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Mental health needs do not follow a single timeline. They emerge in toddlers and in adolescence, in the pressures of early adulthood and the complexities of midlife, in the transitions that come with becoming a parent, building a career, or navigating loss.
At Old Town Psychology, we have built a practice that meets people wherever they are in that journey. We are one of the few boutique psychology practices in the Alexandria area that offers expert therapy, psychological assessment, and specialized services for clients across the full lifespan, from infants and toddlers through older adults, all under one roof.
Whatever your age, whatever brings you through our door, you will find a clinician here who has the expertise and the genuine commitment to help.
Children and Parents
The earliest years of a child’s life set the stage for everything that follows. When something is getting in the way of a child’s development, learning, behavior, or emotional well-being, early attention and accurate evaluation make an enormous difference. At Old Town Psychology, we work with children beginning at 16 months of age, offering a full range of services tailored to the specific needs of young children and their families.
For children, our services include:
- Comprehensive psychological assessments for autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, learning disabilities, and behavioral and emotional concerns using gold-standard, age-appropriate instruments and a multi-method approach designed to produce accurate, actionable results. For infants and toddlers, we offer specialized early autism evaluations using EarliPoint, the ADOS-2 Toddler Module, and the Bayley-4, providing reliable answers at an age when early intervention has its greatest impact.
- Individual therapy for children navigating anxiety, depression, OCD, behavioral challenges, school refusal, social difficulties, and the emotional weight of major life transitions. Our child therapists use evidence-based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and play-based techniques tailored to each child’s developmental stage and temperament.
- IQ testing and gifted evaluations for children applying to gifted and talented programs, private schools, or advanced academic placements, including the WPPSI-IV for young children and the WISC-V for school-age children, with results accepted by programs throughout Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland.
For parents, our services include:
- Parent coaching grounded in cognitive behavioral principles and child development research, helping caregivers understand what is driving their child’s behavior and develop concrete, effective strategies for responding to it.
We also offer family therapy and joint parent-child sessions for families navigating conflict, communication breakdowns, or significant life transitions together.
We understand that supporting a child’s mental health is inseparable from supporting the parents who are doing that work every day. Our clinicians keep parents informed, involved, and equipped throughout every stage of their child’s care.
Teens and Young Adults
Adolescence is one of the most psychologically complex periods of life. It’s a time of rapid identity development, shifting social dynamics, escalating academic demands, and the beginning of adult decision-making, all happening simultaneously. Today’s teenagers face unique pressures that previous generations did not: a social world that never fully powers off, academic expectations that begin earlier and intensify faster, and an identity landscape that is broader and more complex than ever before.
At Old Town Psychology, we specialize in the particular needs of teenagers and young adults, recognizing that effective clinical work with this population requires a different approach than working with children or adults. Our clinicians build real therapeutic relationships with adolescents, earn trust rather than demand it, and create a space where young people can be honest about what they are actually experiencing.
For teens and young adults, our services include:
- Individual therapy for depression, anxiety, OCD, social anxiety, ADHD, trauma, eating disorders, self-harm, school refusal, identity and self-esteem challenges, and the wide range of relational and academic difficulties that adolescence and early adulthood bring. Our therapists use evidence-based approaches, including CBT, ERP, and DBT-informed skills for teens who struggle with emotional intensity or self-regulation.
- Psychological assessments for ADHD, learning disabilities, and psychoeducational purposes, providing the formal documentation needed for school accommodations, standardized testing accommodations (SAT, ACT, AP exams), and college disability services.
- Life coaching and transitions support for young adults navigating the shift from high school to college, college to career, or any of the other significant identity and lifestyle transitions that characterize early adulthood.
We also recognize that parents remain an important part of a teenager’s support system, even when adolescents push back against that involvement. We offer parent coaching and family therapy alongside individual teen work, helping families stay connected and communicate more effectively during years that can be genuinely difficult for everyone.
Adults
Adulthood brings its own distinctive set of psychological demands, including the pressures of career and performance, the complexity of long-term relationships, the weight of parenting, the grief of loss, and the quiet accumulation of stress that can gradually erode well-being without ever announcing itself as a crisis. Many adults seek support not because they are in crisis, but because they recognize that something is not working and they are ready to do something about it.
At Old Town Psychology, we serve adults at every stage of adult life, from those navigating the pressures of early career and new relationships to those facing midlife transitions, caregiving responsibilities, or questions about purpose and direction. Our clinical team includes specialists in the full range of conditions and concerns that affect adult mental health and functioning.
For adults, our services include:
- Individual therapy for anxiety, depression, OCD, trauma and PTSD, ADHD, stress and burnout, grief, life transitions, relationship difficulties, and the full range of concerns that bring adults to therapy. Our clinicians draw on evidence-based modalities including CBT, EMDR, ERP, ACT, and interpersonal therapy, tailored to the specific needs and goals of each individual.
- Psychological assessments for adult ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities, memory concerns, and psychological evaluation for diagnosis and treatment planning, including the documentation needed for workplace accommodations, professional licensing examinations, and graduate or professional school disability services.
- Couples and relationship services, including couples counseling, marriage counseling, and therapy for relationship issues, helping partners build stronger communication, repair broken trust, and navigate the relational challenges that arise at every stage of a shared life.
- Specialized services include fertility counseling for individuals and couples navigating the emotional demands of infertility and assisted reproduction; life coaching and transitions support for adults at a crossroads; and gestational carrier, intended parent, and donor evaluations for those building families through third-party reproduction.
- Group therapy, delivered in small cohorts led by licensed psychologists, offering the distinctive therapeutic benefits of shared human experience alongside clinical expertise.
Whatever brings you to Old Town Psychology, a specific diagnosis, a difficult season, or simply the sense that something needs to change, you will find a clinician here with the expertise and the genuine commitment to help you move forward.
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