Bradley Croyle, Licensed Professional Counselor
Arlington, Virginia
VerifiedTelehealth Available
My Approach to Therapy
It may look like you have it all together. But inside, things may feel very different.
You may be successful in your career, take care of everyone around you, and appear to be doing well—yet privately struggle with anxiety, difficult relationships, emotional patterns, or the effects of experiences from your past that you haven't been able to fully move beyond.
You may also find yourself caught in patterns that are difficult to understand or change—whether that's compulsive or addictive sexual behavior, problems with intimacy, infidelity, secrecy, shame, difficulty with emotional connection, or relationship patterns involving control, defensiveness, entitlement, or narcissistic traits. These patterns can have a profound impact not only on individuals, but also on marriages, partners, children, and entire families.
I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor and EMDR-Certified Therapist and Approved Consultant with more than 25 years of experience helping adults work through trauma, anxiety, attachment wounds, adverse childhood experiences, relationship difficulties, compulsive behaviors, and longstanding patterns that can affect how we connect with others, function at work, and experience everyday life.
My approach goes beyond simply managing symptoms. I use EMDR, cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and other evidence-based approaches to help you understand and address what is underneath the patterns you're experiencing—while developing practical tools you can use in your life now.
I work with a broad range of concerns, including:
* Anxiety, stress, and emotional overwhelm
* Trauma and adverse childhood experiences
* Attachment and relationship difficulties
* Compulsive or addictive sexual behaviors
* Infidelity, secrecy, and difficulties with intimacy
* Shame, guilt, and struggles with self-worth
* Narcissistic traits and unhealthy relationship patterns
* Communication, conflict, and emotional disconnection
* Family and relationship difficulties
* Longstanding patterns that continue despite your best efforts to change
* High-functioning adults who appear successful on the outside but are struggling internally
I especially enjoy working with high-functioning adults and professionals who may look fine on the outside but know something isn't quite right on the inside. I also work with individuals who recognize that their own behaviors or relationship patterns are hurting the people they care about and want to develop greater self-awareness, accountability, and healthier ways of relating.
For partners and family members, therapy can also provide a place to understand the impact of these patterns and begin establishing healthier boundaries, communication, and relationship dynamics.
You don't have to be in crisis to benefit from therapy. And you don't have to spend years talking about the past without working toward meaningful change. Therapy can be a place to understand where your patterns came from, take responsibility for what you can change, heal what needs healing, and learn new ways of relating to yourself and the people around you.
As a private-pay therapist, I offer personalized, confidential care without the constraints that can sometimes come with insurance-based therapy. Sessions are conducted through secure telehealth throughout Virginia and Pennsylvania, with additional states available through the Counseling Compact.
If you've been thinking about therapy for a while but haven't found the right person, I invite you to reach out for a brief consultation to see if we're a good fit.
A little about me: Outside of counseling, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, traveling, hiking, mountain biking, photography, being outdoors, reading, gardening, roasting coffee (and drinking it!), and maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
My Practice & Services
Private, Personalized Therapy for High-Performing Adults
My practice provides private-pay individual therapy for adults through secure telehealth, with a particular focus on professionals whose careers, relationships, and responsibilities demand a great deal from them.
I primarily work with executives, physicians and healthcare providers, entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders, athletes, and other high-performing professionals—people who are accustomed to solving problems, taking responsibility, and pushing through challenges on their own, but recognize that some things are difficult to resolve without the right support.
Many of the people I work with function very well on the outside while privately struggling with anxiety, trauma, burnout, relationship difficulties, intimacy, compulsive or addictive sexual behavior, infidelity, shame, or patterns of behavior that are beginning to affect the people they care about.
Some clients are seeking help because their own behaviors have created problems in a marriage or family. Others are trying to understand and recover from the impact of a partner's infidelity, compulsive sexual behavior, emotional unavailability, controlling behavior, or narcissistic traits. These situations can be deeply disruptive to trust, intimacy, communication, and family relationships, and therapy can provide a confidential place to understand what is happening and determine what needs to change.
Therapy That Fits Your Goals
Private-pay therapy offers something many busy professionals value: greater privacy, flexibility, and control over their care. Because you are not using insurance for your sessions, treatment is not structured around an insurance company's requirements for medical necessity, session frequency, or length of treatment. You and I can determine the focus and pace of therapy based on your goals.
