MEET KONTERRA COUNSELING & PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES

WHERE YOUR WORLD MEETS THERAPISTS WHO UNDERSTAND IT

Online therapy for professionals in high-stress roles in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia

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You’re Doing Work That Matters

You’re here because the work is meaningful — and because the cost of doing it has become harder to ignore.

Many of the people we work with are professionals in high-stress roles who find themselves exhausted, disillusioned, or questioning how long they can keep going the way they are. Not because they’ve lost belief in the work itself, but because the systems surrounding it are often fractured, under-resourced, or misaligned with the values that brought them here — and because finding therapy that truly understands this kind of work is rare.

You care deeply about the work – but the systems around you are making it unsustainable. 

That’s where our work begins.

Therapy With Us Is Not One-Size-Fits-All

The people who come to us lead complex lives and carry significant responsibility. What works for one person may not work for another — and we don’t pretend otherwise. Our approach is thoughtful and tailored, taking into account your concerns, your goals, and the realities of your work and life.

For some, that means a focused series of sessions — a space to recalibrate and regain footing. For others, it means longer-term work and consistent support. Some clients value the rhythm of weekly sessions. Others need flexibility because of the demands of their roles. We’ll decide that together.

What doesn’t change is this:
You can expect honesty, delivered with care.

We won’t placate you, or avoid what matters. We will say the hard thing when it needs to be said — thoughtfully, respectfully, and with your dignity intact. This is challenging work, and we take it seriously.

You Don’t Have to Be a “Good” Client Here

You don’t need to perform. You don’t need to impress us with the right words, a profound insight, or a linear story.

You won’t be judged for the messiness, the ambivalence, the shame, the guilt, or the exhaustion. And you won’t scare us by saying the thing you usually only admit to yourself at 3 a.m.

Many of the people we work with spend their lives serving others, leading teams, or carrying significant responsibility. It’s not uncommon for them to worry about being “too much,” taking up space, or becoming a burden.

We don’t see you that way.

And we can sit with you — even in the places you feel most ashamed or disconnected — without turning away.

You’re Not Explaining Yourself to Outsiders

We have worked within large, complex institutions ourselves. We understand the dynamics of toxic leadership, unrelenting demands, the pressure to compromise your ethics — not because we’ve read about them, but because we’ve lived them. 

For many of our clients, the goal isn’t to walk away from the work that matters — it’s to find a way to stay in it without being consumed by it.

We won’t offer platitudes. You deserve more than that.

We won’t offer easy solutions. If there were simple answers, you would have already found them. You’re usually the one others turn to when things fall apart - the one people rely on to make sense of difficult situations..


But even the problem-solver needs a place to bring what feels unsolvable.

This is the work we specialize in. Every day, we support professionals navigating burnout, moral injury, leadership strain, and the emotional cost of high-stakes work. We know how complicated these situations can be – and we know how to help people move through them.

Clients tell us they feel understood because they don’t have to translate the realities of their work or their lives.

Many describe the relief of not having to explain the systems they operate within, the pressures they carry, or the identities that shape their experience.

We are steady in the chaos. We don’t mirror panic, and we don’t recoil from the difficult parts of the work. Whether you’re questioning your role, your limits, or your own reactions, we stay with you in the conversation. We’re not intimidated by complexity, and we don’t reduce hard situations to simple answers.

We show up as real people in the room with you.

We’re thoughtful, engaged, and fully present — willing to sit with the hard truths, the uncomfortable questions, and the occasional dark humor that often comes with doing difficult work.

We don’t lose sight of your strengths — even when you have.

When exhaustion or doubt makes them hard to see, we help you reconnect with the things that have gotten you this far.

Sometimes the work is serious. Sometimes it’s messy. Sometimes it’s unexpectedly funny. We’re comfortable with all of it.

Our GUIDING PRINCIPLES

We Bring Stability to High-Stakes Work

The systems you work inside are often chaotic or misaligned. We are not. We offer steadiness, clarity, and space to think when everything feels urgent - helping you choose with intention rather than from depletion.

We Don’t Ignore Systems

Stress, burnout, and moral distress don’t exist in a vacuum. We pay attention to power, policy, culture, and context — because ignoring systems leads to shallow solutions.

We Work With You, Not On You

You are not a passive recipient of treatment. We collaborate. You bring lived experience and values. We bring clinical skill and perspective. The work is transparent and mutual.

We Tell The Truth - Humanely

We won’t placate you or avoid what matters. We’ll challenge you when needed — thoughtfully, respectfully, and without shame. Hard conversations are held with dignity here.


We Stay Attentive to Power and Privilege

Identity shapes how stress and opportunity are experienced. We approach this work with humility and awareness, recognizing how race, gender, culture, class, and systems of power intersect with your life.

Our Specialties

Anxiety

Global Professionals

Burnout

Toxic Workplaces

Trauma After Workplace Violence

Moral Injury

Addiction & Recovery

Some Of The Methods We Use

  • A structured therapy that helps the brain process and resolve distressing experiences so they no longer carry the same emotional intensity. EMDR can be especially helpful for people who have absorbed years of high-stress or traumatic work experiences.

  • Therapeutic work that incorporates time in natural environments to support reflection, regulation, and perspective — particularly helpful for people carrying sustained professional stress.

  • Methods that work with the body’s stress responses to release accumulated tension and restore steadiness when stress has become chronic. For professionals who spend much of their time in intense thinking and decision-making, somatic work helps bring awareness back to the body, where stress is often held.

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