Therapists Specializing in Stress Management in Washington DC

Sometimes we worry that coming to therapy means something is wrong. I believe it means something is right.

Often my clients find themselves facing more decisions and questions about who they are and what they want out of their lives and relationships than ever before. This is an important time in life when many people ask themselves: How can I feel like what I do matters?

In therapy, we are curious about who we are, how we got to this place in our lives, about our relationships, and our larger environment. In therapy, we think about change and take the brave steps that lead to change happening.

My approach to therapy is compassionate, direct, and authentic and I keep in mind that therapy is not always about problems and unhappiness. Therapy can also be about happiness and contentment. Throughout the therapy process, many people experience increased self-acceptance, feeling more centered, grounded, and connected.

I'm committed to helping children and adolescents develop healthy skills to cope with the inevitable challenges of life, while supporting parents in the art of juggling parenting, work, and self-care.

By providing a strength base, collaborative and solution focus therapy approach, I'll guide you and your family towards better patterns of relation and more productive ways of communication. Looking forward to engaging with you and help achieve your goals.

We all need help sometimes dealing with life's struggles and challenges. You don't have to go through it alone. I find it takes courage for people to reach out for help and support, and that it is so valuable to invest in yourself to make the time to just be yourself for an hour a week and talk about whatever is important to you without needing to prove yourself or fearing being judged.

With my 15 years of experience as a psychologist and psychotherapist, we will work together to make deep, long-lasting changes to move through your pain and improve the quality of your life. You don't have to let stress, anxiety, anger, trauma, shame, or loss run your life or ruin your relationships. I have had countless clients share with me their appreciation about how much our therapy has improved their lives and made them feel more whole, brave, empowered, and authentic. I look forward to having the opportunity to partner with you in creating a more deep, rich, fulfilling life.

Do you feel like you are carrying around a heaviness inside? I am here to help you lighten your emotional load. I am a calm presence offering a healing space for you to grow.

We are all survivors of something: our childhood, families, career, or a variety of other experiences. You are the expert in your life. My goal is to help you understand your experience and support you in your journey.

Together we create a space to help you listen to your body, heal from the past, and feel more joy in the present. 

If you, or your child, are ready to take that next step in therapy, then I look forward to working with you!

As a therapist, I believe it is my job is to help clients understand and create meaning of the problems they are experiencing and uncover how these problems are affecting their lives. Together we will learn how to make the changes that you need to in order to live a happier and more fulfilling life.

People come for therapy when they are hurting or feeling stuck in unproductive thinking and behavior. Therapy can be a refuge for you to work through conflict, unpack painful experiences, and ultimately gain more understanding of yourself. It is a way of discovering truth and layers of meaning together with someone who offers support, respect, and an unbiased perspective. We will take a collaborative approach to help you identify patterns of thoughts and behaviors that are creating personal challenges. It can be confusing when we find ourselves in situations that seem to make little sense or are preventing us from feeling content. Often these are automatic responses that feel familiar but no longer work for us. We will explore what causes your suffering and what can alleviate your suffering.

Mindfulness based psychotherapy emphasizes and cultivates the capacity to see clearly what is arising in any moment and greet experience with wisdom and utmost compassion. So often there is clinging to an idea of wanting things to be a certain way or avoid what hurts. In this way there is a tendency to add on to the suffering with judgments and self limiting beliefs. Mindfulness can allow for an understanding that transformation comes from changing our relationship to what's happening – rather than trying to change what's happening. In this therapeutic process you can courageously cultivate a willingness to be open to the ephemeral nature of experience with honesty, patience, compassion and lovingkindness. This involves letting go of preconceptions, filters, projections and tendency to not live fully. What is often needed is a safe environment to cultivate acceptance and the willingness to honestly explore the truth of what is unfolding within yourself and the uncertainties of life.

Thanks for your interest. I hope to help you gain a better understanding of yourself and assist you towards your personal goals. I work as a psychodynamic therapist, meaning that together we can examine how unconscious beliefs, past relationships, and our interactions in the present moment affect you and your current concerns. Additionally, I use CBT and mindfulness strategies to help develop healthy coping skills. I specialize in the LGBTQ population, but welcome all who are seeking support and wanting to build personal insight.

Offering teletherapy.

Dr. Megan Connell is a board-certified clinical psychologist whose practice encompasses a wide variety of topics and approaches. She works to empower her clients through the use of ACT and Superhero Therapy.

Her innovated work with girls, geeks and games has garnered her national attention, particularly for her work in applied role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Dr. Connell has appeared on Geek and Sundry to talk about the interface of gaming and psychology, regularly speaks at major gaming conventions nationally.

Are you having trouble falling or staying asleep? Are you replaying painful memories in your head, unable to get past troubling thoughts? If you or your adolescent have tried everything to get better sleep, get rid of negative thoughts and anxiety, I can help using evidence-based techniques like EMDR (eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing) and CBT-i (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia). In my practice, I help teenagers and adults work through depression, anxiety, trauma, chronic illness and problems sleeping.

If you have a busy schedule, working on yourself gets put off for months or even years. You may even feel like you are not worth prioritizing. Reaching out to a therapist can be difficult, but it is the first step toward getting better. Please contact me for a free phone consultation to determine if we will be a good fit.