Bar Lehmann, LCSW
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Takoma Park MD
Integrated Approaches
Mindfulness
I have felt that many of the big challenges in my life are internal (how we internally respond to things) rather than just external, (i.e. marathons, jobs, relationships, physical exercise, bungee jumping), which are of course valid and important too. This belief underlies my personal journey of many years of practicing meditation traditions from Vipassana (insight meditation), Yoga, Zazen (Walking Meditation), and other meditative/spiritual traditions throughout the years. I have also led mindfulness groups and meditations. A feeling of purpose and stamina in the face of challenges can be developed through mindful practices. Mindfulness can often be a key piece of integration-related work.
Deep Listening
If I were to describe the "style" of therapy it would be "Deep Listening." In deep thinking vs. regular thinking, there is a focus on identifying, through this engaged listening, some of your key issues and some solutions. My undivided attention to your exploration is a catalyst and a magnifying glass, and through it, there is a feedback process between you and my undivided attention guiding and intensifying the exploration. The opportunity to come up with a meaningful solution that comes from a person’s deep roots is tapped into through this process.
Neuroscience and Neurobiology
I feel that identifying biomarkers of mental wellness and training them in a data-focused way (results are clearly measurable) is a very compelling approach to support mental wellness for many people. A conviction that our wellbeing is closely tied to our biology spurred me to the years-long certification process of the international certification in neurofeedback (a type of biofeedback). Biofeedback refers to the fact that one can learn to regulate aspects of their own physiology (their brain waves or their heart rate variability) by getting immediate feedback about that metric. Biofeedback is a proven method to address symptoms of various disorders and improve relaxation and wellbeing with minimal side effects.
My interest in mental health and social justice began around my college years and grew during my experiences there. Since becoming a Social Worker, I first worked as a case manager at Community Connections for several years serving adults with serious mental illness in Washington, DC. During my work as a therapist, amongst other roles, I always really valued the connections with my clients and felt that these relationships and trust that we built had been a foundation for many positive changes they created in their lives (and I saw this with other colleagues as well). I knew I wanted to focus more on building connections long-term with individuals as a way to help in the process of change, especially in urgently needed situations of mental health. I also have found that helping others address their challenges is a good way to cope with my own.
My interest in integrative health including psychedelic-assisted therapy and also neurofeedback was “seeded” during my undergraduate studies with the understanding that so much of our mental states are linked to biological processes. Over my MSW studies and clinical work this realization grew and deepened, and neurofeedback and access to therapeutic states became an area of focus for me. Occasionally, feeling identification with the person’s frustrations or challenges to bring about badly needed changes left me with sense of the limitations of words in certain situations and a need for experience-based elements of therapy such as neurofeedback. My interest in biofeedback and neurofeedback appeared to be a unique fit for such challenges. The joint focus on building client relationships and also my interests in biofeedback led me to the direction of private practice therapy of integrated mental wellness. Since working at Community Connections I have worked at both the Washington, DC Center for Neurocognitive Excellence and later Biofeedback Works of Herndon Virginia, where I have been trained as a neurofeedback therapist, a Ketamine Assisted Therapist with Fluence, and am a founding member of PATH (https://pathdc.org/).
QEEG guided Neurofeedback
Psychotherapy
Ketamine Assisted Therapy