Why Lawyers End Up in My Therapy Office
When I started my therapy practice, I didn’t set out to specialize in working with lawyers. But over time, more and more attorneys and law students began finding their way to me, and staying. While the reasons they came to therapy varied, I began to notice recurring themes in our work, and realized how much I genuinely enjoyed supporting them.
Now, a large portion of my caseload includes lawyers, law students, and other legal professionals. I’ve learned a lot about what draws them in and why our work together tends to click.
The Hidden Pressure Behind the Profession
It’s no secret that the legal world is demanding.
Law school itself sets the tone: grades are competitive, often curved against classmates. There’s constant comparison and self-evaluation. That mindset doesn’t disappear after graduation; it just shifts into long hours, billable targets, and emotionally heavy cases involving grief, loss, conflict, or injustice.
Even when the work isn’t emotionally heavy, lawyers face constant pressure. Whether representing an individual or a large organization, clients rely on them to solve problems they can’t, and the stakes are high. Over time, this can contribute to vicarious trauma, even for the most resilient person.
Why Lawyers Feel at Home in My Practice
Lawyers tend to appreciate how I work. My clients in this field often say they value that I:
Respect their time. I run on schedule, communicate clearly, and offer early morning appointments to fit demanding workdays.
Understand the fee-for-service world. There’s mutual respect for boundaries, billing, and the value of showing up.
Balance strength with softness. My approach balances strength with softness. I’m direct and grounded when you need clarity, and I’m also curious, open, and compassionate, offering a space where you can talk about the hard things without judgment.
Can keep up. Having worked with many lawyers, there’s a sense of familiarity when they share aspects of their work. They don’t have to explain everything for me to understand.
That’s why my approach tends to resonate with people in the legal field. It meets sharp thinkers where they are and helps them move into a different kind of knowing.
Why My Approach Works for Lawyers
Most lawyers are highly skilled at thinking. It’s part of what makes you good at what you do (and part of what makes it hard to slow down).
Many of my clients come in saying they’ve spent years pushing emotions aside to stay focused and get things done. But that often leads to burnout, anxiety, or the sense that life feels flat, even when everything looks fine on paper.
My work uses Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Art Therapy, two bottom-up therapy approaches that help you reconnect with parts of yourself you’ve had to silence to survive in a demanding field.
Bottom-up therapy focuses on working through the body and emotions first, instead of starting with thoughts and logic. It’s especially effective for people who live mostly in their heads, who analyze everything, or who have learned to intellectualize feelings as a form of control. By helping the nervous system regulate and the body feel safe again, bottom-up approaches allow emotional insight to emerge naturally, rather than being forced by reasoning or analysis.
IFS helps you notice and understand your internal parts (the perfectionist, the critic, the achiever, the one who doesn’t want to let anyone down) and develop compassion toward them.
Art therapy helps you access what words can’t always reach. You don’t have to be artistic; it’s about expression, not aesthetics. Art also helps invite a sense of play and joy, something many adults can benefit from reconnecting with.
These methods help shift therapy from more thinking to more feeling, in a way that still feels safe and structured.
What Lawyers Tell Me After a Few Months of Therapy
The lawyers I work with often describe feeling:
More connected to their bodies and instincts
Better able to notice burnout before it hits
Clearer on what actually matters to them
More aware of what’s working and what’s not, and where they want to make change
More compassionate toward the parts of themselves they’ve tried to outwork
And for many, therapy becomes a rare space where they can drop the armor and be fully human, without judgment, performance, or competition.
Therapy for Lawyers and Law Students in DC, Maryland, and Missouri
If you’re a lawyer or law student in Washington DC, Maryland, or Missouri who’s feeling stretched thin, disconnected, or overwhelmed by constant pressure, therapy can help you get back to yourself. I’d be honored to support you in that process.
You don’t have to think your way through everything. Sometimes healing starts by learning to listen to what’s been quiet for too long.
