Alyson received her master’s degree from Valdosta State University in Marriage and Family Therapy. Her experience includes school counseling, providing intensive in-home services and working in a brief-therapy center conducting individual, couples, group and family therapy. Strengths-based, Narrative, Solution Focused and MRI are models she uses when working with clients. Her hobbies include writing, blogging, reading, listening to music, spending time with friends and watching movies. She believes that an individual can either “forget everything and run, or face everything and rise; the choice is their own” –Zig Zigler. She is passionate about working with women’s understanding of self-worth, cultural identity, identity within interpersonal relationships and motherhood. Alyson describes a client’s process as the overcomer’s journey, where the path on the road to progress can be a bumpy one, but it leads to resiliency, resourcefulness and perseverance. [Read More]

Jennifer Smith is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who has over thirteen years of experience in the field and has a solid foundation in utilizing techniques from Cognitive Behavioral therapy, Schema-Focused Cognitive Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Solution focused therapy. Jennifer is known for a warm, relaxed, empathetic approach to counseling; helping clients explore ways to make the changes in their lives that will allow them to look forward to the future with hope. Jennifer works with clients from a strength-based, positive and affirming approach. Jennifer earned her BS degree in Clinical Psychology from York College of Pennsylvania, and her MS degree in Mental Health Counseling from Springfield College in Massachusetts. Jennifer works with a wide range of issues including: depression, anxiety, unresolved emotional issues, grief and loss, relational/family concerns, and substance abuse/co-occuring disorders. Jennifer can also provides faith-based counseling to those individuals that want to incorporate this into their sessions. [Read More]

Deborah Cohn, Ph.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who has been in private practice in Charlottesville since 1995. She completed her undergraduate degree at Stanford University, her Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, and her postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Cohn also completed a clinical internship at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. Her major interests are in attachment theory and family relationships; she has published articles in professional journals and taught courses at the University of Virginia in both areas. In her practice, Dr. Cohn’s treatment focus includes working with adults on a variety of issues including depression, loss, and relationship difficulties. A significant proportion of her clinical work is with faculty and staff members from the University of Virginia. She has considerable expertise working with gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients. [Read More]

Are you looking for support in your life to help navigate a life obstacle or past pain? Sometimes seeking help is the best way to manage challenges and access your own strength and inner wisdom. At Charlottesville Counseling Services, I offer compassionate, supportive counseling for teens, parents, and adults throughout Central Virginia. I take a wellness-based, relational approach to help you overcome difficulties. Pam McIntire approaches therapy with compassion and understanding. She believes that a positive supportive relationship with a psychotherapist encourages clients to find their own wisdom. Pam works with women, men, young adults, parents and teens using a collaborative, wellness- based approach to promote growth and healing. [Read More]

I am a Clinical Psychologist who is experienced in working with a wide range of clients in terms of age range and the problems that bring them to therapy. I completed my PhD in 2012 at The New School for Social Research in New York City. At The New School, I received extensive training in both Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Though I typically prefer Psychodynamic Psychotherapy because it provides an in-depth framework for getting to the heart of what is causing distress, I also value the concrete tools of CBT and my diverse training experiences allow me to integrate these modalities to tailor treatments to meet the needs of each of my clients. While at The New School, my colleague Iris Reiner and I developed a play-based measure of child attachment, titled The Attachment-Focused Coding System (AFCS) for Story Stems. I continue to engage in research using that measure and have conducted numerous trainings on using the AFCS for clinicians and researchers around the world. Prior to my doctoral studies, I completed a two-year Master of Education degree in child and family counseling at Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology at The College of William and Mary. [Read More]

Brian C. Hocking, Ph.D. has been in private practice full-time as a psychologist since 1987 and has been privileged to work with adults, college students, and couples challenged by the full scope of clinical problems. At his office in Charlottesville, Virginia, Dr. Hocking specializes in using individualsituations. He also helps those learning to adapt to neurological illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. His approach is to promote understanding of how problematic past issues and experiences are disrupting each patient’s current life, then using that knowledge to make their lives better. Depending on each patient’s individual needs, therapy can be interactive or directive, and take various therapeutic approaches. psychotherapy to address various problems such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and personality disorders. Dr. Hocking works with patients dealing with relationship difficulties and substance abuse. He has extensive experience assisting people suffering from PTSD due to early abuse, accidents, military duty, and other serious life [Read More]

Alyson received her master’s degree from Valdosta State University in Marriage and Family Therapy. Her experience includes school counseling, providing intensive in-home services and working in a brief-therapy center conducting individual, couples, group and family therapy. Strengths-based, Narrative, Solution Focused and MRI are models she uses when working with clients. Her hobbies include writing, blogging, reading, listening to music, spending time with friends and watching movies. She believes that an individual can either “forget everything and run, or face everything and rise; the choice is their own” –Zig Zigler. She is passionate about working with women’s understanding of self-worth, cultural identity, identity within interpersonal relationships and motherhood. Alyson describes a client’s process as the overcomer’s journey, where the path on the road to progress can be a bumpy one, but it leads to resiliency, resourcefulness and perseverance. [Read More]

RESILIENCE is that ability to tolerate challenge and adversity, in whatever form, with strength and purpose. That quality requires courage, mindfulness to this moment, and flexibility to deal with unexpected answers and the need to shift gears. In my work, whether with oppositional toddlers and their families, anxious grade-schoolers, young adults transitioning to life beyond their families, or families struggling with separation/divorce, I have found it to be THE critical challenge, and I am honored to have the opportunity to address that with you in our work together. [Read More]

