Currently accepting patients at our new location in Mission Valley, San Diego
Carl H Gregory, LMFT
ABOUT ME
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in San Diego providing trauma-informed, evidence-based care for adults and couples navigating stress, trauma, behavioral patterns, and relationship challenges.
I am Carl H Gregory, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Author, Advanced Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist, and retired career first responder. My work is for adults and couples who may appear strong, capable, and high functioning on the outside while carrying far more than most people realize underneath. Many of the people who seek me out are first responders, military personnel, professionals, and high-functioning adults. The people who know how to stay operational under pressure but are paying for it quietly in anxiety, addiction, emotional disconnection, burnout, relationship strain, or a growing sense that the way they have been surviving is no longer sustainable.
“People do not need more ways to look healthy. They need a place where the truth can be faced clearly enough for real change to happen.”
— Carl H. Gregory, LMFT
My style is direct, grounded, and accountability-focused. It is informed by existential, Gestalt, and psychodynamic thinking, as well as trauma-informed, evidence-based clinical work. I am less interested in helping people get better at explaining why they are stuck, while the same patterns quietly run their lives. I am more interested in helping them face what is real, understand what is driving the pattern, and create lasting change from the inside out.
I am not a passive therapist, and working with me means we are going to get our hands dirty, digging into what you have been avoiding. I do not believe real change happens through endless nodding, surface-level insight, or over-validation that leaves the deeper structure untouched. My work is built around honesty, clarity, confrontation, and movement. That means we look closely at trauma, stress, identity, emotional shutdown, behavioral responses, relationship dynamics, and the coping strategies that may have once helped you survive but are now costing you too much.
How I work
My clinical background and training
My clinical work integrates trauma treatment, neuropsychotherapy, behavioral science, and evidence-based approaches for adults and couples navigating trauma, anxiety, stress, relationship strain, emotional shutdown, identity disruption, and longstanding behavioral patterns. My background combines formal clinical training, operational experience in high-stress environments, and ongoing study of how trauma, stress, nervous system conditioning, and behavioral adaptation shape the way people function, relate, and survive.
Trauma & PTSD Treatment
Advanced Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist (ACCTS)
EMDR Therapy
EMDR for Addiction as Dissociation
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
CAPS-5 Certification through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Complex trauma and nervous system stabilization training
And others
Neuropsychotherapy & Behavioral Science
Certified in Neuropsychotherapy (NPT-C)
Neurocounseling and brain-based interventions
Neuroscience of trauma, grounding, and addiction
Behavioral adaptation under chronic stress
Identity, emotional regulation, and nervous system conditioning
Clinical Neurocriminology training
Couples & Behavioral Approaches
Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 1
Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 2
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)
Forensic Mental Health & Behavioral Analysis
Forensic Mental Health Counseling
Executive functioning and behavioral response under stress
Impulse control and behavioral pattern analysis
Trauma and adverse childhood experiences
Social cognition, empathy, and behavioral adaptation
Violence prevention and behavioral risk perspectives
My perspective is also informed by doctoral study in Emergency Management, which deepened my understanding of crisis systems, leadership under pressure, organizational stress, and human behavior in high-consequence environments.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent years working in operational and crisis response settings where stress, trauma, and human behavior were part of everyday life. That experience continues to shape the way I understand adaptation, emotional suppression, survival patterns, resilience, and the hidden cost of functioning under chronic pressure.
Beyond the clinical training
Education & Professional Development
EDUCATION, LICENSURE & PUBLISHED WORK
BS in Administration of Justice
MS in Counseling Marriage, Family, and child Therapy
Doctorate of Emergency Management, ABD
Education
California License
Published Work
LMFT162990
Certification & Advance Training
Advanced Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist (ACCTS)
Certified in Neuropsychotherapy (NPT-C)
CAPS-5 Certified through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Additional training includes EMDR, EMDR for addiction as dissociation, CPT, and Gottman Method Couples Therapy. Advanced training in CBT, DBT, CFT, ACT, and Motivational Interviewing. Additional training in forensic mental health, neurocriminology concepts, and behavioral neuroscience.
