Analia Almada
I have over 18 years of experience in counseling adolescents and adults of all ages, and although I know that starting therapy may seem difficult, I am hoping that through my practice you can feel at ease to express yourself in a safe, nonjudgmental, and supportive environment. I hope you give therapy with me a chance! Throughout my career in counseling I have worked in private practice, in community mental health settings, and supervised counseling interns at George Washington University. As a bilingual therapist fully fluent in English and Spanish, I can hold sessions in either language. Having studied at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, at Virginia Tech and at George Mason University, I have always tried to be inclusive in my work with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, ethnicity, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
As a Marriage and Family Therapist, I specialize in issues related to relationships, family reunification, blended families, and couples counseling.
Through our working relationship I am hoping to address your counseling goals whether they are to process your past, discover yourself, feel better, adjust to life's transitions, improve your relationships, grieve the loss of a loved one, or find balance in your life at a time of need. I am trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, as well as Brief-Solution Oriented, Strength-Based and Structural/Strategic Couple's Therapy strategies. Through any of those approaches, I am here to work with you on meeting the goals that bring you to therapy.
First session
During our first session we will spend some time reviewing Intake forms and procedures. I might ask you questions about your life, so that I get a good picture as to what brings you to therapy. I will try to get to know you during our first session, to include listening to your history, your strengths, what strategies have worked for you before, and what solutions you have tried to the problems you bring to therapy. During our first session we might discuss interventions you could try on your own until I see you again.
Strengths
As a therapist I have experience working with multicultural and immigrant individuals and families, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, coping skills, trauma, loss and grief, relocation, family of origin concerns and generational patterns, life transitions, and career exploration and changes. As a Marriage and Family Therapist I specialize in issues related to relationships, changes in family dynamics, family reunification, blended families, and couples counseling. I am fully fluent in Spanish. I embrace cultural diversity and work with clients from all different backgrounds.
Ideal clients
I work best with adult clients who are going through life transitions, relationship problems, who are experiencing difficulty managing their emotions or adjusting to life changing circumstances such graduations, relocations, job moves, marriage, separation, divorce, or changing family dynamics, to name a few. I specialize in late adolescents and adults of all ages seeking to improve their coping and mood regulation skills, to include incorporating better conflict resolution and communication tools in their relationships, while changing focus on the present and on what emotions and behaviors can be managed or controlled. Ultimately, the clients bring their own identified goals to therapy and the sessions focus on achieving these goals through therapeutic strategies and interventions.
Treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
When working with CBT strategies I use cognitive restructuring to enable clients to look into their own lives, fostering alternative insights that result in new behavioral outcomes. Through guided discovery, as the clients process the events of their lives, they develop new perspectives that lead to emotional balance and new patterns of behaviors, creating change and overall life satisfaction as they see themselves in control of their actions.
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
During the process of therapy clients are encouraged to search for their own personal goals, establish strategies for how to achieve them, discover their strengths to empower their behavioral choices, recall what has worked for them before that they can recreate in the future, and establish habits for refocusing on the solutions to the concerns that bring them to therapy.
Strength-Based
We will be tapping on your skills and on how you have been able to tackle personal problems before with the use of your strengths, to move you forward.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
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Licensed in
- VirginiaLicense 0717001198