About Joy
Joy Rumsey MD, LCSW-C helps people who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or worried find practical ways to move forward. She meets people where they are and focuses on small, doable steps that fit daily life. Her style is direct and steady, aimed at reducing the pull of anxiety and stress so clients can make clearer choices.
Joy uses tools that teach new ways of thinking and acting. She draws on methods like cognitive behavioral exercises to change unhelpful thoughts and behavioral patterns.
Background and approach
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice what matters most to them and take actions that match their values. Her background combines medical and social work training. Joy holds an MD and a Master of Social Work and has 13 years of clinical experience.
She has worked in hospitals, schools, and outpatient settings, and has a long history running outpatient programs for adults facing mood and substance use challenges. Over the years she has supported people dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, addictions, bipolar mood patterns, anger, and major life changes.
In sessions she will build on a person's existing strengths and offer concrete skills for handling distressing thoughts and emotions. Motivational interviewing and parts-focused approaches are also part of her toolbox. Sessions aim to help people manage immediate symptoms and build longer term habits for emotional well-being.
Joy encourages collaborative goal-setting and mixes skill practice with discussion so clients leave with tools they can use between sessions.
Practical approaches and online care
Joy commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as part of her online work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice uncomfortable thoughts and feelings without getting locked into them, then choose actions that match their values. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing them with real-world experiments to reduce anxiety and improve mood.She views finding the right approach as a collaborative process. The therapist will review your goals, try methods that fit your needs, and adjust as you learn what works. Clients and the therapist decide together whether to emphasize skills practice, values work, or parts-based reflection over time.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video allows face-to-face conversation and skill demonstration, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, and chat or text are useful for quick check-ins or brief skill coaching. These formats help people fit therapy into busy schedules and keep momentum between meetings.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Trauma and abuse
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- Maryland
- Languages
- English
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