Carmen Klenner began teaching with a degree in elementary education (1-8) and adaptive education (1-9). Noticing the need to teach to the “whole child,” Carmen enrolled at Concordia University - Mequon for her Master’s degree as a School Counselor.  Since Carmen's entering in the field of education in 2003, she has experience as an elementary and middle school teacher as well as a preK-2nd grade School Counselor, with the majority of her teaching experiences at the middle school level.

​

Carmen opened her own private practice, Center of Being LLC, in July 2024.  As part-time School Counselor (from 2017-2024) and Mental Health Navigator (from 2021-2024) for school district in Washington County, she realized a greater need existed in the larger community for additional mental health services beyond that which she was able to offer while in the field of education.  At this point, Carmen made the decision to fully lean into private practice to assist the larger community.

 

As a Licensed Professional Counselor (since fall of 2017) and Clinical Substance Abuse Counselor (since spring 2023), she spends the other two days of the week helping her clients explore possibilities pertaining to personal, family, educational, mental health, and career decisions. Her main goal is to help her clients create meaningful patterns within the environment in which they live, work, and play.  Carmen’s natural demeanor of openness and empathy help her clients gain a sense of security and empowerment so she can purposefully assist the clients with whom she works.  Carmen also has a special interest in Grief Therapy, recently completing her Certified Advanced Grief Counseling Specialist (CAGCS) in January 2024.

​

Carmen’s strategies and skills are geared towards promoting, developing, and enhancing effective teamwork within the larger community.  As theories change and new research is added, she is under the belief that it is her responsibility to stay up-to-date on current research and practices to best meet the needs of her clients.

​

Carmen is under the realization that a wide variety of clients will have equally varying issues, so she must be able to adapt to meet their needs and understand their stories to decipher where their counseling journey will begin.  For this very reason, she considers her role of a counselor to be an eclectic one.  The approaches she most closely aligns with are the Humanistic, Cognitive-Behavioral and Adlerian theories of counseling as her belief is to very intentionally assist the client on his or her journey and be satisfied with the end results.  The Eclectic approach she takes with her clients helps tailor to the individual client.

​

Carmen is the owner of Center of Being LLC.  She practices within the Liberty 1 Suite 202 at 11414 W. Park Place Milwaukee, WI 53224.