Women's Mental Health
Specialized therapy for high‑functioning midlife adults in Alexandria, Virginia, Maryland, and DC
As a woman in midlife, you carry a lot.
You may be juggling work, caregiving, partnership, parenting (or “empty nest”), friendships, and community roles—often while quietly managing your own health changes, aging parents, or relationship shifts. From the outside, you look capable and strong. Inside, it can feel very different.
You might be:
- Anxious and overwhelmed, constantly running through worst‑case scenarios
- Emotionally exhausted, with little left for yourself at the end of the day
- Lonely or disconnected, even when you’re rarely alone
- Wondering when you get to matter in your own life
I specialize in working with midlife women (roughly 40–65) who are carrying a great deal and feeling the emotional impact—through anxiety, depression, burnout, and complex life transitions.
The Invisible Load Many Women Carry
For many women, especially in midlife, the real burden isn’t just the visible responsibilities—it’s the invisible load:
- Keeping track of everyone’s needs, schedules, and emotions
- Managing the home, even if you also work full‑time
- Supporting children or adult children, sometimes from a distance
- Caring for or worrying about aging parents
- Trying to be a good partner, friend, colleague, and community member
You may feel like you’re the “hub” for everyone else’s lives, without much space for your own feelings, needs, or desires.
This can lead to:
- Constant worry or overthinking
- Guilt about not doing enough (even when you’re doing more than most)
- Resentment you don’t feel comfortable naming
- Low mood, numbness, or a sense of going through the motions
- Feeling like you’ve lost touch with who you are beyond your roles
It can be hard to talk about this, especially if you also tell yourself you “should be grateful” for what you have.
Is This You?
You might recognize yourself if:
- You’re in your 40s, 50s, or 60s and feel squeezed between caring for older relatives, supporting children (or adult children), and managing your own work and life.
- You look like you’re functioning well, but feel anxious, depleted, or quietly unhappy.
- You rarely ask for help and often feel guilty when you even think about your own needs.
- You’re navigating changes in your body, appearance, health, or sexuality and don’t feel sure who to talk to.
- You’re questioning your relationships, your work, or your sense of purpose as you move through midlife.
If this resonates, therapy can give you a place where you get to be the one who is held and supported.
How Therapy Can Support Women in Midlife
Therapy offers a steady, confidential space where you don’t have to hold everything together.
In our work together, you can:
- Have a place to speak openly—without minimizing your experience or worrying about burdening others.
- Explore the impact of gender expectations, family roles, and cultural messages on how you see yourself.
- Make sense of the anxiety, low mood, or burnout that may have built up over many years.
- Learn tools to manage stress, worry, people‑pleasing, and perfectionism.
- Begin to reconnect with your own needs, values, and desires—not just those of the people around you.
- Consider what you want this chapter of your life to look like, and what might need to shift to support that.
The goal isn’t to turn you into someone else—it’s to help you feel more like yourself again, with more room for your own well‑being.
Common Concerns I Help Women With
In my work with midlife women, I frequently support clients around:
- Anxiety and chronic worry
- Depression, low mood, and loss of motivation
- Burnout and emotional exhaustion
- Relationship stress, loneliness, or disconnection
- Empty nest and parenting transitions
- Separation, divorce, or changes in long‑term partnerships
- Caring for aging parents and caregiver stress
- Health changes, menopause, and shifts in body image
- Grief and loss—including less visible losses and disappointments
These experiences can overlap and influence each other. Therapy can help you sort through what’s happening and what you most want to address.
How I Work with Women’s Mental Health
As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Professional Certified Coach (PCC), I bring both clinical depth and a practical, forward‑looking lens to my work with women in midlife.
I draw from:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT):To work with self‑critical thoughts, worry loops, and patterns that keep you stuck in anxiety, guilt, or low mood.
Psychodynamic therapy:To explore how your history, relationships, and internalized messages about being a woman have shaped how you see yourself and what you feel allowed to want.
Mindfulness‑based practices:To help you tune into your body and emotions with more curiosity and less judgment, and to support nervous system regulation.
A trauma‑informed, mind–body lens:To honor any experiences of trauma, chronic stress, or overwhelm, and to move at a pace that feels safe for you.
My approach is warm, collaborative, and attuned to the realities of women’s lives in midlife. We’ll pay attention not only to symptom relief, but also to helping you build a life that feels more sustainable and true to who you are.
What You May Notice Over Time
As we work together, you may begin to:
- Feel less overwhelmed by anxiety, guilt, or emotional exhaustion
- Hear a gentler internal voice replacing harsh self‑criticism
- Set and maintain healthier boundaries with work, family, and others
- Feel more connected to your own wants, needs, and preferences
- Experience more moments of ease, presence, and self‑respect in your daily life
These changes often build slowly, but they can profoundly shift how you experience yourself, your relationships, and this stage of life.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
If you’re a woman in midlife who is feeling stretched thin, quietly struggling, or unsure of what comes next, therapy can offer support, perspective, and a place where you don’t have to be “the strong one” all the time.
I provide in‑person therapy in Alexandria, VA and online therapy for adults across Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC.
You’re invited to schedule a free 15‑minute consultation or call 703‑962‑6022 to see whether working together might be a good fit for you.