About Karen

I'm Karen Carnabucci. Let's start with the credentials and the titles: MSS, LCSW, TEP, working as  a trainer, consultant and author who teaches traditional, contemporary and alternative models to psychotherapists, educators and others.

I have a lifelong interest in alternative health and mind-body psychotherapies and have practiced and taught experiential learning and healing methods in a variety of settings locally, regionally and nationally since 1989.

Here's my story:

As early as the 1940s, my mother started a small natural health business, embracing whole foods, brown bread and alternative foods like tofu and yogurt. My parents raised goats for milk, and there were a few backyard chickens, two beehives and a large organic vegetable garden.

Sadly, my mother’s interest in natural health did not protect her from a serious mental illness which painfully affected  our family. I resolved to understand why people lost their way and how to maintain health in mind, body and spirit.

For  years, I wrote about health, creativity and relationships as an award-winning journalist with the daily newspaper in Lancaster, Pa.  Eventually my personal journey led me to change careers to help others.

Karen uses the pronouns of she/her/hers.

To make an appointment with Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, or to inquire about her adult education services with CE and psychodrama credits, click here.

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Education

In addition to formal studies at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College,  where Karen  received her master's degree in clinical social work, she attended the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Rhinebeck, N.Y., and the Howell Centre for Psychodrama and Sociodrama, Barnstable, England.

She had the great good fortune to study closely with Zerka Moreno, the widow and collaborator of J.L. Moreno, the European physician who developed psychodrama. Through the years she's learned from a variety of spiritual teachers,  healers, energy practitioners and other teachers.

She is certified in Family and Systemic Constellations and Systemic Integrative Therapy with training from Heinz Stark of the Stark Institute, Germany, and the Hellinger Center in Bethesda, Md., and 
studied with Dan Booth Cohen, Francesa Mason Boring, Edward Lynch, Mark Wolynn, Suzi Tucker, Carolyn Zahner, Bill Mannle and Gerda Swearengen.



Books & articles

Karen is the author of:

• Show and Tell Psychodrama: Skills for Therapists, Coaches, Teachers and Leaders.

She is the co-author of  two books:

• Integrating Psychodrama and Systemic Constellation Work: New Directions for Action Methods, Mind-Body Therapies and Energy Healing with the late Ron Anderson
• Healing Eating Disorders with Psychodrama and Other Action Methods: Beyond the Silence and the Fury with Linda Ciotola.

Find book titles here.

She has contributed chapters to professional books and written articles about trauma, the creative arts therapies, addiction and other topics for the  Psychodrama Network News, Many Voices, Healing Magazine, Counselor, D&A News, The Fix and others.

Credentials

Karen is a licensed clinical social worker in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and a nationally board-certified trainer, educator and practitioner in psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy as well as certified as a facilitator in     Family and Systemic Constellations.

She  is certified with Therapeutic Spiral International, which promotes safe experiential treatment for trauma survivors and has been a member of teaching teams in Pennsylvania, Maine, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland and Virginia.

National professional recognition includes the Hannah Weiner Award and the David A. Kipper Scholar's Award, both from the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama.

Before opening her private practice in 1995, she worked as a therapist for Caron Treatment Centers, the internationally recognized chemical dependency treatment center in Wernersville, Pa., and  in other clinical settings in Pennsylvania.

Teaching

Karen is founder of the Lancaster School of Psychodrama and Experiential Psychotherapies in Lancaster, Pa.

She  taught as an adjunct instructor at Gateway Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, Wis., ;  invited guest faculty for the Trauma Counseling II graduate class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; and taught continuing education classes for social workers at Bryn Mawr College.

She helped organize the North American Systemic Constellations Conferences in past years and is active in the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama as a conference presenter, and consulting editor for its journal; she served on the planning committee for ASGPP's 2022 online conference.

She frequently presents on  professional development topics with special interest in trauma, addiction, spirituality,  creativity, self care for helpers and healers, and the use of the creative arts.