Ami Lynch, Phd, MSW, LCSW, LICSW
Ami Lynch (she/her) specializes in counseling adolescents, adults, couples, and families, of all genders and sexual orientations. She is licensed in Virginia, District of Columbia and Vermont.
Ami offers a warm and welcoming approach to help clients gain insights into their life, experiences, and emotions, in a supportive, open, judgement-free environment. She combines approaches familiar in emotion focused therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, mindfulness, and strengths-based approaches, which Ami says, "It’s ok if you don’t know what that means! What is important is a willingness to do the work. We will utilize the assets you already possess--even if you don’t feel like you do."
Ami specializes in a number of issues including (though prospective clients need not fit into a particular category to reach out for a consult):
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Depression and Anxiety Disorders
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Trauma, abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and PTSD
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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and more (LGBTQIA+), including pansexual, gender fluid, gender non-binary, androgenous, questioning, and sexual identity issues or challenges
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Couples counseling and relationships, including polyamory/CNM/ENM
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Sex positive, and kink affirming therapy
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MPE, misattributed parental experience and DNA/ancestry results
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Catfishing
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Separation, Divorce, and post-divorce, including co-parenting after divorce
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Family disruption and dysregulation
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Improving self-esteem and self-empowerment
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Stress reduction and management
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Career counseling and career transitions (including retirement) including Government, DOD, and military career transition
Ami is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, certified by the International Association of Trauma Professionals and a certified Crisis Worker. She has advanced levels of training in crisis response, and responding to sexual violence, child sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, and suicidality. She is a master trainer in motivational interviewing, a counseling approach that explores one’s process for change. She has additional training in working with gender non-binary and transgender populations, trauma-informed care, parent dysregulation, and best uses of teletherapy. In addition, Ami has experience with healing circles and group processing, exoneration and criminal justice issues, and supporting survivors of crime. In her work outside of the therapy room, she has supported the United States Air Force, National Institutes of Health, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on mental health-related projects.
Some words from Ami:
"I help people who worry that they are broken feel capable of handling distress through addressing trauma and other challenges in a judgement-free environment. I serve adults, adolescents, couples, and families via in-person and/or telehealth sessions in Virginia. I work with a diverse caseload of clients including LGBTQIA+ identified folks, poly/ENM/CNM dynamics, parents that are struggling, those whose world upended after DNA results (MPE), those who have been catfished, those that are anxious and/or depressed, and more. If you're a struggling perfectionist, believe nothing can help you, think you're the only one, or are terrified of therapy, let's chat and see if we're a good fit!
I am a clinical social worker who employs an eclectic mix of a strengths-based and mindfulness approach to emotion focused therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy. You don't have to know what that means! I believe therapy should be approachable and understandable. I believe our emotions tell us a great deal about how we experience our lives, and that by knowing ourselves and our emotions better, we can have freedom. I use empathetic approaches and humor in addition to various trauma therapies as well as find what you respond to best. Does that mean you need to have "had trauma"? No, not all my clients have. I work with the needs of the client to formulate a plan to achieve the goals you want! We will improve your ability to feel and name emotions, to notice where they occur in your body, and to develop resources to address the discomfort of it all. You can come to befriend what currently feels distressing so that you are in charge, not your emotions!
I believe the healthiest people are in, or have been in, therapy. It is a sign of strength, not weakness. I am active in fights for social justice and believe therapy can help with systemic abuses clients may be experiencing in the world. Therapists are not all-knowing! Clients are the wisest to know what they need; we just have to be able to listen to our emotions and bodies in order to know what that is."
Special Training and Modalities
Ami is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, certified by the International Association of Trauma Professionals and a certified Crisis Worker. She has advanced levels of training in crisis response, and responding to sexual violence, child sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, and suicidality. She is a master trainer in motivational interviewing, a counseling approach that explores one’s process for change. She has additional training in working with gender non-binary and transgender populations, trauma-informed care, parent dysregulation, and best uses of teletherapy. In addition, Ami has experience with healing circles and group processing, exoneration and criminal justice issues, and supporting survivors of crime. In her work outside of the therapy room, she has supported the United States Air Force, National Institutes of Health, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on mental health-related projects.
Recent Professional Experience
Prior to joining Across Counseling, Ami interned at The Women’s Center in Vienna, Virginia where she provided individual psychotherapy to adults, adolescents, families, and couples. Areas of experience included trauma, anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders, mood disorders, intimate partner violence, and trauma. Ami interned and did a social work fellowship at the Healing Justice Project from 2018 to 2020 where she works with clients in various formats. Ami also served as a crisis worker with PRS CrisisLink, a local and national suicide hotline.
Ami has numerous publications and certifications, and participates in ongoing professional development. More information available on request.
Education
Virginia Commonwealth University,
Master of Social Work with honors, May 2021
Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society, Phi Alpha Social Work Honors Society
The George Washington University
PhD with a concentration in Gender and Social Policy, 2006
Professional Affiliations
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Member, National Association of Social Workers
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Member, Greater Washington Society of Clinical Social Workers
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CEO Support Group member
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Leadership Arlington, Signature Class of 2016
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American Public Health Association,
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Member, Society for International Development,
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Member, National Women’s Studies Association, Anti-White Supremacy Task Force