You don’t have to spend your life suffering from anxiety or depression. It is possible to heal and to discover peace and joy in your life. During sessions, we explore together the underlying causes and meaning of your distress, so that painful feelings from the past can be processed in a safe, supportive environment. This is a primary method of psychodynamic psychotherapy.Eliot is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice in Charlottesville, VA. He specializes in working with adults, students, and couples. He was formerly at the University of Virginia Department of Psychiatry, Under Fives Study Center and Clinic. Our work can be enhanced, if you choose, by using mindfulness to help you develop the skills that facilitate the healing of your emotional pain. [Read More]

Dr. Streicher obtained her Bachelors degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1991, and both her Masters and Doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University , in 1994 and 1996, respectively. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the University of Florida Health Science Center in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology in 1996. She completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics in 1998. She holds professional membership with the following organizations: American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology), and Children & Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) [Read More]

Christine was born and raised in Southern California, and moved to Charlottesville with her family in 2014. She received her Bachelors and Masters in Psychology from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in both California and Virginia, though only practices in Virginia currently. Before opening her private practice, Christine worked as a crisis counselor for children and teens for Region Ten CSB. She has extensive experience and knowledge in working with children and teens who are considered high-risk due to issues of self-injury and suicide ideation. Christine is also trained in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) and has ample experience in coordinating care with schools and other providers. Christine’s caring and patient demeanor make her well-suited to working with younger children, and her sense of humor and accepting nature make her tolerably agreeable to even the most difficult of teenagers. Due to her background training in marriage and family systems, she is particularly well-suited to address the needs of the child both individually and in the context of the family system. She enjoys helping children and parents learn how to function together in a better way that is happier and healthier for all involved. When Christine is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, horseback riding, and traveling. She has a fascination with dandelions, loves all animals, and thinks hot air balloons floating through the sky are particularly stunning. She is constantly trying to drink more water, eat healthier, and exercise more, but also recognizes life is made beautiful through its perfect imperfections. [Read More]

I am a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and a trained and certified yoga teacher, as well as lifelong yogi. I blend these two passions as a result of my belief and experience of yoga as a practical I have expertise with trauma, anxiety disorders, -specifically trichotillomania, (hair pulling disorder), stress management and coping, eating disorders, family and relationships, cancer and healing from illness. See services page for the full list of specialtiesapproach to self-understanding, self- transformation, and self-realization. Yoga, in conjunction with talk-therapy accelerates the ability to be self-aware, to bring consciousness to the surface. This is the first and one of the most important steps to healing, improved health, and an integrated life balance. In addition, I employ the evidence-based theories of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MCBT), and the unique, empirically based psychological intervention, Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), as well as psychoanalytic and psychodynamic approaches. These approaches combined with yoga, breath work, and meditation practices in the therapy room, help to tap into the somatic experience of life, of one’s thoughts, choices, and patterns. This way of treating mental health as part of a whole person, integrating body and mind allows for an empowered, specialized, unique treatment for each individual. Scientific research studies now show that there is no body and mind as separate entities. They in fact, are one thing, and must be treated and worked with as such. There is much discussion in my sessions on how your body’s experience is involved, felt, acknowledged, in your day to day life, informing mental and emotional well-being. [Read More]

Suzanne Wilberger is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice. Her office is located in the historic downtown of Charlottesville VA. She provides psychotherapy for adult men and women and couples. Suzanne Wilberger provides a comfortable, accepting, caring, and non-judgmental environment for clients to gain an increased awareness of self, and to begin to develop a curiosity about their suffering and how it can become a pathway towards growth and positive change. Suzanne believes in taking a holistic, mindful approach to treatment. She practices both psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapies and is solution-focused. [Read More]

I collaborate with individuals and couples striving to experience greater emotional connection and sense of well-being. I specialize in complex trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder as well as relationship distress. I am an AEDP therapist, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, Level III EMDR Clinician, and a Certified Trauma Therapist®. Three years of Somatic Experiencing® education, coupled with training in AEDP and advanced training in attachment-focused EMDR, provide me with a highly specialized skill set with which to treat trauma via individual therapy. I have completed an externship, core skills training and advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy which is the most highly researched and emphirically validated treatment approach for couples counseling. [Read More]

Jeannie Martin is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Board Certified with the American Psychotherapy Association (APA), specializing in individual and adolescent psychotherapy and maintains a private practice in Charlottesville, VA. With over 20 years experience as a psychotherapist, and as a graduate of Virginia Tech, specializing in anxiety disorders, she is currently serving as private practitioner working with a broad spectrum of clients. Among her areas of expertise are EMDR (Emdria certified and provides consultation to other EMDR therapists), Neurofeedback, Biofeedback and certification in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. In addition to being a prominent individual psychotherapist, Jeanne Martin has over 30 years experience as a martial arts instructor which has taught her the importance of meditation and the mind/body connection. Jeanne Martin is an interactive, eclectic psychotherapist. Her therapeutic approach is to provide support and practical feedback to help clients effectively address personal life challenges. She integrates complementary methodologies and techniques to offer a highly personalized approach tailored to each client. With compassion and understanding, she works with each individual to help them build on their strengths and attain the personal growth they are committed to accomplishing. Her work includes a wide range of therapeutic modalities to help her clients find balance in their life . In a comfortable and supportive atmosphere, she offers a highly personalized approach tailored to each of her clients’ individual needs to help attain the personal growth they’re striving for. [Read More]