Brooke Utley, M.S., LPC
Licensed Professional Counselor / Director
Brooke has been a counselor since 2009, and is the Director of Empowerment Therapy Center. She is passionate about making a difference in the community, in individuals, and in families, and hiring experienced clinicians that have similar ethics, passion, provide quality services, and have diverse perspectives and approaches. Brooke is always trying to meet the needs of the community by starting new programs that serve the community’s needs, and the needs of the practice’s clientele. She works hard at making sure the staff at Empowerment Therapy Center resembles a healthy family, which is important for practice morale, case coordination, and for more effectively serving clients.
Brenda Fawcett, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Fawcett is a licensed psychologist in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts. She has worked for much of her career as a Certified School Psychologist. She has also worked in private practice, community agencies, and in-hospital clinics. Dr. Fawcett specializes in the psychological assessment of children, adolescents and young adults, ages 4-25 years old, using a descriptive, collaborative approach. This means that she believes in the importance of actively soliciting and including parent, collateral, and teacher input when assessing her clients, and integrating this feedback into the test results and recommendations.
Dr. Fawcett interprets scores through the lens of cultural context and the test taker’s developmental history. Typically, Dr. Fawcett is tasked with assessing the client’s ability to sustain attention, as well as their cognitive, social /emotional /behavioral, adaptive, academic, language and executive functioning.
Dr. Fawcett conducts all psychological testing herself. She takes her time. She is careful, thorough, thoughtful and invested in providing high-quality assessments for all the individuals she evaluates. Dr. Fawcett chooses assessment tools consistent with the referral questions that are generated by the client’s family and teachers. Her psychological reports answer those referral questions. Dr. Fawcett enjoys problem-solving and advocating for her clients.
Dawn Aronson, LMFT
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Virginia since 2000, Dawn has experience helping people find solutions to their struggles. Approaching therapy as a collaboration, she aims to help you identify obstacles as well as strengths to determine solutions for the issues affecting your life. Her mission is to guide and encourage you to achieve a more functional, peaceful and healthy way of life. She has years of successful experience and has helped a wide variety of adults, couples, children and families reach their goals.
Areas of interest and specialization include but are not limited to Relationship issues, Couples and Families, Mood Disorders, Anxiety/Panic and Coping with life change, Trauma/Abuse, Grief, Career and Workplace difficulties, Self Esteem, ADHD and Conduct issues, Communication Issues, Personality Disorders, Multicultural concerns, Internet Addiction, Eating Disorders, Chronic Health concerns, and Christian Focused Counseling.
Gianna Giuoco, M.S., NCC, LPC
Gianna has been a counselor since 2017, and has helped many clients overcome life’s many challenges. These challenges may be internal (ex. anxiety, depression) or external (ex. divorce, moving) but either way, the weight of these challenges may be hard to bare alone.
Using an eclectic approach, Gianna’s hope is to help her clients find a path that will lighten the load these weights put on their lives. Some of the techniques Gianna utilizes to find this path include mindfulness training, positive counseling, and cognitive behavioral therapy. The approaches utilized are based on the individual’s needs and goals for counseling.
Elizabeth Mohaupt, M.A., NCC, LPC
Licensed Professional Counselor
Beth is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Virginia and a National Certified Counselor. She started in the field of counseling in 2007 and has worked in Residential care, Intensive In-Home Counseling, Therapeutic Day Treatment, Skill-Building services, and outpatient therapy. Beth has a passion in working with children, adolescents, adults, and families. She is well-versed in treatment for ADHD, anxiety, depression, impulse-control, trauma, anger management, behavioral concerns in children and adolescents, and parenting. Beth’s main approach to counseling is person-centered, but she also incorporates mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in her work. She likes to empower and guide each individual to make the changes that they desire to make in their own lives.
