Hope+Wellness

Bennett Crawford, LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Hi there. I’m Bennett!

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Bennett Crawford, LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Licensed in: Virginia, Washington DC
Locations: McLean, VA; Teletherapy

(he/him/his)

I am a licensed clinical social worker with expertise in cognitive- behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness based therapies. I earned my Masters Degree in Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University and have over 20 years of expertise providing evidence-based psychotherapy for teens, young adults, and adults with depression, anxiety, mood, stress and adjustment concerns, and trauma. I also specialize in mindfulness meditation.

Many of the clients I see experience tremendous fear, anxiety, despair, and hopelessness. They feel stuck in their lives and have lost their sense of direction, purpose, and meaning. They are filled with negative self-judgement, fear, anxiety, loneliness, obsessive and perfectionistic thinking, and chronic stress.

My approach is integrative, holistic, and evidence-based and much of the focus of my work is on helping clients cultivate and connect to resources of inner strength and resilience within. I work to create a kind, supportive, and nonjudgmental environment for you, so you can feel safe, seen, heard and met with compassion, warmth and positive regard.

I have a passion for my work and being of service and believe that every person, with the support of a caring, nonjudgmental clinician has the capacities, strengths and resources within to overcome their adversities and challenges and create positive sustainable change in their lives.

Philosophy

I am passionate about the art of healing and the transformational power of mindfulness.

I believe the mind, body, and spirit are interconnected. I utilize a holistic approach, tailoring treatment uniquely for each individual, integrating high quality, evidence-based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion Focused Therapy, and Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT). I have extensive expertise in mind-body medicine, meditation, and body-centered approaches and practices to help clients develop greater emotional health, wellness, and quality of life.  

As a therapist, I feel called to be of true service to each client, and am grateful for this privilege. I work to create a nonjudgmental and compassionate space to help each person to develop greater self-awareness and compassion to connect to the fundamental goodness that is present within us all. It is my belief that as we connect to this fundamental goodness, we learn to more fully love ourselves, others, and to ultimately make a positive impact in the world. We find a deep sense of peace, inspiration, and empowerment to live the life we really long for.

As a mindfulness teacher, I provide a safe and empowering space so that individuals and groups can discover a deeper, more fundamental inner goodness. Mindfulness helps individuals become familiar with the inner workings of their own minds and hearts. Ultimately, this awareness provides the healing and transformation needed to help people live more happy and fulfilling lives of kindness, compassion, and wholeness.

I utilize a strengths-based approach in which each person is seen to have innate capacities, strengths and resources to bring about healing and integration. It is through a genuine, authentic therapist-client relationship characterized by unconditional positive regard that these inherent capacities are revealed and actualized. By connecting directly with these strengths, true healing and transformation can emerge, and we can learn to share our experiences of disconnection, loss, hurt and pain from a space of safety and connection. Reconnecting to yourself and this space of authenticity is an act of true courage and is the ground from which new hope and possibilities can emerge.

Specialty Areas

depression, anxiety, mood, and existential concerns

I specialize in treating depression, mood concerns, and anxiety, utilizing a holistic, mind-body approach that integrates evidence-based therapies including cognitive-behavioral, acceptance and mindfulness based approaches, tailored for your specific needs and concerns. I also work with individuals experiencing existential, quarter- and mid-life crises, to cultivate a life of greater purpose and meaning.

adverse stress, trauma, complex trauma, and Ptsd

I provide trauma focused therapy to help individuals overcome the negative effects of trauma on the mind and body, finding a way to feel empowered and to trust again so you can start to understand the complexity of your experience and begin to heal.

teens with depression, anxiety, adjustment concerns, trauma

I have extensive expertise treating a wide variety of mental health concerns in teens with a broad range of complex behavioral and emotional concerns, including depression, anxiety, trauma, and stress/life adjustment during a critical developmental period in their lives to help promote greater strength, resilience, and life fulfillment and success.

adjustment to life changes, transitions, and stressors, uncertainty

I am passionate about supporting clients who are at a crossroads, feeling stuck in their lives who do not know what is next. I work with clients with life transition issues, including coping with challenging life changes, work stress, health stressors, facing uncertainty, stress, depression, and anxiety.

mindfulness Meditation

I specialize in teaching mindfulness meditation, incorporating skills into therapeutic work with clients. Additionally, for individuals who are currently working with other therapists but who are seeking support in delving deeper into mindfulness meditation, I lead groups on mindfulness meditation, and consult with individuals privately to support you in practicing meditation skills within a safe place, and to help you cultivate a daily practice which brings you deeper feelings of peace and fulfillment in everyday life.