For some clients, that may mean a focused course of EMDR to process unresolved trauma, adverse experiences, or events that continue to affect them. For others, it may involve deeper work around relationships, attachment, intimacy, compulsive behaviors, sexuality, identity, burnout, major life changes, or longstanding patterns that have become difficult to change.
The goal is not simply to keep you functioning. It is to help you understand what is getting in the way of the life and relationships you want and develop meaningful, lasting change.
A Focused and Individualized Approach
We typically begin with an assessment session focused on understanding what brought you to therapy, what you want to change, and what you would like your life and relationships to look like six months, one year, and beyond.
From there, we develop a treatment approach that fits your goals. Depending on your needs, therapy may incorporate EMDR, cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and other evidence-based approaches.
Therapy may focus on:
* Anxiety, stress, and emotional overwhelm
* Trauma and adverse childhood experiences
* Relationship and marital difficulties
* Attachment and intimacy
* Compulsive or addictive sexual behavior
* Infidelity, secrecy, and rebuilding trust
* Shame, guilt, and self-worth
* Narcissistic traits and recurring relationship patterns
* Communication, conflict, and emotional disconnection
* Burnout and career-related stress
* Major life transitions and changes in identity
* Longstanding patterns that continue despite your efforts to change
I understand that demanding careers don't always fit neatly into a traditional 9-to-5 schedule, so I offer evening and weekend appointments when available. I also reserve a limited number of sliding-scale appointments for clients who qualify.
If you've reached a point where you've tried handling things on your own and are ready for a more focused approach, I invite you to schedule a consultation to determine whether my practice is a good fit for you.
Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With
I commonly work with adults experiencing:
• Trauma, PTSD, and the lasting effects of adverse life experiences
• Anxiety, chronic stress, and emotional overwhelm
• Burnout, compassion fatigue, and work-related stress
• Relationship difficulties, communication problems, and recurring conflict
• Attachment wounds and unhealthy relationship patterns
• Grief, loss, and difficult life transitions
• Depression, low self-worth, and feelings of disconnection
• Perfectionism, people-pleasing, and performance pressure
• Identity, purpose, and personal growth
• Performance and focus challenges for professionals, leaders, and athletes
How Psychotherapy Can Help
Therapy That Goes Beyond Managing Symptoms
Therapy isn't just about getting through the next difficult week. It can be an opportunity to understand why the same patterns keep showing up—and begin changing the patterns that may be affecting your emotions, relationships, work, and everyday life.
With EMDR, we can work with experiences and memories that may continue to influence how you respond to stress, relationships, conflict, intimacy, or situations in the present. Rather than simply talking about what's bothering you, therapy can help you process what is underneath those reactions while developing practical ways to respond differently going forward.
This can be particularly helpful when you find yourself repeating patterns you understand intellectually but haven't been able to change—whether those patterns involve anxiety, trauma, relationships, intimacy, compulsive or addictive behaviors, emotional reactivity, or the way you respond to the people closest to you.
Clients often seek therapy because they want to:
* Feel less anxious, overwhelmed, or emotionally reactive
* Stop repeating patterns rooted in past experiences or relationships
* Move beyond simply managing the effects of trauma
* Develop healthier patterns in relationships and intimacy
* Address compulsive or addictive behaviors that are affecting their lives or relationships
* Understand how their behavior may be affecting their partner, children, or family
* Communicate more effectively and navigate relationships with greater confidence
* Make decisions without constant second-guessing
* Feel more present, focused, and engaged at home and at work
* Have more energy for the people and activities that matter to them
* Develop greater self-awareness, accountability, and emotional flexibility
* Understand themselves more deeply and feel more in control of their lives
For many high-performing adults, the goal isn't simply to feel better temporarily. It's to understand what has been getting in the way, address the underlying patterns, and develop the capacity to live, work, and relate to others differently.
Whether you're dealing with anxiety or unresolved trauma, struggling in a relationship, trying to change a longstanding pattern, or recognizing that your own behavior is affecting the people you care about, therapy can provide a confidential and focused place to understand what's happening and begin moving forward.
