Tamara Christman, LPC

Tamara Christman is a licensed professional counselor with 22 years of experience in Virginia. She focuses on practical ways to reduce worry and manage stress. Tamara aims to make therapy straightforward and useful for everyday life.

She listens first to understand what is most pressing for each person. Sessions often center on building skills for anxiety, depression, anger, and relationship concerns. Tamara also works with people facing grief, trauma, career shifts, body image struggles, and caregiving stress.

Her style is calm and direct. She helps people spot unhelpful thinking patterns and try new behaviors that feel doable. Therapy blends problem-solving with developing clearer communication and stronger boundaries.

Tamara draws on several approaches including cognitive behavioral techniques and attachment-informed work to address patterns that come from past relationships. She also uses acceptance and commitment ideas to help clients clarify values and take meaningful steps forward.

Practical tools are a focus in sessions - breathing and grounding for intense moments, planning small experiments to test new ways of coping, and role-playing conversations. Many clients use these tools between sessions to gain momentum.

People who prefer a collaborative, steady pace tend to do well with her. Tamara helps clients set clear goals and tracks progress in simple, measurable ways. She encourages small changes that add up to real relief.

How cognitive and attachment approaches work online

CBT helps people notice and change thoughts and behaviors that keep problems going. In practice this means learning simple tools to test worries, challenge unhelpful thoughts, and try new actions that reduce anxiety or depression.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on clarifying values and taking small committed steps toward them. It teaches skills to accept difficult feelings while still moving toward a life that matters to the client. Attachment-based work looks at how early relationship patterns shape current reactions and communication, helping people build safer ways of relating to others.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with the client about goals and preferences and suggest which methods to try first. They collaborate on a plan and adjust it over time based on what feels helpful.

Online therapy can fit into busy schedules because sessions are available by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video works well for longer weekly sessions and visual connection. Phone calls can be easier when bandwidth is low or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and messaging are useful for brief check-ins, homework review, or support between sessions. These options offer flexibility for people juggling work, caregiving, or travel.