We will work together to build a road map with your goals in mind and review your progress. I look forward to working with you.

My communication style is grounded in building trust and making clients feel valued, which allows them to openly explore their thoughts and emotions. I aim to acknowledge my clients' feelings while also being straightforward, clear, and honest to help them gain insight into their behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. I encourage self-awareness and self-exploration, helping clients see their situations from a new perspective through techniques like Socratic questioning. Above all, I emphasize reinforcing positive changes, and keeping clients motivated and empowered as we work together toward their goals.

I believe in meeting each client where they are. There is not one way to help someone resolve a problem in their life. I believe in helping my clients find the right path that works for them and following along beside them to provide wisdom in their lives to take the next steps and make better choices. A mental health professional should go above and beyond for their clients and I believe in this whole heartedly. My motto is "get me in your life and out of your life quickly so that you can live happy!"

You may be used to showing up for everyone else while feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure of what you need. I offer a space where you can speak openly, feel heard, and begin making sense of what you are experiencing. My approach is warm, collaborative, and practical. I work with adolescents and adults navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), grief, relationship challenges, and life transitions. I have a particular interest in supporting women of color as they work through burnout, family expectations, identity, and the pressure to remain strong. Together, we will explore how your experiences, thoughts, and relationships influence your daily life. I draw from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness, and emotional regulation skills, tailoring our work to your goals and needs. We may focus on strengthening boundaries, improving communication, understanding emotional patterns, or finding manageable ways to cope. I value your perspective and welcome honest feedback about what is helping and what needs to change. You do not need to have everything figured out before starting therapy. We can begin with what feels most important to you and move at a pace that supports both trust and growth.

I believe in the strength and resiliency of the human spirit and consider it an honor to work with people on a daily basis. My job is to create a safe and nurturing environment so that each individual feels comfortable and supported as they work on their personal goals. Everyone's goals are as different as the individuals themselves, and in order to honor that individuality, my approach is eclectic and personalized to each person. I always encourage and welcome feedback in order to continually ensure that the techniques being used are effective and keep progress moving in a positive direction.

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re carrying more than you let on. Maybe you’ve been trying to hold everything together—your relationships, your career, your confidence—while quietly feeling anxious, overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure of your next step. You might be tired of overthinking, tired of feeling alone with your thoughts, or tired of pretending you’re “fine” when you know you deserve more than survival mode. I want you to know: you don’t have to do this alone. I’m Alex, and my approach is grounded in compassion, collaboration, and real-world practicality. When you and I work together, you get a space where you can breathe, slow down, and finally talk honestly about what’s going on beneath the surface. I show up as a human first and a therapist second, someone who listens without judgment, helps you untangle the overwhelm, and walks alongside you as you reconnect with yourself. In our sessions, you can expect a blend of evidence-based practices and personalized care. I lean on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), humanistic approaches, mindfulness, motivational interviewing, positive psychology, and, when helpful, accelerated resolution therapy (ART). Whether we’re working through anxiety, trauma, relationship issues, performance blocks, or life transitions, I tailor the process to who you are and what you need, not a one-size-fits-all treatment plan. We’ll identify the patterns that keep you stuck, build healthier ways of thinking and coping, and strengthen the parts of you that are capable, resilient, and ready for change. My goal is for you to feel understood, supported, and empowered, not just in sessions, but in your everyday life. If you’re looking for a therapist who will meet you where you are, respect your pace, and help you move toward clarity, balance, and meaningful growth, you’re in the right place. We’ll work together to help you feel more grounded, more connected, and more like yourself again.

Ann “Lisa” Peralta is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Virginia with over 34 years of experience providing clinical assessment and therapeutic care to adults seeking help with a variety of issues. These issues include substance use challenges, stress, depression, and anxiety, to name a few.

I believe the relationship or "fit" between the therapist and the client is one of the most important factors in psychotherapy. With a trusted, compassionate therapist, you will talk through everything that is on your mind and receive professional advice and honest, caring feedback. You can put your thoughts into words without feeling dismissed or judged. Therapy will help you relieve current struggles and feelings, experience more self-confidence, make better decisions, feel in control of your life and relationships, and resolve painful past and current experiences and traumas. I will work with you to identify and understand underlying issues or patterns that may contribute to your current struggles. We will work to develop new approaches and alternative ways to manage relationships and struggles.

Do you get extra nervous around other people—especially new people or people that you do not know very well? Do you find yourself overthinking everything you say because you are worried about saying the "wrong thing"? Or after a conversation, you replay the entire conversation in your mind and get stuck on worrying that you embarrassed yourself? Perhaps there is a social activity that you would like to do, but you avoid it due to how anxious it makes you feel? Everyone can have experiences like these sometimes, but if you find that anxiety about interacting with other people is interfering with your life, then social anxiety may be the cause. If so, then I can help: I specialize in working with people who are struggling with social anxiety. First, we'll do a thorough assessment just to make sure that social anxiety is the best explanation for what you are experiencing. If it is, you will learn to identify and challenge the thoughts and beliefs that are feeding into your anxiety, reduce the power of your thoughts and feelings, gradually confront the very situations that are making you feel so anxious, and move toward your values. By doing this, you can start to feel better. While that does not always mean that your anxiety will completely go away, it means that the anxiety will likely be much more manageable—you will be able to do more of what is important to you and actually enjoy it. To help determine whether working together would be a good fit, the next step is to schedule a free, 15-minute phone consultation—no pressure, just a conversation. You can schedule online by going to my website, send me a message (best way to reach me), or give me a call. I will get back to you very quickly, usually within 24 hours!

You’ve been staring at your to-do list for half an hour and still haven’t made a bit of progress. You’re not sure when everything became so complicated. Even the things you used to enjoy have turned into overwhelming obstacles. You see the people around you being productive, socializing, and making progress in their lives. Meanwhile, you feel stuck in place, like the world is passing you by. The strategies that you’ve used in the past to help you through aren’t working anymore. You want so desperately to regain some control of your life. But you just don’t know how. If only there was some path forward. It all feels so hopeless. Don’t give up! Let me provide you with a warm, safe, nonjudgmental space where you can learn to let go of the negative beliefs about yourself you’ve developed. We’ll create a treatment plan tailored to your unique needs, informed by strategies of attachment theory and EMDR. Together, let’s rediscover your path in life so you can move forward with purpose. Learn to accept every aspect of yourself. Embrace your individuality and listen to your inner guide. Create more meaningful connections in your relationships with others and yourself. You don’t have to do this alone. Let’s work together to reclaim your hope for the future and joy in the present. Call me now for your free 15-minute consultation. You got this.

Do you ever feel like there's an instruction book to life that everyone got but you? Does it seem like everyone else "has it all together" and you're just trying to fake your way through life? Not a good feeling, is it? Believe it or not, you're not alone, and you're not as bad as you think. You've learned ways to think and feel about yourself that made sense in the past, but they aren't working so well now. I specialize in helping my clients identify their unhelpful ways of thinking and feeling so they can choose to think and feel differently about themselves and improve their self-esteem. I also help clients to process traumatic experiences, both "big T" traumas (like combat, sexual and physical assaults, and car accidents), and "little T" traumas (like negative interactions that lead to a poor self-image). Contact me today so I can help you to understand why you shouldn't believe everything you think!

I have a comforting, supportive, and personable style. Sitting with me feels like a natural conversation with collective and meaningful exploration and discovery.