Claudia Richards

Claudia Richards is a licensed clinical social worker with 30 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and career-related concerns. She focuses on practical steps clients can use day to day. Her style aims to be supportive and affirming while helping people build coping skills and clearer direction.

Claudia centers sessions on each person's strengths and identity. She listens for what matters most and helps clients set achievable goals. Conversations often cover relationship patterns, self-esteem, grief, addiction, and major life changes. Claudia also addresses specific concerns such as ADHD, compassion fatigue, and workplace or first-responder stress.

Her work blends several approaches to match a person’s needs. Cognitive behavioral techniques are used to spot thinking and behavior patterns that get in the way. Client-centered methods keep the client’s priorities front and center. She also draws on mindfulness practices and emotion-focused ideas to help regulate strong feelings.

Claudia brings a broad background supporting people through adoption and foster care issues, attachment and abandonment concerns, blended family dynamics, and challenges like infidelity or divorce. She has experience with drug and alcohol addiction and HIV/AIDS related questions too. Her practice also includes coaching-style work for career transitions and growing professional resilience.

Sessions are offered in English and take place in the District of Columbia. People who want to begin are asked to use the site’s Start Therapy button to complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule a first appointment according to clinician availability.

Approaches that translate well to online care

Client-centered therapy focuses on the person’s goals and priorities, with the therapist following the client’s lead and offering support and reflection to build self-understanding. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and actions link to emotions and teaches practical skills to change patterns that cause distress. Dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, emphasizes emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and clearer communication when feelings run high.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped in the past. Together they decide which methods to try and adjust those methods as needed through regular check-ins.

If you are considering online sessions, confirm the exact session options before booking since formats are not listed here. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when a full session isn’t needed. It can also help people practice skills in their everyday environment and keep momentum between appointments. Licensed professionals can help decide if remote sessions fit your goals and daily schedule.