Hi, I’m Louie
Louie Graff (formerly Forouhar-Graff) is a psychiatrist practicing at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington, CT, where he serves as the Associate Medical Director of Adult Outpatient Behavioral Health. He also holds the position of Associate Program Director for the Rural Psychiatry Residency Program through Quinnipiac University’s Frank H. Netter School of Medicine.
Louie is deeply committed to both healing and teaching, with a professional focus on increasing access to high-quality mental health care. He believes that everyone deserves mental health care as reliable and accessible as physical health care, and he actively works to expand the system’s capacity to provide it.
Throughout his career, Louie has explored diverse systems of healing—often siloed from one another—and has sought ways to integrate them. As a young adult, he experienced moments of expanded conscious awareness that spurred a lifelong journey of understanding. He later studied at the now-closed Institute for Healing Arts and Sciences, earning a two-year degree in Personal Growth and Spiritual Development, with training in energy healing and somatic practices.
His path has included influences from T’ai Chi, Buddhism, and the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, which, alongside his psychiatric training, have shaped his approach. Louie is versed in a broad range of psychotherapeutic modalities, including:
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy | Supportive Psychotherapy | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) | Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) | Mindfulness | Internal Family Systems (IFS) | Group Therapy and Group Relations
He continues to learn and share, particularly enjoying teaching practical tools that empower others to better understand and manage their own mental health. His goal is to help people feel more in control of their healing process and more confident in seeking the right kind of help.
Outside of his work, Louie enjoys spending time with family and friends, writing poetry, performing, and tending to his garden. His broader vision is a world where people move beyond basic survival into creative collaboration—supporting one another through life’s inevitable pain while embracing its joy.
About Life Skills with Louie
Life Skills with Louie was born from a simple observation during a clinic meeting: "There needs to be more on YouTube for our patients." That comment sparked the idea, and about a year later, the project was launched.
The goal of Life Skills with Louie is to offer a clear, approachable framework for mental health and emotional well-being—one built from the same tools Louie has learned, practiced, and taught over two decades. The series is designed to help people better care for themselves without being overwhelmed by complexity. Each video presents essential concepts in a practical sequence, creating a roadmap for personal growth.
The framework unfolds in five parts:
The Being Beyond
Introductory mindfulness concepts that serve as a foundation across the entire series.Connecting to Calm
Quick and effective nervous system regulation tools for moments of overwhelm—what DBT calls “skills breakdown points.”Getting to Great
A framework for awareness and response, breaking experience into five elements—Thoughts, Events, Actions, Sensations, and Emotions. These are organized using the memorable acronym ABC ME PLEASE, which also highlights factors that support resilience.Connecting to Clear
Focused on changing habits—addressing the behaviors people struggle to stop or start, even when they know better.Learning to Love
Tools and skills to navigate relationships and the practice of loving others—intentionally left for later in the journey, once other foundational skills are in place.
While influenced by Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Louie reorganized and adapted the material to make it more intuitive and added elements such as somatic restructuring. His approach includes updates to terminology and the inclusion of modalities that were previously missing in DBT's structure.
Life Skills with Louie is not meant to replace therapy but to serve as a starting point—a set of tools and insights to help people feel more empowered and connected. From this foundation, individuals can explore further teachings or seek out therapists aligned with their needs.