. For information on the different Intensive options, see the EMDR Intensives page.
I offer exclusively online sessions. Research shows that it’s as effective as in-person. My clients find they actually prefer having therapy from the comfort of their own environment, and appreciate having one less appointment to drive to. We feel as connected as if we were in the same room.
If you’re unsure, schedule a video consultation with me to get a better sense if it’s a good fit for you.
A credit card is required to book a free, 30-minute consultation. A $50 fee will be charged for potential clients that do not keep the appointment. A 50% deposit is required at the time of booking an intensive.
Therapy is an investment in yourself that includes your time, energy, effort and money. You are worth it.
A 50% deposit is required at the time of booking. This deposit is non-refundable.
The remaining balance is due on Day 1 of the Intensive
By booking the Intensive, you have purchased this time and it is yours unless you cancel at least 2 weeks prior to Day 1
If you cancel the EMDR Intensive within 2 weeks of Day 1, you will be charged the total amount of the Intensive Package.
Yes, I treat trauma—including experiences you might not immediately recognize as traumatic. Trauma isn’t always about big, obvious events; it can also come from earlier experiences—often in childhood—that caused lasting distress or shaped how you see yourself and the world.
Many clients come to therapy for things like anxiety or grief and realize their symptoms are connected to these earlier experiences. Using approaches like EMDR, we can process what’s underneath the symptoms, so you can find relief, healing, and a greater sense of freedom.
