My communication style is direct along with a helpful challenging hand to help move you toward the healthy change and restoring the life balance you seek.

My communication style is warm, empathetic, and collaborative. I aim to create a non-judgmental, supportive environment where clients feel heard, valued, and understood. In sessions, I encourage open dialogue, fostering a space of trust and safety, where clients can express themselves freely. Working with me feels comfortable and empowering. I balance gentle guidance with active listening, ensuring clients feel respected as we work together to explore solutions and promote healing.

Elena Papathanassiou is a Master of Social Work (MSW), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Virginia who provides therapeutic care to teens and adults seeking help with depression, anxiety, trauma, suicidality, and LGBTQIA+ concerns. She strives to maintain a high level of cultural competency while working with diverse groups of people, with sensitivity to the unique struggles of those with intersecting identities. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Pittsburgh and her Master of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University.

I offer a safe space, without judgment, and without pressure. I’m informal, friendly, kind, approachable, caring, competent, and compassionate. My number one goal is to help you feel relief, and more connected to the real you. Every day I help my clients cope with issues like: Overwhelming stress Anxiety and depression Infertility, pregnancy loss, and prenatal & postpartum mood disorders LGBTQ relationships and family building Bereavement Creating and maintaining healthy relationships Learning to be okay with being vulnerable Many of my clients have never seen a therapist before. In therapy, you get to talk about whatever is on your mind. It’s a freeing experience. You can be you, unfiltered. I’ll ask you questions. We’ll find some options.

Therapy is a journey that gives us the opportunity to find our genuine selves and ultimately become the best person we can be. Through therapy, profound and lasting change and growth can occur. I am a doctor of psychology as well as a licensed independent clinical social worker. I have deep expertise in working with addiction and recovery issues, alcoholism, as well as family, relationship, and couples issues. I have spent more than 20 years in the psychotherapy field. I work with adolescents and adults in individual, family, and couple modalities. As a therapist, my approach to therapy is to meet you at your current place in life and to support you to advance toward your objectives, work past obstacles, and attain supreme growth. I utilize various therapeutic approaches, comprising psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and strength-based techniques.

I am a board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) with 2 years of experience in the mental health field. I work with clients across the lifespan who are navigating challenges such as anxiety, mood challenges, stress management, and adjustment difficulties. In my practice, I focus on helping clients stabilize mood, reduce anxiety, enhance emotional regulation, strengthen relationships, and build long-term resilience, while supporting their overall growth and quality of life.

You feel caught in cycles that no longer serve you, but after so long, you don’t know any other way. In the quiet moments, you might find yourself wondering, “What is wrong with me?” That stress often feels like a spring winding tighter in your chest: a constant state of waiting for the other shoe to drop, or a quiet numbing of your own feelings and boundaries just to get through the day. I want to offer you a different perspective: What if nothing is actually wrong with you? You aren’t malfunctioning; you are adapting. You are experiencing the exhaustion of a system that has worked overtime to help you survive. As an Internal Family Systems (IFS) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapist, I offer therapy for clients in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Together, we build a relationship with protective parts and gently process how trauma is held in the body and nervous system, at a pace that feels safe and supportive.

Is your mind spinning with worries and you just want a break from the endless "to do" list, anxiety and insecurity? Perhaps you find yourself physically or emotionally exhausted each day. If you're struggling internally, or in your relationship and want to feel better, counseling can be helpful. Are you ready to start working on your self-care but just don’t know where to start? Perhaps you've decided it’s time to get your life back. Many people get caught in the negative cycle where feeling anxious, depressed or stressed is a way of life, especially in today's world. It's easy to forget that a better life awaits us if we reach out for support to help us find what we're looking for. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, anxious and depressed, you can have a life where your days are greeted with more inner peace, more confidence and hopefulness for what lies ahead. If you are sick and tired of feeling overwhelmed, we want to help you feel better. Like you, our clients are regular, everyday women who are struggling with life's difficult ups and downs. Life's overwhelming stressors can turn into having issues such as anxiety and depression, stress and trauma, women's wellness issues including self esteem and body image, relationship problems and hard life transitions. Therapy will be tailored to meet your specific, individual needs. By using a practical approach and collaborating with you, we can find your path to a happy, healthy, fulfilled and meaningful life through the process of therapy. It might not seem so, but it is possible to start feeling good about yourself and your life. Contact us today to set up an appointment or for more support.

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies within you" -Ralph Waldo Emerson My approach to helping you is one that incorporates examining relevant aspects of your past, discussing goals you might hold for your future, and most importantly, discussing the strength that you hold inside of you. In experiencing despair and the discomfort of vulnerability, we often lose sight of our strength and potential for growth. My goal is to assist you in learning the essential coping skills you might need in your life. I also aim to facilitate growth in the realms of mind, body, and soul. I understand the correlation between the physical and psychological aspects in life, which can sometimes become unbalanced and may create discomfort, which can even feel debilitating at times, and I want to help you make sense of some of the symptoms you may be experiencing. Contact me to restore the balance in your life and be free of the despair or dissatisfaction you may be currently experiencing.

My 25+ years of experience has taught me the importance of making the time to listen and understand before I start making suggestions. This involves understanding each person's life story, administering assessment tools, reviewing relevant records, and interviewing other people that my client and I agree should be involved. I believe strongly in evaluating strengths as well as pain, with my feedback emphasizing the former. I also believe in letting my clients know about what research-based treatments are available to them so that we can collaborate in experiencing transformative change ASAP. I believe in setting life-altering goals before beginning, and checking on progress as we go. My intention is to promote healing, wellness, and happiness as thoroughly and as effectively as possible. With child and teen clients, I use a variety of methods to make each person comfortable (e.g., I use magic to connect with kids and teens, referring to myself as a wizard).

I am a licensed professional counselor with a passion for helping individuals explore and resolve their own problems. I have over 17 years of experience in the field of mental health, working with a diverse population. I am an innovative and effective professional with outstanding therapeutic and interpersonal skills. I have a talent for motivating, teaching, supporting, and effectively collaborating with individuals to help them achieve their treatment goals. I am highly motivated and conscientious. I can offer a wealth of knowledge, experience, and transferable skills in therapeutic sessions. My main therapeutic foundations are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), solution-focused therapy, and individual and group dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). I have had great success with individuals experiencing severe mental health conditions and co-occurring challenges, including, but not limited to, major depressive issues, mood conditions, anxiety, eating issues, behavioral conduct challenges, personality conditions, and substance or alcohol use challenges etc.

I think the most important part of being a good therapist is genuinely caring about the well-being of the people I work with. I am an empathic therapist, and work to create a warm and welcoming environment for those I see in therapy. This sets a foundation that enables us to talk about what brings you to therapy, whether it be hopes, struggles, fears, conflicts, etc. Together, we will explore your concerns and wishes, and uncover what is standing between what life is like now and what you want it to be. I will help you recognize and understand the barriers that keep you from feeling the way you want to feel, and work with you to break through those barriers, which can result in greater satisfaction in relationships, work, and day-to-day life. I also provide support and guidance for those experiencing life transitions, such as marriage, children, loss, divorce, and those new to the city who are having trouble adjusting. I think that it is important to recognize that, although we all have limitations, we also have strengths and resources. I have a flexible approach to therapy, and have been trained in a number of different modalities that allow me to cater to your specific needs.