You’re Called “Strong” and “Resilient,” and You Hate That
Somewhere along the way, those words became a job description.
Therapy for Black Women in Silver Spring, MD, and Throughout the DMV
- Culturally Attuned
- Free Consultation Available
- HIPAA-Compliant
The Compliment That Keeps Costing You
People mean it kindly.
Your manager says it in your review.
Your mother says it when the family needs another loan.
A friend says it right before she asks for one more favor.
Strong. Resilient.
And every time, the praise comes with another assignment attached.
What You Ask Yourself After Everyone Leaves
The label stays at the office. The questions follow you home.
Why do I feel responsible for everyone?
Why do my relationships leave me feeling unseen?
Why do I understand my patterns but still struggle to change them?
So you quiet them the usual way: a bigger project, a booked flight, a second glass of wine.
And by Sunday night… they’re back.
Those two words were never meant to be a full-time job.
Your Therapy Gets Built Around Your Life
We explore those questions without reducing your experience to a diagnosis.
There’s no single Black woman’s experience, so your care draws from what fits yours:
- Somatic, body-based tools for learning where tension settles in your body and how to ease it.
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) for getting curious about the part of you that achieves and the part that hides.
- EMDR-informed care, starting with EMDR resourcing to build inner steadiness before anything hard.
- Psychodynamic work for the patterns that repeat even when you know better.
- Collective Community Theory, because your well-being is tied to your family, culture, and community.
What Shifts When You Retire the Label
The goal is for your whole system to experience something different: your body, your reflexes, and your relationships.
- Take a slow Saturday with no plan to make up for it.
- Ask for what you need in plain words, the first time.
- Notice the automatic yes and decide whether you mean it.
- Let someone close and keep your own opinions and plans.
- Enjoy a win for a full day before you audit it.
Being relied on shrinks back to one part of who you are.
Your Three Phases From Counted On to Cared For
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Show Up Honest
Each session starts from your actual week: the meeting where you went quiet, the call you took anyway, the tool that fell flat.
Your real week is the material.
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Practice Out There
Grounding and small experiments travel with you into the office and onto the family call, where you check the old stories against the facts.
Small shifts add up between sessions.
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Make It Yours
Your body settles on its own during a hard meeting, and you hear the old story starting and decide whether it gets a vote.
The tools answer to you now.
Culturally Attuned Care
Culturally Attuned From Day One
Cultural attunement is the blueprint for every session, so your family, faith, finances, and community are part of the conversation from the start.
Eight Years Leading Healing-Circle
Leslie Holley, MA, LCPC (MD), LPC (VA, DC), NCC, a former DePaul University counseling instructor, has led Healing-Circle for eight years.
We Hold You to Your Own Goals
The changes you name in session come back up the next week, so we can look at what happened when you tried them.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Understanding lives in your head.
We add body-based and parts work, so the change reaches the rest of you too.
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We start with EMDR resourcing, which builds inner steadiness first.
Any work with harder memories happens collaboratively, at a pace that keeps you safe.
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Then their skepticism becomes part of what we work on together.
We look at how family, faith, and community shape your choices, including the guilt that shows up when you put yourself first.
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Yes, we accept Loveland vouchers (Loveland currently keeps a waitlist).
We’re also a self-pay practice, with superbills, Mentaya, and HSA cards to help, and we can talk about a sliding scale during your consultation.
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Patterns usually get noticed and named within the first few months.
Making the new responses feel natural takes longer, typically closer to a year.
Limited Availability This Month
Let Somebody Show Up for You This Time
Take the First Step Today
You already know how to give everyone else your best attention. Now it’s your turn to receive it.
Start with a free 15-minute consultation. Tell us what’s really going on, and we’ll help you figure out your next step.
You are allowed to need care, too.
What Happens Next?
- Call (301) 327-0866, email info@healing-circle.org, or fill out the form.
- Schedule your free consultation. No pressure, no obligation.
- We’ll talk about how culturally attuned therapy can help you get the care you give everyone else.
100% Secure & Confidential
All information is encrypted and protected under HIPAA privacy laws.
Payments & Services
Services are billed on a session-by-session basis.
We provide superbills for insurance reimbursement and accept HSA/FSA.
No hidden fees – all costs are explained before you begin.