Additional Areas of Expertise

Academic Stress and Pressure
Adjusting to Life Transitions
Adolescence
Anxiety
Attention Problems
Attachment Concerns
Complex Trauma
Depression
Developing Autonomy and Confidence
Discovering Your Identity
Existential Depression
Finding Meaning and Purpose
Finding Passion and Creativity
Generalized Anxiety
General Stress of Being Human
Grief and Loss
Healthy Boundary Setting
Identity
Life Stress
Life Transitions
Low Self Esteem
Mid Life Crisis
Mind-Body-Spirit Connection
Mood disorders
Multicultural
PTSD
Perfectionism
Personal Growth
Quarter-Life Crisis
Relationship and Communication Difficulties
Self-Care
Self-Criticism
Self-Esteem
Sensitivity
Spirituality
Social Anxiety
Stress Management
Struggling to Launch
Trauma
Unresolved Trauma
Work Stress
Young Adults

Certifications

  • Certified integral psychotherapist

    I am certified to provide integral psychotherapy, which helps clients weave seemingly dissonant parts of themselves — psychological, spiritual, biological, behavioral, cultural, and socio-economic – toward a healthy, integrated whole.

  • Integral Somatic Parts Work — Level 3

    I am certified to provide integrative somatic parts work, an approach that helps you listen and engage with the different aspects of yourself to heal underlying past trauma and pain, and gain an increased sense of wholeness and compassion for yourself and others. 

  • Integrative somatic trauma therapy

    I am certified to work with trauma from a body-centered perspective, including a deeper understanding of the body’s relationship with social, environmental, developmental, relational, spiritual, and trauma and healing.

  • Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher

    I had the pleasure of training with world-renowned mindfulness teacher, Sean Fargo.

more ABOUT ME

Hobbies + what I do for fun!

During my free time, I like to practice the drum set and also practice the piano. I am also learning how to sing :) so I can sing while playing the piano. My goals are to jam with a band and to write songs. For as long as I remember I always loved and appreciated music so having music in my life is deeply important to me. My favorite styles of music are Funk, R&B, Jazz, Latin. Rock and Jazz-Rock-Funk and Latin fusion styles of music.

Why I became a therapist

The reason why I became a therapist was because of my passion for spiritual and psychological growth and for being of service. Because of my own suffering due to anxiety, depression and past trauma, I felt called to seek healing and transformation. This led me on a spiritual path, which included a great deal of engaged spiritual practices, reflection and psychological study.

My practices, reflections and study led me to discoveries of an innate potential, awareness, and goodness within us all and that everything is deeply interconnected. These discoveries and realizations brought a lot of inspiration and healing into my life. I became inspired to become a therapist to share what I have learned and to help others discover their own innate potential and goodness within and their own path toward healing and transformation.

favorite QUOTES

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
— Joseph Campbell
“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”
— Albert Einstein
“Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.”
— David Richo
These negative thinking patterns can influence our mood and exacerbate feelings of anxiety, depression, or other feelings of insecurity and self doubt. This can then contribute to a pattern of unhealthy behaviors–which in turn starts the cycle
CBT is an approach that focuses on how our thinking patterns influence our behavioral patterns. The main idea behind CBT is that thoughts influence how we feel and act. Basically: how we act can in turn also affect how we think and feel in a given si
If you’re thinking of starting therapy, you’ve likely run into the term modality before. A modality is the approach a therapist takes when providing care for their patients. One of the modalities we utilize here is called Cognitive Behavi
EMDR was initially developed to help process trauma, and lessen the effects of PTSD, and it is an incredibly powerful way to treat trauma, including trauma from childhood or abuse. However, research has shown that EMDR can be helpful with a number of
Some of the phases go faster than others, and once you are ready to begin reprocessing, most of your EMDR sessions will be some combination of phases 3-8. #emdr #emdrTherapy #nervoussystemdysregulation #nervoussystem #complexptsd #psychoeducation #
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a kind of psychotherapy that was developed in the 1980s by Francine Shapiro. Dr. Shapiro was walking outdoors in 1987 when she noticed that the distress she was feeling, relate
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a kind of psychotherapy that was developed in the 1980s by Francine Shapiro. Dr. Shapiro was walking outdoors in 1987 when she noticed that the distress she was feeling, relate
To start, you pick which of the five emotions feels closest to what you’re feeling. As the rings move outward, the terms get more and more specific. So for example, maybe you can only identify that you feel sad. If you start at sad, and go one
Developing a greater awareness of your emotions can help you find ways to cope with difficult emotions that arise, make values-aligned decisions, enhance relationships with others, and develop a greater sense of self esteem. Identifying emotions and
Emotions can seem scary because we just aren’t taught a lot about them. When we shy away from understanding them, they become these all powerful entities that can control our lives. But the truth is, emotions (and the experience of having any e