Bill Carptener, LPC-S, LMFT-S
TBD
MS Marriage and Family Therapy
John Brown University
Couples
Mental health
Licensed Professional Counselor
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
About Me
My Mom and Dad divorced when I was two. Big deal, right?
When I was four, my dad married my Mom’s identical twin sister – my Aunt Betty became my step-mom.
Dad and Aunt Betty moved to Ohio, and my Mom lived in Oregon. I relocated 25 times between birth and 18.
Move 26 happened when I took control of my life and joined the Air Force.
Control. Yeah, right.
I’m a late-blooming Marriage and Family Therapist.
At 59, I was a staff pastor in a large Little Rock church. My congregation was Celebrate Recovery (I heartily recommend CR – God used it to change my life).
People’s lives are getting better. Better is a beautiful thing, right?
And yet, men AND women come up to me with tears in their eyes, saying, “We’re getting a divorce.”
Their heartache and befuddlement broke my heart.
I. Have. Got. To. Do. Something! It was imperative – deep in my soul!
My Leadership at the Church I served in told me to stay in my lane.
“Bill, you will not be doing any couples counseling. Ever.”
I understood – but I had heard The Call to serve couples.
So, I gladly left my employment and began grad school at 59.
Now, I’m fully licensed, and my favorite client is a couple.
The imperative to do something was born in My Journey.
My Journey
When distressed and under pressure in High School, I used anger to take care of myself.
When I got married and found myself in distress, I only had one move. Anger.
All three of my kids used and abused all kinds of drugs and alcohol.
After our 24 years together, my first wife started using alcohol and opioids. Twenty-nine years into our marriage, our precious daughter died of an opioid overdose.
My former wife became an even heavier user and added cocaine, pot, and gambling to her opioids.
Me? I was angrier than ever.
We divorced in 2007, and she died of a Fentanyl overdose in 2009.
I don’t sit on some high and lofty mountain looking down on anyone.
I’m just a fellow sojourner who has found a way to safely and enjoyably live in Most Important Relationships.
And I can help you too.
Would you like to enjoy life again?
I have hope, and mine is not a fool’s hope.
People’s relationships can improve, heal, and become healthy.
Not all relationships get better. I’m not God.
But I do help many couples go from surviving to living to thriving.
My mission is to reduce the Arkansas divorce rate one couple at a time, one group at a time.
Fun Facts About Bill
- Loves to play Cribbage
- Wears two wedding rings – ask me why sometime when we’re out-of-session
- Was born in a US Army Hospital in Germany
- Bought a new dirt/street motorcycle when I was 16, and rode to school in the freezing, slushy Oregon mountains
- Retired from the United States Air Force when I was 38. My highest Enlisted grade was E-6 (TSgt) and highest Officer grade was O-3 (Captain).
- Fell out of a perfectly good (parked) airplane, and broke my arm
- Had a USAF-to-USAF rental car business for two years on Guam, and kept six Guam Bombs on the road
- Never hunted, but did a lot of camping with family
- Ninth Grade Algebra teacher wounds me by saying with dripping contempt, “You’ll never get Algebra!” And so, I never did… until I got real brave, turned 40 and decided to give college level Beginning Algebra a try. Three semesters and three As later, the Dean of Mathematics sends me a nice letter asking me to consider a math degree. I’m sure my 9th grade teacher was doing the best he could. But he was WRONG!
- Earned an Associate’s Degree in Computer Systems Technology, Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts, Graduate Degree in Operations Management and Graduate Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. Whew. No more degrees!
Call or email me to get started!