Riley Cohen

Riley understands that clients come with a wide range of past experiences with therapy. Whether you are completely new to therapy, are wary of therapy due to negative past experiences, or you already know what you find helpful and want to give input about what you want therapy to look like, Riley is happy to meet clients where they are. Her work centers around a feminist and multicultural approach to counseling, where clients feel empowered in the counseling environment and the counselor works collaboratively to help them explore the individual, contextual, and cultural factors that influence us all. She also incorporates aspects of cognitive-behavioral (CBT), dialectical behavioral (DBT), emotion-focused, narrative, and expressive arts therapies. She is passionate about helping clients understand, accept, and validate themselves and their emotions while holding space for change and growth. This is especially important for survivors of trauma and people who hold marginalized identities.  

Riley has a Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the George Washington University as well as a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William & Mary. She completed her internship in counseling as a behavioral health intern with Whitman-Walker Health. At Whitman-Walker, she helped co-facilitate a DBT group, a transgender peer support group, and a group for parents of trans and gender-non-conforming youth. She has built strong therapeutic relationships with a variety of individual clients and has experience working with anxiety, depression and other mood disorders, trauma, self-esteem and self-worth, career stress, family and relationship issues, substance use, ADHD, autism, and other forms of neurodivergence.  

Riley has a strong connection to the DMV area – she was born and raised in Northern Virginia and now lives in D.C. with her wife and their rescue cat, Beezer. Outside of work, she enjoys science fiction, watching sports, hiking and being active, and any kind of puzzle game. She believes that as a counselor and as a person, she has a responsibility to participate in advocacy work and oppose all forms of oppression. She uses any pronouns (ex. she/her, he/him, etc.). 

How to Contact Me:

*In the case of an emergency, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.

Phone: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm (holidays excluded), (301) 970-4001

Portal: I will respond within 2 business days

Email: To protect patient privacy, per our practice policy, I do not use email with current or prospective clients.