​I (Barbara Adika) earned a Master of Arts in Clinical mental health Counseling from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and am licensed to provide clinical mental health counseling in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Due to my devotion to the counseling profession, I am also a board approved clinical supervisor for interns and graduate, professional counselors in Maryland and Washington DC. Regarding my clinical practice, I work with men and women, looking to address relational challenges with a focus on cultural identity, family-of-origin within the context of attachment, and early childhood and young adult relationships. Through the lens, I work with individuals and couples to explore, gain insight, and implement strategies to address, connection, intimacy, relationship roles, conflict, and relationship repair.

You can process the cognitive, emotional and behavioral impact of the past in order to gain control and engage with life in the here-and-now

Whether it is individual or couples counseling, I work with clients to first give themselves permission to take up the necessary space to attune and become aware of their feelings, and determine language for their experiences. This helps explore and begin to address frustrations around impulsive behaviors or emotional reactions. From there, we work through the feelings that come with this awareness and attunement; for people who were shamed, punished or neglected for expressing emotions there is a relearning that happens. I work with adult clients, mostly from within the black diaspora and especially those with immigrant experiences.

I give careful time and attention to exploring and understanding early life relationships and experiences with caretakers, siblings and society. We then come into the present to identify cognitive, emotional and behavioral patterns that are helpful and unhelpful. This helps couples and individuals understand themselves and each other. In a collaborative manner, with you as the leader, we’ll use this information about the past and present to make conscious choices for the future.

I work with clients who want to explore and address certain patterns as well as those who are living with mental health disorders. I am am licensed to diagnose, assess, treat and support clients in implementing culturally sensitive and evidence-based strategies to address psychological stress and disorders including major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and more. I also do a lot of work around regulation of the body and nervous system. In working with clients I consider their culture, personality, lifestyle and development as I use approaches such as Internal Family Systems, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Attachment Theory and others.

My approach is goal, strength, and solution oriented.  Our therapeutic relationship will hold a balance of being laidback and focused. As a Ghanaian American, I understand the stigma, social structures/limitations around therapy and personal discomfort around mental health and work to create an environment where we “work” and also just honor ourselves.