Greta Lutman LCMHC

Greta's Bio

Greta studied anthropology and art history at Wake Forest University before coming to the counseling field. She went to Appalachian State University to get a teaching certificate and once she arrived, realized that her true calling was helping people, so she switched over to the Mental Health Counseling program. She graduated in 1992, and for thirty-three years, has been a therapist for adolescents, young adults and their parents in the contexts of therapeutic wilderness treatment, therapeutic boarding schools, and residential treatment centers. Having held positions as therapist, clinical director, family therapist, family workshop facilitator, and parent coach, she brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to her work with parents. 

In addition to her work as a therapist for teens and their parents, she also had the experience of co-parenting a struggling teenager who, had it not been for wilderness treatment and long-term therapeutic placement, might not have made it. She understands what parents are going through from the inside out. When her family made the difficult decision to send her stepdaughter to a wilderness program, there were no parent coaches to grieve with, to discuss strategies with, or to help them understand what was going on or what to expect. Because she has been in your shoes, she takes the role of parent coaching seriously. Greta has a caring, straightforward, educational, and collaborative approach to the process of coaching parents. 

Parent coaching is not about someone showing parents the formula for the next correct course of action. It has been said that “an honest struggle is better than the right answer.” Greta is here to help parents have an honest struggle in their role as parents. That means to clarify what is within their control and give up what is not, to embrace and accept the influence they do have, to shift perspectives about their child’s behaviors, attitudes and identity, to accept their children for who they are, and to understand what’s going on in the family system from a broader, more holistic perspective. As we work to see things from a different viewpoint, we sometimes see paths and solutions that were not visible before. 

Greta spends her free time with friends and family, thrifting and antiquing for interesting art and artifacts, exploring new towns and eating at international restaurants. In 2016 she enrolled in an Associate’s Degree program in Jewelry making to pursue a bucket list item, and she loves to make jewelry in her home studio just outside of Asheville, North Carolina.