Monique Gardner, LCSW

Monique Gardner is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) licensed in Virginia with five years of clinical experience. They work with people dealing with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, low self-esteem, depression, and ADHD. Monique writes plainly and focuses on practical coping skills rather than long lectures.

Monique uses clear, goal-focused methods. Sessions often include motivational interviewing to help people weigh options and commit to change. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are tools they use to shift unhelpful thinking and build workable habits.

Attachment-based ideas and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills inform how Monique talks about relationships and emotion regulation. Expect straightforward conversations about patterns that cause pain and steps to try instead. Meditation and mindfulness practices are offered as short exercises to use outside sessions.

Monique has worked with people who have dual diagnoses, grief, behavioral and mood disorders, eating concerns, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, psychosis, and trauma. They also note experience with LGBTQIA+ needs and post-crisis care. Additional focus areas include adoption and foster care, abandonment, aging and caregiver stress, body image, chronic illness, and relationship commitment questions.

If an in-person option is preferred, Monique mentions a connection with a CapitolHill Consortium for Counseling & Consultation LLC and coordination can be provided. Sessions use practical steps, clear language, and short exercises to apply between meetings.

Therapeutic approaches and online sessions