Attachment-based Therapists in Downtown, Charlottesville, VA

I am an EMDRIA-certified therapist with 15+ years of experience serving individuals and families in Charlottesville. I operate from a strengths-based, trauma-informed approach and incorporate interventions from the following therapeutic modalities, depending on the client's goals for therapy and presenting issues: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems, CBT, Motivational Interviewing, expressive arts therapies.

Sometimes we struggle to connect with ourselves and others, but we all deserve to feel heard, respected, and understood. I believe that effective therapy starts with an authentic relationship between client and therapist. I strive to create an environment that is warm, inclusive, and challenging. It is an honor to provide a safe, non-judgmental space for clients to share their lives.

I provide psychotherapy for adult men and women who are facing a wide range of life challenges. Maybe you're having difficulties due to anxiety or you are confused about your life’s direction or purpose. Possibly you have recently realized you have a pattern of becoming involved in unhealthy relationships and want to figure out why. I'll provide a comfortable, accepting, caring, and non-judgmental environment for you to gain an increased awareness of self, and to discover how this awareness can become the pathway towards growth and positive change.

No matter who you are, life is hard. The difficulties of day-to-day life often put us in an irresolvable bind: On one hand, the stressors are too big and too painful to ignore. And yet, while we may wish for and even utilize the support of those around us, for a whole host of reasons, we often resort to going it alone. In these moments, therapy can be a promising new option: a confidential relationship rooted in honesty, understanding, and compassion. It is my belief that such a relationship can provide a fresh start: a new orientation towards our problems and a new way of experiencing the world we live in.

I enjoy helping people establish and maintain relationships. It could be a relationship with your significant other, colleagues, or your family where values, beliefs, expectations, or even the cultures may be different. I also help people maintain a positive relationship with themselves by achieving an internal balance and being at peace with their past experiences.

Accepting new clients: I approach my work through the lens of attachment – how we cope in moments of disconnection with those we love the most – with empathy, cultural awareness, and validation around being a human – moreover, a parent. As a mother to young children, I understand the beauty and despair of parenthood. As a therapist, I understand the impact our childhood experiences have on how we show up in our adult relationships. I meld my experience and training to support both women and men along the path of reconnecting with themselves and with those whom they love most.

If you struggle with anxiety, depression, grief, relationship issues or just the overwhelm of life, I am here to help. I provide tools and insights to help break unconscious sabotaging patterns that keep you stuck. I utilize a strength based approach and specialize in working with college students and other individuals experiencing the challenges of life transitions. For couples seeking help, I have advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (see drsuejohnson.com), that is proven to help couples resolve issues and get back to feelings of love, safety and security. You deserve to feel better! It doesn't have to be so hard

Accepting New Clients! There are moments when life changes and we are left feeling like strangers to our self. When the changes are hoped for we’re surprised to feel out of place in our dreams. When the changes are nightmares we feel cut off from everyone around us. We long to return, or experience for the first time, that sense of coming home. Home, where we feel safe, at ease and accepted. It is my honor to sit beside you while you rediscover your place in the community and the relationships that matter to you. You will undoubtedly discover that you are more powerful and resilient than you dared to hope.

Now accepting clients for couple therapy: Clients tend to come into therapy with feelings like anxiety, sadness, resentment, or disappointment. Couples may have unresolved relationship conflicts, needing reconnection and healing. They may also be seeking help with infertility, birth loss or trauma, postpartum depression or anxiety, parenting issues, divorce, grief, or complicated childhood experiences that impact the current relationship. We work together to close the gaps of disconnection and bring you closer, repairing the ruptures you have with less pain and more vulnerability and safety.

I have extensive experience supporting clients who suffer from trauma-related disorders, including intimate partner violence, childhood abuse/sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and loss and grief issues. We will work together as partners in your treatment, developing a plan to process your trauma and move from the role of victim to that of a strong and successful survivor. I also have experience working with clients who have other anxiety-related disorders and now offer online sessions via HIPAA compliant, secure, easy to use platform. Easy online scheduling.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 15+ years of experience. I provide a welcoming space for clients experiencing anxiety, depression, grief, stress, relationship challenges, and life transitions. I have found that the shift from judgment to understanding with compassion-based awareness is the core of healing and change. I support clients to soften to themselves, work skillfully with difficult emotions, and reconnect with the capacity to problem-solve constructively. My approach guides clients to deepen insight, see options clearly, and transform the self-talk, narratives, boundaries, and habit loops that keep people stuck.

Are you tired of letting impoverished relationships with self, family, kids, partner, friends, career, job or money run your life? Are you seeking peace, a shift in perspective? I am a relationship and boundaries therapist and coach who works with individuals to build healthy boundaries and healthy relationship skills in all areas of their life, including finances. Yes, finances! It is crucial to have healthy boundaries with your money. I will coach you through skills to help you overcome cycles of exhausting and toxic relationships that may cost you emotional burnout, financial stress, constant worry and loss of peace.