Lisa Xantus, M.Ed., LPC
Lisa has been counseling since 1993 across a variety of treatment settings which include: private practice, High Schools, Middle Schools and community-based services. Her interests and specialties include serving clients with:
- Christian Counseling
- Teen Issues: Peer Pressure, Self Esteem
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Marriage and Family Therapy
- Pre-Marital Counseling
- Parent/Child or Partner Relational Problems
- Childhood Trauma
- Women’s Issues
- Anger and Stress Management
- Trauma and Abuse
Lisa believes in working in partnership with clients, utilizing their inner strengths to help them sort out their challenges in order to achieve their goals. Lisa’s passion is helping individuals, families and couples to learn how to rebuild their lives and relationships by overcoming obstacles. She uses a variety of therapeutic approaches including but not limited to Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, DBT, Play Therapy and Solution Focused Therapy.
Nadia Aziz, M.A.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Nadia has experience working clients of different backgrounds and age groups and has helped them navigate their Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, Sexual/Physical/Verbal Abuse, PTSD, Substance Abuse, Anger Management and Domestic Violence. She works with clients by empowering them and helping them find their strengths and utilize them to become the best version of themselves. Nadia’s goal is to provide a safe and non-judgmental space for clients where they can be themselves and discuss an array of topics that are important to them. She loves to use Mindfulness based approaches, such as Guided Imagery, Meditation, Breathing, and Body Scans, as well as CBT, DBT, and Solution-Focused approaches to Counseling. Nadia also has training in Multicultural Counseling and Faith Based Counseling. Nadia is multi-lingual and can speak and provide counseling in Urdu and Hindi and understands Punjabi.
Bryan Carroll, M.S.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Bryan provides online/ telehealth, and in-person counseling. He works with individuals, families, groups, and couples of all ages. Bryan has over 10 years of experience working with children and adolescents as a counselor, a coach, and an educator. He works with clients with a wide range of concerns, including (but not limited to) depression, anxiety, gender dysphoria, interpersonal relationships, racial identity, transgender (any age), self-esteem, and many other mental health and developmental concerns. Bryan utilizes a variety of therapeutic approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, Play Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and Motivational Interviewing, to name a few. He believes that having empathy and a genuine connection with his clients promotes a positive therapeutic journey toward overcoming obstacles and achieving goals.
Raymond Eck, M.Ed.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Ray provides online, telehealth counseling for individuals. He primarily works with preteens, teens and adults. He works with clients with a wide range of issues including (but not limited to):
• ADHD • Autism • Depression • Gender Dysphoria (any age) • Life Transitions • Oppositional Defiance • Parenting • Peer Relationships • Racial Identity • School Issues • Self Esteem •Transgender (any age)
Ray believes that therapy is a journey. Ray’s therapeutic style is collaborative and based on respecting a person’s right to choose their own path. He approaches each client as having unique needs that may benefit from a combination of approaches including CBT, CPT, Internal Family Systems, LGBTQIA+ affirming care and Motivational Interviewing. Ray has traveled throughout the world and seen clients from Europe, Asia, and South America. He is also a member of the LGBTQIA+ community with extensive experience supporting the community as a speaker for Equality Virginia and providing training to future generations of counselors at George Mason University.
Tyler Grosskopf, M.A.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Tyler has been a counselor since 2016, and is passionate about empowering individuals with a solution-focused approach. Through collaboration, she works with her clients to create personalized solutions in a safe environment where her clients are free to be their most authentic selves. Tyler works with children, teens, and young adults. She utilizes a strengths-based perspective along with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients manage depression, anxiety, anger, life transitions, self-harm and suicidal ideation. Tyler also runs a confidence-building group therapy program for middle schoolers and high-schoolers.
Elizabeth Hussey, M.S.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Liz has been a counselor since 2017, and provides online, telehealth counseling for individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, trauma/PTSD, and eating disorders. She works primarily with preteens, teens, and young adults. Liz understands that the decision to start therapy is a huge, brave step in seeking to improve your life and make positive changes. As a compassionate and supportive therapist, Liz works to support her clients’ goals by learning their unique story, and exploring their concerns and presenting issues in order to guide her clients to meaningful, beneficial outcomes. Liz helps individuals process difficult life events or decisions, foster self-esteem and self-awareness, build confidence in their strengths, develop new problem-solving skills and coping strategies, and improve communication.
Liz’ background is behavioral neuroscience and cognitive psychology, and she understands how mental and physical health interact with our environment and factor into optimal wellbeing. Liz believes that with empathy, and genuine connection offered in therapy, individuals can harness their own incredible strengths and resilience to overcome hurdles and achieve their goals.