My View on the Purpose of Psychotherapy
Therapy for People Who Are Used to Handling Things on Their Own
I don't believe therapy is simply about reducing symptoms or helping you cope a little better with the same patterns. I believe it's about understanding yourself deeply enough to create meaningful change—so you can make different choices, respond differently, and move forward with greater freedom.
Many of the people I work with are already high-functioning: executives, physicians, attorneys, entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders, athletes, and other accomplished professionals. They've built careers, families, businesses, and lives that may look successful from the outside. They're also accustomed to handling difficult things on their own.
What brings them to therapy often isn't a crisis.
It's a growing sense that something underneath the surface isn't working the way they want it to.
Maybe anxiety keeps returning despite everything they've tried. Maybe the same relationship patterns continue to repeat. Maybe past experiences still affect how they respond to stress, conflict, intimacy, or the people closest to them. Maybe they're struggling with compulsive or addictive behaviors, secrecy, infidelity, or difficulties with intimacy that are beginning to affect their marriage or family.
For others, the issue may be on the other side of the relationship. They may be trying to make sense of the impact of a partner's infidelity, compulsive sexual behavior, emotional disconnection, controlling behavior, or narcissistic traits—and how those patterns have affected their trust, confidence, and family relationships.
Or maybe they're simply tired of being successful in many areas of life while feeling stuck in one that matters deeply.
That's where therapy can be different from simply managing the problem.
My role is to help you understand the patterns that are affecting your life, explore the experiences and beliefs that may be contributing to them, and identify what you can begin doing differently now. Using EMDR and other evidence-based approaches, we can work toward meaningful change while keeping therapy practical and connected to the life you're actually living.
The goal isn't to make you dependent on therapy or spend years analyzing your past. It's to help you develop greater self-awareness, emotional flexibility, healthier relationship patterns, and the ability to respond to life's challenges in ways that are more consistent with the person you want to be.
You don't have to be falling apart to decide that something needs to change.
Sometimes, being ready for something different is reason enough to reach out.
What I Love about Being a Psychotherapist
Why I Still Love This Work
One of the most meaningful parts of therapy is seeing someone move from “Something is wrong with me” toward a very different understanding:
“I've been through difficult things, I understand myself better now, and I don't have to keep living the same way.”
That kind of change rarely happens overnight. It usually happens gradually—one realization, one conversation, one processed experience, and one different choice at a time. Then, sometimes, people look back and realize just how much has changed.
After more than 25 years as a therapist, I still find that process meaningful. I consider it a privilege to work with people as they develop a deeper understanding of themselves, work through experiences that have continued to affect them, and begin creating a life that feels more consistent with who they want to be.
That's what continues to make this work rewarding for me.
My Role as a Therapist
A Thoughtful Approach, With Real Direction
I see my role as both a trusted therapist and a practical guide. You won't simply come to therapy each week and talk about whatever happened since the last session. We'll work together to understand the patterns that are keeping you stuck and determine what needs to change.
When EMDR is appropriate, I use it to help process experiences and memories that may still be influencing how you respond to stress, relationships, intimacy, conflict, or other situations today. At other times, the work may be more conversational and exploratory—focused on insight, relationships, decision-making, behavior patterns, or navigating an important transition in your life or career.
My approach is collaborative, individualized, dynamic, and active. I won't tell you how to live your life or make your decisions for you. But I also won't simply sit back and agree with everything you say. When I notice a pattern that may be getting in your way, I'll point it out respectfully. When something isn't working, we'll look at it together. And when your choices are affecting the people you care about, we'll be willing to examine that honestly while keeping the focus on what you can change.
Therapy should be a place where you can be honest—even about things that are difficult, uncomfortable, or embarrassing—without being judged. At the same time, meaningful therapy requires more than simply feeling understood. It requires curiosity, honesty, accountability, and a willingness to consider new perspectives.
After more than 25 years in this work, I've learned that good therapy requires both a relationship where you feel understood and a process that moves somewhere.
My goal is to provide both: a place where you can be completely honest without judgment, and an experienced perspective that helps you see things differently, understand yourself more deeply, and make meaningful changes in the areas of life and relationships that matter most.
On the Fence About Going to Therapy?
You Don't Have to Be in Crisis to Start
If you're reading this, there's probably a reason you've made it this far.
