Couples therapists in Virginia

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If you've been feeling overwhelmed, carrying the weight of past experiences, navigating family conflict, grieving a loss, or adjusting to a major life change, you don't have to face it alone. Life can be incredibly challenging, and sometimes it's hard to know where to begin. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I work with children, adolescents, adults, and families, helping people find clarity, healing, and hope through life's most difficult seasons. My goal is to create a space where you feel truly seen, heard, and supported from the very first conversation.

My professional background includes clinical social work, pediatric healthcare, telehealth therapy, military-connected family support, domestic violence advocacy, and social work education. Before becoming a therapist, I worked in pediatric respiratory care with medically complex children and their families, an experience that continues to shape my understanding of caregiving, medical stress, grief, resilience, and the many ways families adapt during difficult times. I specialize in helping clients navigate trauma, anxiety, grief, family conflict, caregiver stress, medical and pediatric illness-related challenges, military family concerns, relationship difficulties, and life transitions.

I work with individuals, couples, and families of all ages. I have a Masters in Clinical Health Psychology and a Masters in Nutrition/Dietetics, which helps lend to a holistic approach to my work with clients. I commonly work with health behavioral change, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, ADHD, OCD, and relationship change. My treatment approach utilizes a biopsychosocial lense in long-term therapy based in psychodynamic, strengths-based, and integrative work in overall health. I utilize coping skills from CBT, DBT, ACT, and Mindfulness. I incorporated life-skills such a assertiveness, boundaries, and career.

I love the work that I do and the healing relationships I have been able to foster with my clients. I believe that therapy is a form of self-care and I want to be an advocate of that for my clients. I welcome anyone who thinks they may want some support, whether long-term or short-term to reach out to me and set up a brief phone consultation.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Master’s in Social Work and experience across a variety of settings, including hospitals, assisted living and nursing facilities, public health, primary care offices, and private practice. This diverse background has allowed me to support individuals navigating a wide range of challenges, including anxiety, depression, grief, and major life transitions.

I work with adults ages 18 and older, with a special focus on college-aged students, individuals experiencing relationship challenges, those recovering from narcissistic relationships, and the aging population. I help clients build skills in stress management, improve self-esteem, process grief, and navigate complex emotional experiences.

I was drawn to this field by a strong desire to support individuals during difficult times and to help them find clarity, resilience, and meaningful change. My goal is to walk alongside each client as they work toward healing and a more fulfilling life.

A lot of men arrive in therapy through anger, because it is often the only feeling they were ever given permission to have. If that is you, or if the anxiety has been running underneath everything for years, or if something happened to you that you have never said out loud, you are in the right place. I'm Dr. Justin D. Gravely-Strayhorn, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I earned my Master of Social Work from Campbellsville University and my Doctor of Education from Liberty University. I work with adults on anxiety, depression, trauma, anger, relationships, and the particular weight men carry when they have been taught that handling it alone is the same thing as being strong. Culture is part of that conversation, not separate from it. What shaped you, what was expected of you, and what it costs to keep performing being fine all belong in the room. My approach combines evidence-based therapy with compassion, cultural awareness, and a holistic view of wellness. I believe growth happens when we feel seen, supported, and empowered to rewrite our stories.

For the past 35 years I have helped clients work through troubling life situations. Throughout my career I have worked with a broad spectrum of clients from every walk of life. I have treated people struggling with a wide range of problems; depression, anxiety, marital difficulties, infidelity, loss of a job, domestic violence, PTSD or other life altering circumstances. Your past does NOT equal your future. Who you can become is not defined by who you have been, who you think you are now, or by what experiences that may have impacted your life to this point. My role is to challenge and empower you to transform your life, helping you to change your patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that may not work or don't support you to attain the personal growth you are committed to accomplishing.

I work with adults 18+ and families navigating trauma, PTSD, anxiety, grief, burnout, boundaries, communication breakdown, relationship conflict, and emotional cycles that feel stuck. My style is warm, direct, collaborative, and grounded in real-world tools that fit your life. You should know this isn’t about perfection or starting fully “ready”—it’s about being met where you are, making sense of what’s been heavy, and building clarity, resilience, and momentum forward in a supported space.

You’re the one who holds it all together. On paper it’s working — the career, the relationships, the discipline. Underneath, you’re anxious, tired, and disconnected. Intellect, stamina, perfectionism and people-pleasing may have gotten you far — but now its part of a pattern that keeps you stuck.

I see driven, self-aware adults who are often the most capable person in the room despite (and because of) their bodies holding patterns of high-functioning anxiety, trauma, and depression.

The pattern lives within your nervous system — so this work includes the mind, body, and environment. Yes, we will explore your patterns & why they exist, AND we’ll notice them in your body, in real time. Coherence, parts work, Brainspotting, ART, EFT- different tools, one principle: change consolidates through experience, not just explanation.

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