“Men are human beings, not human doings.” -Dr. Audra Horney
Hi, I’m Hallie. I’m so glad you’re here. Thinking about starting therapy is a big step and reaching out to a therapist can be daunting. If I could share one thing about myself as a therapist, it would be that I do not think that you’re broken. You are a person, not a problem to be solved. In our work together, we will explore how your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions make perfect sense given what you’ve been
through in your life.
When you stop beating yourself up and feeling ashamed about the ways you try to manage your pain, we can use the compassionate space we’ve created to explore what matters to you now and identify ways to help you bridge the gap between who you are and who you want to be.
Adolescent Psychotherapy:
I have 15 years of experience working with teens in various community and social services settings. My therapeutic approach with teens is informed by person- centered and emotionally focused theories. Translation: I believe in young people’s inherent drive to grow and become authentic, well-rounded people.
As teenagers move away from childhood and toward adulthood, they’re working hard to build the
emotional blueprints that inform the ways they see themselves and the world around them. Therapy with teens is like building the emotional plane as we fly it.
I will work to partner with your teen to co-create emotional blueprints that are healthy,
balanced, and resilient to the inevitable challenges of life. Many common mental health disorders have roots in adolescence. With the right interventions, we can ensure that your teen develops the self-knowledge, compassion, and tools to manage emotional difficulties during this formative time of life.
Depression, Self-Harm, and Suicidal Ideation Treatment for Teens
As a parent, it’s unthinkable that your child may be struggling so badly that they feel the need to hurt themselves. Many of my clients come to me after their parents discover them scratching, cutting, burning, or hitting themselves. Often, this comes as a shock because teens may not appear to be suffering emotionally. I excel at working with teens who are look well on the outside but are struggling privately. These teens tend to have good grades, be involved in sports and other extracurricular activities, and rarely have emotional outbursts or behavioral problems. These teens may be over regulating their emotions and suppressing internal pain. Eventually, things build up to a point that is no longer manageable.
I work closely and collaboratively with teens and families to help teens struggling with depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation put words to their experience, connect to their emotional world, and develop healthy coping strategies so that they can perform well while also enjoying their lives. Parents learn how to respond in constructively to teen behaviors to stop the cycle of destructive behaviors and improve relationships with their teen. Together, we can achieve profound, lasting change that will set teens up for success long after they reach their goals in therapy.
Adult Psychotherapy
You’ve been white knuckling your way through life for years. Trying desperately not to think about what’s really going on under the surface. Staying busy is your MO.
You’ve been successful at work, but your personal life is a mess. You struggle to connect in relationships because deep down you feel worthless, empty, and ashamed. You worry that if anyone saw the real you, they’d leave. You’re starting to wonder if the things that happened to you when you were a kid are affecting you more than you’d like to admit. You know that there has to be more to life than this but aren’t sure how to process your experiences and make changes.
You are not alone in feeling this way and there is a path forward to the life that you want and deserve. Many adults successfully build lives while living in survival mode from difficult childhoods. From the outside, everything looks great—but the inner world is often a different story. You function well but deal with overwhelming anxiety and periods of depression that you do your best to manage. The hard truth is that the tools that helped you when you were trying to survive are not the same tools that will help you now that it’s time to thrive. In our work together, we will make sense of your experiences and explore all the ways that you’ve protected yourself when nobody else did.
Once we understand why your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions make sense, we can start to identify stuck points and make meaningful, lasting change. Our work honors your innate resilience while creating a space for you to be vulnerable and finally receive the care that you’ve always deserved.
My Therapeutic Approach:
Every person is different, and no one approach to therapy works for everyone. For this reason, I take an integrated approach and create a treatment plan that is unique to you and your goals.
The types of therapy that I most often use are Internal Family Systems, Emotionally-Focused Individual Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, and Client-Centered Therapy. Above all, I believe that the relationship between client and therapist is the primary driver of positive change. Our authentic connection is the sandbox in which we discover your why and calibrate your next steps.
In graduate school, a classmate referred to me as “strongly supportive.” I like to think of myself as a shield that offers you the safety and security to figure out how you really feel and who you want to be. In our work together, you can expect me to be open and curious about your experiences and center you as the expert in yourself. I love using humor and believe that laughter can be just as healing as crying.
Clinical Interests Depression:
- Suicidality
- Self-harm
- Trauma and abuse/neglect
- Anxiety
- ADHD
- Grief and loss
- Self-esteem
- Relationship problems
- Chronic and acute illness
You’ll always know where I stand, and we’ll have honest discussions about what it’s like to
work together. I’m dedicated to being in your corner and I’m honored to play a small
part in your story. I work under the supervision of Lorrie Appleton, LCSW.
I see clients in person at Tysons office and online.
