Dr. Laurie Carter is a holistic wellness practitioner, lifelong educator, author, advocate, and U.S. Army veteran with advanced training in exercise science, wellness, trauma-informed practice, movement, coaching, and group facilitation. She is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of VIPS Wellness & Recovery Institute, where she develops integrative wellness experiences designed to help people reconnect with their bodies, deepen self-awareness, and build sustainable practices for healing and everyday life.

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Dr. Carter brings more than twenty years of experience as a professor, department chair, dean, and senior academic leader. She holds a Ph.D. in Literature and Criticism, an M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction, and an M.S. in Exercise Science and Wellness from Liberty University. She is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work with a clinical concentration in Individual and Family Practice.

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A certified yoga and Pilates instructor, HCI  Advanced Certified Health,  Life, and Nutrition Coach, and Certified Veterans Yoga Project Teacher, Dr. Carter brings mindful movement, creative expression, education, and trauma-informed care into conversation with one another. She is also completing yoga therapy training and advanced preparation in wellness and nutrition coaching.

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Dr. Carter served in the U.S. Army as a Signal Communication Operator and field medic from 1992 to 1998. Her experiences as a veteran and Military Sexual Trauma advocate continue to shape her commitment to helping others reclaim their voices, restore their connection to themselves, and build lives rooted in strength, meaning, and possibility.

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She is the author of the critically recognized memoir Crave: Sojourn of a Hungry Soul, published by Etruscan Press in 2015. In this bold exploration of hunger, trauma, faith, identity, and survival, Dr. Carter traces the long reach of sexual trauma and the difficult, deeply human work of reclaiming one’s body and voice. The Root named Crave one of the best nonfiction books by Black authors in 2015, while Kirkus Reviews described it as a “bold, honest, and courageous memoir.” The book was selected as a Foreword Reviews INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award finalist in autobiography and memoir and was also a finalist for the Library of Virginia People’s Choice Award for Nonfiction.

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The reception of Crave led to invitations for Dr. Carter to share her work through author readings, keynote addresses, literary festivals, conferences, and women’s empowerment programs, including the Association of Writers and Programs ( AWP), the Virginia Festival of the Book, the Old Dominion University Literary Festival, the Sophie Kerr Lecture Series at Washington College, the Hippocamp Creative Nonfiction Conference, and West Point. That work remains foundational to her belief that storytelling can become a pathway toward recognition, restoration, and healing. Across her work as an educator, movement practitioner, writer, and emerging social work professional, Dr. Carter creates spaces in which people are invited to return to themselves with greater grace, awareness, and possibility.