Caroline McCloud, LCSW Trauma Therapist EMDR PTSD McCloud Acosta in Charlotte NC

Caroline McCloud, MSW, LCSW, BCD

Co-founder, Co-owner, Chief Operations Officer & Therapist

Board Certified in Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice, ABESW

Caroline McCloud is the co-owner and the co-founder of McCloud Acosta Clinical Services PLLC as well as the Chief Operations Officer for MACS, a Therapist and a Clinical Supervisor. Caroline was has earned the prestigious BCD which is a Board Certification for Clinical Social Work that signifies Advanced Clinical Practice. She has also been credentialed as a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP) by the International Association of Trauma Professionals as well as a member of EMDRIA.

Caroline maintains a limited clinical practice 2 days per week and manages the practice for the rest of the week. She has been a practicing clinician for over 25 years since attaining her MSW from the University of South Carolina in 1995 and attaining her LCSW in 1997.

Caroline's clinical expertise and practice experience is extensive. Her practice experience has included working in Inpatient Hospitalization, Outpatient Clinical Diagnostic Treatment Center for children, DSS in-home, DSS foster care services, Forensic Interviewing of Child Sexual Abuse Victims, Play Therapy and Trauma Informed Therapy Services for Children, Adults and Families in Private Practice. It was during all of these work experiences where she began to see the complex and overreaching effects of Trauma on the lives of her clients. Trauma was interwoven through so many human experiences from birth, through early childhood, parental, relational, and into adulthood. All of the clients and cases with which she worked with had a central theme of Trauma that informed and predated the client’s problems, thus informing the solution.

This focus on trauma developed and sharpened when she started using Trauma Informed Practices more regularly in her clinical work. These empirically based treatment models helped clients get better quicker. Caroline moved her private practice from Hickory, NC to Charlotte, NC in 2005 and continued to work part time while working full time in the child welfare arena. In 2007, she left child welfare for full time clinical private practice. In 2009, Caroline partnered with Dr. Acosta to co- create MACS and formalized the group practice focus on Trauma.

Caroline continues to focus her treatment on people who have been affected by Trauma. Her main population is adults who want to focus on the treatment of unresolved Trauma, Anxiety, Abuse (childhood survivors), Grief & Loss, Phobias and OCD. She has had a variety of experiences with trauma survivors such as first responders, birth trauma, crime victims & witnesses, drownings, car accident victims, sexual abuse survivors, human trafficking, and dog attack victims to name a few. Caroline has attained formal training and has many years of practice using specific evidence based practices such as Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and EMDR. She was trained in TF-CBT by Duke University and EMDR by EMDRIA. She finds these are the most promising models for treatment of trauma. It is amazing how well people respond to these models- they get better quicker with less time in therapy and less financial commitment.

Caroline has expertise in areas of sexual abuse treatment, trauma, physical, sexual and emotional abuse and in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. During this time, she also provided social work home studies and post adoption support for foreign adoptions and families seeking to adopt children from the United States. Caroline has been qualified as an expert witness on clinical social work, abuse and neglect by the courts in Mecklenburg County, Union County, Cabarrus County, Catawba County and Florida, South Carolina, Ohio and Texas although she is currently taking a sabbatical from testifying in court proceedings.

Caroline is also a NASW Certified Clinical Supervisor. She provides supervision to clinical social workers and professionals who are seeking clinical licensure. She has provided professional supervision to over 50 LCSWA's and LPCA'S (LCMHCA) who have successfully attained their full licensure. Several hours per week are devoted to helping future clinicians develop and strengthen their clinical skills with direct and ethical oversight.

Caroline currently lives in Charlotte with her husband and 2 daughters, dogs and chickens. She enjoys family activities and children's sports on her time off as well as traveling and learning about different countries & cultures.

Caroline currently only accepts a limited number of Self Pay Clients.