Meet the Founder, Katrina Shaw
“I'm Katrina Shaw, a psychologist, and the founder of Carbon Psychology.
When people ask what kind of therapist I am, the honest answer is simpler than the language the field usually reaches for. I'm a person in the room with you. That's most of what I think good therapy actually is. Not techniques applied to a problem, but one person staying present with another while they figure out what's true for them.
That's the standard I built Carbon around. The clinical training matters, and every therapist here has it. But underneath the training, the thing that does the actual work is harder to name on a website: being met by someone who isn't trying to fix you, manage you, or hurry you toward being okay.
Carbon exists because I believe people deserve that, and deserve to live in ways that feel honest and worth the time they're given. That belief shapes how our team practices, how we treat each other, and the work we do beyond the therapy room.
There are many things I care about. One of them is leaving this world a little better than I found it.”
Why Men’s Mental Health Matters to Me
“In my therapeutic work, I’ve witnessed something that’s both subtle and profound:
Many men carry their deepest struggles alone. Not because they aren’t strong, but because strength has been defined for them in ways that leave little room for vulnerability.
I saw this most clearly after my dad passed away from cancer. In the year before he died, he kept a notebook, full of thoughts written late at night, filled with fear, love, memories, and gratitude. He documented his inner life in the quiet, by himself.
Reading it, I felt something I can never un-feel: so many men carry their pain quietly, beneath a surface of responsibility and care for others. And often, that pain goes unseen, even when it’s right in front of us.
That experience didn’t just change me. It changed how I want to show up in the world.”
Katrina Shaw
The Ripple Effect of Men’s Mental Health
Healthier men build marriages that feel secure, not lonely.
Healthier men date with intention, not avoidance.
Healthier men lead with strength that includes vulnerability.
Healthier men parent with presence, not emotional distance.
Healthier men create a healthier society.
Experience that Informs this Vision
“This perspective on men’s mental health is not theoretical.
It is shaped by over a decade in private practice and more than 15,000 hours of therapeutic work with individuals, couples, and families.
It is informed by years of sitting with people in moments of grief, transition, conflict, and growth, and by the responsibility of supervising and mentoring developing clinicians.
My training spans trauma-informed care, somatic and body-based approaches, family systems, mediation, and contemplative practices including breathwork, meditation, and Reiki.
This breadth of experience allows me to hold both depth and practicality, the sacred and the science, and to approach healing not as a technique, but as a relational, embodied, and human process.”
Katrina Shaw
What Losing My Dad Taught Me