My methods
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based trauma treatment used to help the brain and nervous system reprocess unresolved traumatic experiences, distressing memories, and survival-based emotional responses. EMDR can help reduce emotional reactivity, hypervigilance, shame, anxiety, and the feeling of being “stuck” in experiences that continue to affect the present.
My work is grounded in trauma-informed, evidence-based psychotherapy while remaining flexible to the individual sitting in the room. Different people process emotion, stress, trauma, and identity in different ways. Therapy should reflect that. Depending on the person and the clinical need, I integrate structured evidence-based approaches with experiential, behavioral, relational, and nervous system-focused work
EMDR
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Cognitive Processing Therapy is an evidence based treatment for PTSD and trauma related distress. CPT helps identify and challenge the beliefs, interpretations, and survival based conclusions people often develop after traumatic experiences, including guilt, shame, distrust, emotional shutdown, and distorted responsibility.
Gottman Method Couples Therapy
Gottman Method Couples Therapy is an evidence-based approach focused on communication, conflict patterns, emotional safety, trust repair, and strengthening the relational connection. The work focuses not only on conflict itself, but also on the emotional dynamics and unmet needs underneath repetitive relationship cycles.
Neuropsychotherapy
Neuropsychotherapy integrates neuroscience, psychology, and an understanding of the nervous system to explore how stress, trauma, emotional conditioning, and behavioral reinforcement shape long-term patterns. This approach helps explain why certain reactions feel automatic, why survival responses persist, and how chronic stress can influence emotions, relationships, identity, and behavior over time.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT focuses on identifying patterns of thinking and behavior that contribute to anxiety, depression, stress, emotional distress, and self-defeating cycles. The goal is to build greater awareness of how thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and physiological responses interact.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
DBT focuses on emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness-based skills. It can help individuals who feel emotionally overwhelmed, reactive, impulsive, shut down, or stuck in cycles of emotional dysregulation.
Experiential & Nervous System Approaches
May include grounding strategies, mindfulness, emotional regulation work, and music-integrated therapeutic interventions to support nervous system regulation, emotional processing, and therapeutic engagement when clinically appropriate.
Behavioral & Identity-Focused Therapy
Trauma & Dissociation Work
Exploring the deeper patterns, coping strategies, emotional defenses, and identity structures that shape how people think, react, relate, and move through the world. This approach focuses on understanding not only symptoms but also the underlying behavioral and psychological patterns that continue repeating beneath the surface.
Focused on complex trauma, emotional shutdown, dissociation, addiction, chronic stress responses, and how people learn to stay functional while disconnected from themselves, their emotions, or others. This work helps clients better understand survival-based adaptations, nervous system responses, and the deeper impact trauma can have on identity, relationships, emotional regulation, and daily functioning.
Flexible Therapy Options
I understand that life does not always fit neatly into a weekly therapy schedule. Work demands, family responsibilities, relationship strain, shift work, organizational stress, unexpected transfers, and the weight of trauma or chronic pressure can make consistency difficult, especially for people who are already carrying a great deal beneath the surface.
I offer in-person therapy sessions in Mission Valley, San Diego, as well as secure telehealth appointments throughout California. My goal is to provide therapy that remains accessible while maintaining a thoughtful, structured, and high standard of care.
I also offer a free phone consultation to discuss what is bringing you in, answer any questions about the process, and determine whether my approach is the right fit for your needs. The consultation is not about pressure; it is about clarity, direction, and helping you decide what kind of support may best serve you moving forward.
“People do not need more ways to look healthy. They need a place where the truth can be faced clearly enough for real change to happen.”
- Carl H Gregory
Ready to Begin?
I offer in person therapy in Mission Valley, San Diego, and secure telehealth appointments throughout California. If you are looking for therapy that is direct, grounded, trauma informed, and focused on meaningful change, you are welcome to reach out for a consultation.
My Office
4025 Camino Del Rio South, Ste 300,
San Diego, CA 92108
Carl H Gregory, LMFT
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