Diana Jones, M.A.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Katherine Kraft, M.A.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Katherine has eight years of experience including teaching, mentoring, coaching, and counseling; she has provided clinical mental health therapeutic services since 2018. Katherine has had the privilege of working with diverse populations in parts of Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. Working with children, teenagers, individuals, and couples Katherine is passionate about providing support, respect, unconditional positive regard, and a safe space for clients to express themselves in a nonjudgmental environment. She seeks to collaborate with clients in helping them grow, gain coping skills, overcome obstacles, work through transitions, determine strengths, and find hope. Katherine approaches therapy from a holistic perspective, taking into account an individual’s mind, body, and emotions. She considers an individual’s history, as well as the present, and how they pertain to future aspirations and goals. Katherine ascribes to mostly Cognitive Behavioral, Dialectical Behavior, Person-Centered, and Solution-Focused Therapies. Katherine works with, but is not limited to, assisting clients in the following areas: anxiety, depression, life transitions, grief, self-esteem, relationship problems, decision-making, career planning, communication, assertiveness skills, and boundaries.
Ruben Molina, M.A.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Ruben believes that balance is essential to living life to the fullest. His goal is to help children, adolescents, and adults, learn to navigate through difficult circumstances, and to instill hope, and motivate clients to go after their life goals. It is Ruben’s genuine desire to enter into the broken life of a person and become a bridge through which they can walk to the other side of their brokenness with a new perspective. Ruben has been providing counseling services since 2015, and speaks Spanish and English fluently.
Rachel Neahusan, M.A.
Emmanuel Roy Smith, Sr., M.A.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
E. Roy believes that empowerment and encouragement through the use of counseling strategies can help promote and build positive life skills to help improve interpersonal relationships, reduce stress, and decrease intensity and frequency of angry feelings. E. Roy’s passion for counseling is to help create positive change or adjustments for each individual that he counsels. He applies a variety of counseling strategies and approaches, and believes in their situational application. E. Roy has extensive experience working with adults, children and families with depression, social issues, grief, relationships, conflict resolutions, anger management, anxieties, spiritual concerns, post-traumatic stress disorder, parenting concerns, divorce and separation.
Elena Stevens, M.A.
Licensed Resident in Counseling
Elena has a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health and has over 10 years of experience providing guidance and support to families, individuals, and couples transitioning through various stages of life.
Elena believes that therapy is a journey of self-discovery, healing, and growth and that a journey like that should not be made alone. Life can be overwhelming, confusing, full of grief, hurt, stress and unspeakable trauma. Elena helps her clients process traumatic experiences, make meaning of life’s events, develop emotional regulation and healthy coping, increase interpersonal effectiveness, and ultimately create an empowered and compassionate self-narrative. Elena’s therapeutic style is collaborative, based on unconditional respect for each person’s unique life experience and reflects a firm belief that we already hold the answers – it is just a matter of learning to hear them.
Elena enjoys working with children, adolescents, adults, and couples with a wide range of concerns: depression, anxiety, complex trauma, ADHD, PTSD, grief and loss, marital stressors, parental stressors, and adjustment issues. She tailors her approach to the individual needs of each client using Emotion Focused Therapy, Attachment Theory, CBT, TF-CBT, DBT, Mindfulness, and Internal Family Systems.
Stephen Weber, B.S.
Certified Life Coach
Stephen works with teens and adults of all ages and genders, and has a passion for helping people through difficult times or transitions. He is experienced particularly with young adults with social anxiety, generalized anxiety, lack of motivation and those who may be struggling to find direction as a young adult, or as they approach adulthood. Stephen also has experience working with individuals going through separation or divorce.
Stephen’s approach involves working closely with each client to identify their desires, values, and beliefs. Then he works with his clients to determine what might be holding them back from accomplishing goals, or overcoming an obstacle. Stephen collaborates with his clients to decide where the client wants to focus their energy or passion, and helps the client develop any needed motivation or confidence to accomplish related goals. He believes it is important to identify each individual’s strengths and abilities and then apply practical, individualized solutions for accomplishing goals. Goals can be relational, professional, or personal.