Carly Berterman’s career in Pediatric Behavioral Health first began over a conversation during Thanksgiving in 2020. A friend teaching in Baltimore City told Carly about seventh graders who came to school carrying decidedly adult worries. On top of learning in class and doing their homework, these seventh graders were helping their younger siblings get home, making dinner, and taking care of their families. Carly wanted to know, “Who is helping them?” That same day, she applied to a counseling program at Johns Hopkins University.
Today, Carly, MS, LPC, NCC, is a Pediatric Behavioral Health Therapist at Health Services of North Texas, bringing years of experience working with children and families in public schools and clinical settings. She is also pursuing her Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education at Texas Christian University.
Her approach to therapy is distinctly child-centered. In Carly’s office, that might mean a having a casual conversation on comfy bean bag chairs, but it could just as easily involve kinetic sand, puppets, fidgets or a competitive game of Uno.
“Really everything is kid led,” she says.
Carly believes children often already have the tools within themselves to answer big questions and resolve their troubles. Her job is to simply create a safe place where they can begin finding those answers themselves. And she isn’t in a hurry.
“The first two or three times we meet, we probably are not going talk about something deep,” she says. “We’re just going play this card game until you trust me.”
After years working in schools, Carly has also learned to look beyond the behavior that brings a child into her office. She has seen firsthand how friendships, classrooms, family dynamics and past experiences can influence how a child feels and behaves. Carly valued working in public schools because families didn’t have to navigate insurance or cost before their child could receive her support. When her new Ph.D. schedule meant leaving the school district, she wanted to find an organization that shared that commitment to accessibility.
For Carly, access to behavioral healthcare shouldn’t come at the expense of quality. She’s passionate about creating a therapy experience where families can receive the support they need without facing some of the barriers that can make behavioral healthcare difficult to access. That priority is part of what drew her to HSNT. She appreciates the organization’s approach to meeting families where they are and making care more accessible.
“I can appreciate the empathy that HSNT provides to their patients,” Carly says. For her, it comes back to making sure every child who walks through her door has a welcoming space, the right resources and someone invested in their future. Those values are reflected even in the smallest details of Carly’s office. It can be seen in the thoughtful toys, the sand, the bright colors and, yes, the rainbow rug she was particularly determined to bring with her.
Outside the office, Carly is rarely sitting still. She loves weightlifting, running, hiking and traveling; she’s an enthusiastic sports fan; and she’s currently balancing her work at HSNT with doctoral studies at TCU. At home, there are also Sky and Freddie, her two pit bulls, whom she lovingly calls “the best, but they’re the worst.”
It’s a long way from the woman who once wasn’t sure what she was going to do with her psychology degree. But the question that first pulled Carly toward counseling is still at the heart of her work: Who’s helping them? Now, Carly gets to answer her own question and be one of the people who does.
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