About Richard
Richard Sumner is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 25 years of experience. He focuses on practical ways to reduce stress and anxiety and to build more confidence and motivation. He helps people who are feeling depressed or overwhelmed by life transitions.
Sessions emphasize clear goals and steps people can try between meetings. Richard listens for strengths in each person and uses those strengths to guide change. He has worked with concerns that often come up in midlife and during aging, including shifts in identity and purpose.
Background and approach
He also brings experience with mood disorders, substance use problems, self-harm, and issues men often raise about role and expectations. Richard believes people know their own story best. He partners with clients to sort through options, set realistic goals, and test small changes.
He describes therapy as a collaborative process that supports skill building and better everyday coping. Sessions focus on what is useful now. Richard offers straightforward feedback and practical strategies that match a person's pace.
He aims to help people feel more capable of handling stress and the changes life brings.
Evidence-Based Approaches and Online Care
Richard draws on evidence-based therapeutic techniques that focus on clear skills people can use day to day. One common approach is skills training that teaches practical strategies for managing anxiety and stress - breathing, grounding, activity planning, and thought-challenging exercises that reduce overwhelm. Another approach emphasizes behavioral activation, which helps people reconnect with meaningful routines and activities to lift mood and motivation.Choosing the right approach is part of the work. He collaborates with each person to identify goals, try methods, and adjust the plan based on what helps most. That shared process aims to match techniques to a person's needs, pace, and preferences rather than imposing a single method.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different schedules and situations. Video is useful for deeper conversation and face-to-face interaction. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or for shorter check-ins. Live chat and messaging allow for quick updates, coaching between sessions, or writing out thoughts when speaking is hard. These formats offer flexibility for people balancing work, caregiving, or travel while keeping therapy consistent.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Coping with life changes
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Self-harm
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- Virginia
- Languages
- English
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