Matt Cairnes had built a life around music.

As a musician from Scotland, he traveled the world, performed with others, wrote songs and built a career rooted in listening, connection and creative expression. Music also brought him to the person who would become his wife.

Then, during the COVID pandemic, Cairnes moved from Scotland to the United States. At the same time, the world shut down. The music stopped.

“When I moved from Scotland to America during the COVID pandemic and suddenly couldn’t play music anymore, like so many people at that time, I really struggled emotionally,” Cairnes said.

As he began building a new life in Charlotte over the next few years, Cairnes saw the impact therapy could have. He also began noticing how many people around him were quietly carrying pain.

That awareness stirred something familiar.

“I felt a calling towards the counseling field and helping other people that I hadn’t felt since picking up a guitar,” Cairnes said. “My years as a musician took me all over the world and gave me incredible experiences, including meeting my wife. But now I’m ready for a new chapter, and a real chance to give something back.”

That next chapter led Cairnes to NC State’s Graduate Certificate in Counselor Education program and, now, to the university’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling online master’s program.

Listening Beyond the Words

Though counseling marks a new professional direction for Cairnes, he sees clear connections between his life in music and the counselor he hopes to become.

Playing in a band requires constant awareness. Musicians listen to one another, sense shifts in energy and respond in real time. They pay attention to what is happening beneath the surface.

“Playing in a band trains you to listen constantly, to feel the energy in the room, read the other musicians, and be aware of what isn’t being said out loud,” Cairnes said.

Songwriting shaped him as well. During COVID, Cairnes joined virtual writing sessions with co-writers he had never met. Within minutes, those conversations often moved into deeply personal territory as collaborators worked together to create an honest song.

The experience gave him empathy for what clients face when they begin counseling.

“Within minutes, we would be sharing deeply personal experiences in order to make the best song possible,” Cairnes said. “This gave me empathy for what clients go through when they walk into a counseling session for the first time. It takes real courage to be vulnerable with another person.”

For Cairnes, those years of listening, collaborating and creating gave him a foundation for counseling, even before he entered the classroom.

Finding the Right Program at the Right Time

Cairnes was drawn to NC State when he began researching clinical mental health counseling programs. The program’s accreditation mattered to him, and the coursework aligned with the kind of training he wanted.

The online format also made the program possible.

“NC State stood out to me from the moment I landed on the Clinical Mental Health Counseling website,” Cairnes said. “The program was accredited, the coursework genuinely interested me, and the online option meant I could pursue the degree without uprooting the life my wife and I had built in Charlotte.”

Cairnes was not admitted to the master’s program on his first attempt. Instead, the graduate certificate became an important step in his path.

Rather than seeing the certificate as a detour, Cairnes saw it as preparation. The program helped him gain experience, strengthen his academic confidence and demonstrate his readiness for graduate-level counseling work.

“The certificate turned out to be exactly what I needed to gain experience, sharpen my thinking, and prove to my professors and myself that I was ready,” he said.

That experience helped open the door to his next step. Cairnes is now moving into NC State’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling online program.

An Online Pathway That Fit His Life

For Cairnes, online learning did not require him to step away from the life he had built. It allowed him to keep working, remain in Charlotte and stay connected to music while pursuing a new professional path.

“The online format has been a gift,” Cairnes said. “It’s let me incorporate graduate school into my life rather than upend everything to pursue it.”

He continues teaching guitar lessons, which provides income and keeps music present in his daily life. At the same time, the certificate program gave him access to the coursework, faculty and experience he needed to move forward.

“Without the online certificate program, I wouldn’t be embarking on the master’s program now,” Cairnes said. “It gave me the opportunity I needed.”

That flexibility reflects the role online education plays for students like Cairnes, whose goals require access to rigorous programs without requiring relocation or a complete pause on work and family life.

A New Way to Help Others

As Cairnes begins the Clinical Mental Health Counseling online program, he is clear about the kind of counselor he hopes to become.

“I want to be someone that anyone can feel safe talking to, a source of encouragement, a model for healthier ways of communicating, and an advocate for people who are too often unheard,” Cairnes said.

His path from music to counseling is not a rejection of one life for another. Instead, it builds on the skills, values and experiences that have shaped him: listening closely, creating trust, noticing what people leave unsaid and honoring the courage it takes to share something personal.

“Everyone deserves the chance to live in peace and to become their most authentic self,” he said.

For Cairnes, NC State’s online counseling programs have helped turn a personal calling into a professional path. After years of connecting with people through music, he is preparing to serve others in a new way, with the same commitment to listening, presence and care.