Lynn Burke Reyes,License Professional Counselor

I'm a licensed professional counselor and a master addiction counselor committed to enhancing life-long growth and improvement. My passion is helping people find their way through challenging life passages and learning to accept themselves.
I value genuine and honest dialogue, laughter, as well as tears. I want to help you make the changes you want to make and accept those things that are not within your power. I've worked with students, professors, prisoners, addicts, survivors, vets, and parents, to name just a few. I'm certain we can find common ground to work together.

My goal in therapy is to provide a warm and accepting space for you to explore who you are and who you want to become. I believe you already have the answers, I believe you already have the answers and my job is to help you find them. Therapy can be an adventure that helps you discover your strengths and create a fulfilling future. I can be a teacher, a listener, a coach, a guide, or a partner to help you see things through. I primarily use a cognitive-behavioral approach in conjunction with acceptance and commitment therapy, but I’m flexible, depending on your needs. I’m experienced in motivational interviewing, dialectical behavioral therapy, mindfulness, cognitive processing therapy, pastoral counseling, and trauma-informed care. Depression, anxiety, loss, addiction, bipolar disorder, relationship problems, and adjusting to change are some of the issues we can work on together.

My ideal client is willing to accept help, able to reflect on their experience, honest about their thoughts and feelings, open to new ideas, and ready to try something different. I think I'm best at listening carefully and asking thoughtful questions to help you understand the issues and patterns of behavior that underlie your current problems. I communicate by listening closely, reflecting back on what I've heard, asking questions, and offering different perspectives on a situation. I listen calmly, without judgment, I pause to think before speaking, and I try not to sound like your mother!

I have always been interested in what makes people tick! I suppose it started with trying to figure out myself and my family And a continual quest to become a better person. My first career was in communications. Along the way, I had some personal struggles, family problems, and great loss. I found help through therapy, 12-step programs, and spirituality. I decided I wanted to help others who had struggles, too. I went back to school for my master's degree in counseling at Loyola University in Baltimore, MD. I worked in long-term residential substance abuse programs. I sought additional training in treating trauma survivors because many of my substance abuse clients had experienced childhood abuse. I also had a great deal of training in treating clients who have both mental health and substance use problems. To be successful in therapy, the client and I have to trust each other enough to be honest. When a client is able to see a situation more clearly, has committed to a new approach, and has made efforts to change, they are making progress. When the client is comfortable with the progress they have made and is ready to practice new skills on their own, therapy has been successful.

During our first session, I will introduce myself, and ask the client to tell me why they are interested in therapy now and whether they have experience with therapy or have seen a psychiatrist before. Then I'll ask a lot of questions about their health, family and friends, major life events, and current living situation to get an idea of who they are. Kind of like speed dating1 Then we will talk about what they want to work on in therapy, options for the approach we will use, whether they are interested in moving forward with therapy, and if so, a tentative plan for treatment and when we will meet again.