About Me

Meredith Gelman

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been in practice for over 25 years. I have a private practice in Fairfax, Virginia serving adolescents, young adults, women, and parents.

Education and Training

I graduated from Randolph Macon Woman’s College in 1992 with a BA in Psychology and a MSW from Norfolk State University in 1994. I was a recipient of a Child Welfare Grant from the State of Virginia during graduate school. This grant led me to the District of Columbia where I was a therapeutic foster and adoptions care worker for Family and Child Services of Washington D.C.

In 1996 I received my LCSW and began more intense specialized training in trauma at the Pediatric Trauma Center at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. I was trained there as a play and family therapist working with children and their families who were victims of physical and sexual abuse. I supervised graduate interns and staff as well.

I also received specific trauma training under the “Family Live” model. In this model, therapists address inter-generational trauma with parents using a strengths-based approach and trauma informed engagement strategies.

In conjunction with this training, I trained under Marianne Walters, LCSW of the Family Practice Center in Washington, D.C. Both experiences allowed me to learn the art of solution/short-term focused therapy, cognitive, family, and psychoanalytic therapies.

I have also been trained in Mindfulness, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and Internal Family Systems (IFS), and incorporate these techniques when appropriate.

I specialize now in work with adolescent girls and women around anxiety/mood disorders, trauma/grief/loss, unhealthy relationship patterns, and family of origin issues. My family work revolves around improving communication skills, resolving conflict, and supporting/coaching of parenting skills, including short-term therapy around parenting.

I have completed Janina Fisher’s “Working with the Neurobiological Legacy of Trauma” program, Levels 1 through 4.

I have also completed The Ferentz Institute’s Level 1 Trauma Certificate Program.

Professional Affiliations