Hi there everyone! I am Charlene Dyer, MA, LPC, QCS. I am a licensed professional counselor in the state of NC. I am starting this blog post in an attempt to allow you to get to know me better, to help me develop and cultivate my vision that I have for providing therapy, and to provide hope and guidance to as many people as possible who are in need. In doing so I will be addressing things that are near and dear to my heart and hopefully in offering my unique perspective on things it will inspire us all to keep stock of our lives and promote us to strive to always be the best versions of ourselves at all times. So let’s begin shall we!!
Who is Charlene?
Ok let’s take it all the way back to when I was born! I was born in 1976 in Western Pennsylvania. My parents moved 3 more times after I was born and ultimately settled down in Minnesota for 14 years. These formative years were crucial to my upbringing and influencing how I view the world and how the world views me. After graduating from high school I moved to Tallahassee FL in 1994. It was such a stark contrast from growing up in the suburbs of St. Paul, MN to then being fully immersed in the culture of Tallahassee, FL. Now as evidenced by my picture--I am black!! Minnesota in the 80s and 90’s was not and moving to Tallahassee I was no longer the only African-American for what felt like miles around!! The only other exposure I had to my people was spending every single summer of my life in Detroit, MI (Deee-TROIT!!!) with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Thank God my parents so desperately needed a break from me and my sister that they pawned us off on their parents otherwise I would have grown up completely detached from people who looked like me. Moving to Florida was the first time I had to do some work inward. My current environment forced me to and I’m all the better for it.
How I was led to help people:
When I moved to Florida I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life. The world I knew in Minnesota had ended and now I was in this college town with little to no interest in anything…(I know now it was fear of the unknown) So my sister was attending FAMU at the time and also in the Army Reserves. One of her friends who was also in the reserves was working as a correctional officer. After listening to her talk about her job I thought to myself, “Hmmm this seems like something I could do for the entirety of my adult working years.” I went through the training and worked at an all female prison for three years.
While I was working at the prison I often wondered, “what led to these women ending up where they are now?” Part of the time I was at the prison I worked in the recreation department. I got to know the women in a different way and they would share so much of their lives with me. One day, one of the women said “You should become a therapist.” Never had I thought about that as a career and no words that anyone has ever spoken over my life had ever imprinted and influenced me so much. I truly believe this was a divine message because I became instantly intrigued and began pursuing counseling and continue to pursue where it can take me and I can take it.
Things to look forward to:
I am very excited to be a part of The Reese Collective and there are so many different things we have on the horizon! You as the consumer can look forward to me offering Group Counseling--Personal Physical Training--Personalized Nutritional Counseling, and so much more. Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts and as always your feedback is welcomed and greatly appreciated.
XOXO Charlene
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