Maybe a relationship keeps hitting the same wall. Maybe the stress you've been carrying no longer feels manageable—or no longer feels like something you should have to keep living with. Maybe you're struggling with anxiety, intimacy, compulsive behaviors, or the effects of experiences from your past. Or maybe you've accomplished a great deal but still have a sense that life could feel better than it does right now.
You don't have to wait until things become a crisis to do something about it.
Many of the people I work with are accustomed to solving problems themselves. They've built successful careers, businesses, families, and lives by taking responsibility and figuring things out. Reaching out for therapy isn't a sign that they've failed at doing that—it's a decision to bring experienced, professional support to an area of life that hasn't responded to the usual strategies.
Sometimes the issue isn't something that can simply be solved by working harder. It may involve patterns that developed over many years, unresolved experiences, relationship dynamics, or behaviors that have become difficult to change on your own. Therapy can provide a confidential place to step back, understand what's happening, and begin approaching it differently.
If you've been thinking about therapy but haven't yet found the right therapist, a consultation is a simple place to start. We can talk about what's bringing you in, what you're hoping to change, and whether my approach is a good fit for what you need.
You don't have to have everything figured out before you reach out. You don't even have to know exactly what's wrong.
Sometimes the first step is simply recognizing that you're ready for something to be different—and deciding that it's time to start working toward that change.
Why Going to Therapy Does Not Mean You are Weak or Flawed
For the Person Everyone Else Relies On
The people I work with are often the ones everyone else depends on—the fixer, the problem-solver, the reliable one who keeps things moving when everyone around them is struggling.
They're used to being the person with the answers. They're accustomed to taking responsibility, making decisions, and solving problems. Asking for help doesn't necessarily come naturally.
And eventually, carrying that role alone can become exhausting.
You may be successful in your career, business, or profession. You may have built a family and a life that others admire. But success in one area of life doesn't always protect us from anxiety, unresolved experiences, relationship difficulties, intimacy problems, or patterns of behavior that have become increasingly difficult to change.
Sometimes the problem is something you've been carrying privately for years.
It may be a relationship that continues to deteriorate despite your efforts. It may be anxiety or stress that you can no longer simply push through. It may involve infidelity, compulsive or addictive sexual behavior, difficulties with intimacy, or other behaviors that are beginning to affect your marriage or family. Or you may be trying to understand the impact of a partner's behavior and rebuild your sense of trust, confidence, and direction.
Coming to therapy isn't an admission that something is wrong with you. In many cases, it's the opposite. It's recognizing that something isn't working the way you want it to and deciding to address it rather than continuing to push through.
You've spent years successfully handling difficult situations on your own. But relationships, unresolved experiences, anxiety, and deeply ingrained patterns don't always respond to the same strategies that have made you successful in other parts of life.
Therapy gives you an opportunity to step out of the role of always having to handle everything yourself and work with an experienced professional who can offer an objective perspective, thoughtful challenge, and a clear direction for the work.
For many professionals and high-achieving adults, privacy and flexibility also matter. Private-pay therapy allows us to focus on your goals and the issues that matter most to you without structuring treatment around an insurance company's requirements.
You don't have to wait until something falls apart to seek help.
In my experience, the willingness to look honestly at what's happening—and do something about it—isn't a weakness.
It's a strength.
Expertise & Specialties
Age Groups I Work With
TeensAdultsElders
Groups I Work With
I work primarily with high-achieving professionals, executives, healthcare providers, entrepreneurs, educators, business owners, first responders, and other motivated adults who are seeking meaningful and lasting change. Many of my clients are successful in their careers but struggle with the effects of trauma, anxiety, burnout, relationship challenges, perfectionism, stress, or unresolved experiences from the past that continue to impact their personal lives and emotional well-being.
Therapy Services & Specialties
Concerns & Challenges Addressed
AbandonmentAbuse / Abuse Survivor IssuesAddictions and CompulsionsAdjusting to Change / Life TransitionsAngerAnxietyAttachment IssuesBlended Family Issues
Therapeutic Approaches & Evidence-Based Methods
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)BreathworkCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)Critical Incident Stress ManagementEmotionally Focused TherapyEnergy PsychologyExistential PsychotherapyEye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)