Name: KC Charette
Where did you grow up: San Francisco & Boston
Town you live in now: Boca Raton
Why you love living there: As Mark Twain put it: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” I grew up in San Francisco and then moved to Boston. After a few very chilly winters in Boston, I decided that I wanted to live in a warm place. I am so grateful to live in a place where I can be outside all year long with my family. The diversity of South Florida brings different cultures, foods, people and experiences to the area and I greatly value that my family and I can be immersed in it all.
Tell me about your kids: I am the very proud Mamma to a daughter and a son! Viewing the world through my children’s eyes has been an incredibly rewarding experience. They have taught me to see things through a different lens and it is so interesting to view seashells, lizards, Mickey Mouse, ice cream, paper towels…to name a few…through their curious lens!
Favorite things to do with the kids locally: We love being outside and we love animals! Thus, the Palm Beach Zoo, Lion Country Safari and Gumbo Limbo are some of our favorite spots. We also make early morning trips to the “dog beach” so that our dog can join us for a splash in the sea.
What’s your ‘day job’? How did you get started with it? I am a Licensed Psychologist and practice in Delray Beach. My areas of focus are working with patients who have experienced a life change, trauma, loss and/or grief and are experiencing adjustment difficulties, relationship concerns, anxiety, and/or depression. I provide treatment for a range of psychological, relational and health concerns in individual treatment and provide couples therapy. I also specialize in helping patients cope with infertility, prenatal, perinatal and postpartum-related concerns such as depression, anxiety and OCD. Having had both our daughter and son in South Florida, I became very familiar with a range of local services such as mommy-and-me classes, lactation consultants, OBGYN providers, pediatric practices, daycares, and birthing centers/hospitals. As I learned more and more about these services and experienced many of them first-hand, I recognized a gap in available services for women and families; it was the need to provide care for expectant and new parents’ psychological health. This recognition led me to private practice, to start KC Charette, PsyD, PA and to join The Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders.
What is your best parenting advise. Lay it on us. One of my favorite parenting quotes is by author, Jodi Picoult: “…The very fact that you worry about being a good mom means that you already are one.” Often I find that my patients worry about various aspects of how they are parenting and this quote helps me to remind them that their worry is based in how deeply they care and that, in and of itself, means that they are going in the right direction! I also urge my patients to build a village. I think meeting other parents through “Mommy-and-Me” type classes, school, and work helps parents to feel less alone in the journey of parenting.
What do you do for self care? As a psychologist, I really try to practice what I preach and self-care is something that I always urge patients to engage in. My self-care involves going to the beach, reading literature & quotes from authors that inspire me. Spending time with my family and “village” too.
Anything else you want to share? In addition to my work in private practice, I am also a volunteer coordinator for Postpartum Support International (PSI). They provide information for women/families that are looking for resources in Palm Beach and Broward Counties related to pregnancy and postpartum mental health. PSI has an excellent website with tons of information and resources: postpartum.net