Margaret Joern, LCSW

Margaret Joern is a Virginia-based Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 25 years of experience helping people navigate complex emotional and relational challenges. She works with individuals facing depression, anxiety, stress, trauma and abuse, addiction concerns, and difficulties with self-esteem, offering a steady, experienced presence for those coping with life transitions, grief, or mood disorders.

Her practice places particular emphasis on relationships and family dynamics, supporting clients through issues such as abandonment, codependency, domestic violence, family of origin conflicts, and caregiver stress. She also brings experience addressing concerns common to first responders, veterans, and people confronting midlife transitions. Margaret has worked extensively with reproductive and postpartum matters and the emotional impact of caregiving and compassion fatigue.

Clinically, she draws on evidence-informed methods including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Motivational Interviewing, and trauma-focused therapy to tailor treatment to each person’s needs. These approaches are used to help clients process traumatic memories, reduce distressing symptoms, and develop practical coping strategies.

Margaret aims to create a respectful, nonjudgmental environment where clients can explore their feelings, build resilience, and strengthen insight into patterns that affect daily life. Her work supports growth across a range of concerns from obsessive or compulsive behaviors and impulsivity to relationship repair and management of bipolar or mood disorders, always with attention to safety, boundaries, and practical skill-building.