Kara Denahan, LMFT

Kara Denahan is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Rhode Island with 23 years of clinical work. She provides therapy to individuals and draws on long experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, relationship struggles, trauma and abuse, depression, and anger. She also supports clients with issues like ADHD, addictions, grief, intimacy concerns, and career strain.

Kara studied Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Rhode Island and holds a Master of Science degree. Her path to therapy included an early career in design and photography, followed by a return to graduate study in her thirties. After several years working for others, she opened a private practice where she has practiced since.

Meditation and mindfulness became central to her approach after joining a meditation group focused on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. Those practices inform how she works with clients on acceptance, present-moment awareness, and calming practices for stress and emotional reactivity. She later completed intensive training in Internal Family Systems (IFS), which shaped how she talks about the different parts of a person and their internal conflicts.

Kara has also integrated ideas from Polyvagal Theory and interpersonal neurobiology into her clinical thinking. Those influences guide attention to how the nervous system and attachment patterns affect relationships and emotional regulation. She uses practical techniques drawn from cognitive behavioral and trauma-focused work alongside mindfulness methods.

Her sessions tend to emphasize clear conversation, developing self-understanding, and practices clients can use between meetings. She helps people notice patterns, try small changes, and build skills to manage anger, regulate mood, and repair communication in close relationships.

Therapeutic approaches and doing work remotely