Licensed Psychologist in North Carolina
Specialties & Therapeutic Approach
Dr. Emily Rowe is a neurodivergent‑affirming licensed psychologist in North Carolina who specializes in trauma‑informed care and the treatment of both acute and complex PTSD. She provides individual therapy and psychological evaluation to adults across North Carolina. Dr. Rowe is passionate about helping clients make sense of painful or disorienting life experiences, including trauma, identity exploration, and existential concerns such as role transitions, faith‑related crises, and climate anxiety.
She has particular expertise in working with neurodiverse adults, including individuals with ADHD and executive functioning differences, as well as partners of neurodivergent individuals who are navigating relational strain, communication challenges, boundary‑setting, or chronic misunderstanding within their relationships. Dr. Rowe approaches this work with a neurodivergent‑affirming lens that honors strengths while addressing real barriers to functioning, connection, and well‑being.
Dr. Rowe also specializes in religious trauma, including experiences within high‑control, authoritarian, or shame‑based religious environments. She works with individuals navigating deconstruction, faith loss, moral injury, or alienation from religious communities and family systems, helping clients rebuild meaning, autonomy, and self‑trust.
Across a range of presenting concerns, Dr. Rowe embraces a collaborative, curious, and flexible therapeutic style that centers respect, transparency, and compassion.
Neurodivergent‑Affirming Psychologist in North Carolina
As a neurodivergent-affirming psychologist in North Carolina, Dr. Rowe has specialized expertise in the assessment and treatment of ADHD and executive functioning difficulties in adults, approaching this work from a trauma‑informed and neurodivergent‑affirming perspective. Her evaluations are designed to look beyond symptom checklists to understand the whole person, including the impact of trauma, anxiety, depression, masking, overcompensation, and life stressors.
Rather than focusing solely on diagnosis, Dr. Rowe emphasizes developing a clear, meaningful conceptualization; helping clients understand how their brain works, how they have adapted over time, and what tools or supports may be most effective moving forward. This process often helps reduce shame, clarify strengths, and empower clients to advocate for themselves in relationships, work, and daily life.
Support for Religious Trauma & Identity Recovery
Dr. Rowe is deeply attuned to the ways religious environments can shape identity, self‑worth, shame, and relational patterns. She has extensive experience supporting individuals harmed by religious fundamentalism, evangelical purity culture, and abuse or coercion by religious authorities.
Her work helps clients process grief, anger, and confusion related to faith loss or spiritual injury while supporting the development of a values‑based, self‑directed identity. She is especially mindful of how religious trauma intersects with gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodiversity, and family‑of‑origin dynamics.
Therapy for Partners of Neurodivergent Individuals
In addition to working with neurodivergent adults, Dr. Rowe supports partners of neurodivergent individuals who may feel confused, burned out, or unsure how to navigate ongoing relational challenges. She helps clients better understand neurodivergent traits, differentiate between difference and dysfunction, and develop communication strategies, boundaries, and expectations that foster empathy and sustainability within relationships.
This work often includes addressing resentment, grief, guilt, or self‑doubt while helping partners reconnect with their own needs, values, and sense of agency.
Evidence‑Based, Contextual Behavioral Care
Dr. Rowe’s work is grounded in evidence‑based, third‑wave cognitive‑behavioral approaches, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion‑Focused Therapy, and trauma‑specific interventions. She emphasizes a balance of radical acceptance and meaningful change, integrating mindfulness, dialectics, and strengths‑based practices.
She recognizes how an individual’s broader context—including cultural, political, spiritual, and familial systems—can shape beliefs about the self, others, and the future, often keeping people stuck in painful patterns that no longer align with their values. Her work centers on cultivating psychological flexibility, self‑compassion, and intentional engagement with what truly matters.
Psychological Evaluation Services
In addition to therapy, Dr. Rowe provides psychological evaluations for diagnostic clarification, PTSD‑related concerns, and adult ADHD and executive functioning assessment. Her evaluations integrate structured measures with in‑depth clinical interviewing to produce thoughtful, individualized reports that support insight, treatment planning, and self‑advocacy.
Education & Experience
Dr. Rowe obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Women and Gender Studies from University of North Carolina Wilmington, and obtained a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Appalachian State University where she studied the effects of religious fundamentalism on stigmatizing attitudes about mental illness. She obtained her Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology from Western Carolina University, completing her dissertation project on evangelical purity culture, trauma-related shame, and complex PTSD presentations in cisgender women and individuals who identify as transgender and/or non-binary. Dr. Rowe completed full-time post-master’s training and subsequent employment at an intensive DBT center, providing outpatient, intensive outpatient, and partial hospitalization treatment for trauma-exposed, chronically suicidal and self-harming individuals. After completing her doctoral studies, she was selected for pre-doctoral internship at Aurora Mental Health & Recovery in Aurora, CO, where she specialized in working with individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and refugee-specific mental healthcare, such as providing PTSD treatment for refugees and asylum seekers, supporting clients’ transition to the U.S., receiving training in Islamic Trauma Healing, and conducting psychological evaluations to support refugees and immigrants in obtaining citizenship.
Dr. Rowe has conducted independent research on topics such as religious fundamentalism, evangelical purity culture, complex PTSD, trauma-related shame, and mental health stigma, especially concerning women and LGBTQ-identified individuals. She has published her work in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and presented her research at both regional and international trauma-focused conferences, including on transdiagnostic mechanisms related to PTSD diagnosis/treatment, differential diagnosis in trauma-exposed individuals, and the impact of repeated traumatic experiences on PTSD outcomes.
Dr. Rowe has worked across a range of clinical settings, including community mental health centers, private practices, and academic psychology clinics. She has extensive didactic training in DBT and experience in providing full-model DBT and DBT-informed treatment in outpatient, intensive outpatient, and partial hospitalization programs. Additionally, she has a strong background in crisis intervention and the treatment of suicidality, self-harm, and psychosis. Dr. Rowe has a depth of training in trauma-specific treatment for individuals who have experienced multiple traumatic events, including survivors of childhood abuse, interpersonal violence, political violence and terrorism, combat exposure, gun violence, sexual assault, and abuse by religious authorities.
Her expertise in evidence-based psychotherapies includes:
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)
- Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR)
- Narrative Therapy
Additional Trainings
Along with her foundational training and experience in DBT and ACT, Dr. Rowe has received additional training and education in several specific evidence-based treatments for the treatment of PTSD and trauma-related concerns. Along with training in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and STAIR Narrative Therapy, Dr. Rowe completed an intensive workshop in Prolonged Exposure (PE) for PTSD through the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. She has received training in Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) and provided training to other clinicians on means restriction counseling. Dr. Rowe was awarded the CAMS Trained signifier from CAMS-care, which reflects her completion of education and ongoing consultation with specialists in the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicide.
Professional Memberships
Dr. Rowe is an active member of several professional organizations, reflecting her commitment to staying at the forefront of clinical practice and research:
- Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
- International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
- North Carolina Psychological Association
- Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies