Tahja-Rae Dickenson

You hold so much together for everyone else—the kids, work, family, holidays, and the invisible emotional labor that no one really sees. By the time you get to the end of the day, you’re wired and exhausted, lying awake with racing thoughts, snapping at the people you love, or wondering what happened to the version of you that used to feel lighter. I support women and teen girls in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia who are coping with anxiety, perfectionism, people pleasing, burnout, pregnancy and postpartum changes, and big life transitions. If you’ve been the “strong one” for too long and your own mental health has slipped to the bottom of the list, therapy can be a place where you don’t have to hold it all together.

Sessions with me feel more like an honest conversation than a clinical quiz. I blend CBT, ACT, and mindfulness with very practical tools you can use right away—in the carpool line, during a stressful workday, or in the middle of a 2 a.m. worry spiral. We might work on calming panic and anxiety, setting boundaries without guilt, managing intrusive thoughts, or navigating postpartum depression and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. In our first session, we’ll talk about what’s not working, what you’ve already tried, and what “better” would actually look like in your day-to-day life. Together we’ll create a plan that fits your real schedule and energy, so you leave each session with something concrete to practice, not just something to think about.

You don’t need to have the perfect words or a fully formed “treatment goal” to start—showing up as you are is enough. I offer online therapy for women and teens across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, making it easier to fit support into busy school, work, and family schedules. If you’re noticing more irritability, trouble sleeping, constant worry, postpartum mood changes, or an overwhelming sense that you’ve lost yourself, we can work on this together. If this sounds like what you need, you can schedule your first appointment through Headway, using your insurance if I’m in-network with your plan. From there, we’ll decide on a rhythm (often weekly or biweekly) that feels sustainable, so you can move from just getting through the day to actually feeling more grounded and connected in your own life.