Adelle Ritchey, BSN, MS, NCC, LCPC, LPC

Offices in Fairfax and McLean

A founding member of McLean Christian Counseling, Adelle has over 20 years of experience in the mental health field. She is a National Certified Counselor and a Licensed Professional Counselor, licensed in both Virginia and Maryland.

Adelle’s most recent affiliation was with The Counseling Center at McLean Bible Church, where she interned, completed her residency, and served as an individual counselor for nine years. Prior to that she worked for six years as a member of the treatment team for the Meier Clinics Christian-based Day Treatment Program in Fairfax, Virginia.

She also has past experience working in a variety of professional settings including an in-patient mental health crisis unit on the West Coast (Johnson Unit - Sacred Heart Hospital-Eugene, Oregon) an emergency psychiatric service (University of Colorado Medical Center), a juvenile detention center (Newport News, Virginia), and a domestic violence shelter for women and children in the Northern Virginia area. As a result, Adelle has had the opportunity to work with a broad age-range of people from varied backgrounds (both in-patient and out-patient) who faced an array of challenging situations.

Adelle works with adults, couples and teens, treating anxiety and stress, depression, grief and loss, anger management, self-esteem, trauma and relationship concerns, life transitions, codependency, and boundary setting. She offers premarital and marital counseling.

Adelle views counseling as a transformational process enabling people to grow and better connect with themselves, with others, and with God. It is Adelle’s conviction that ultimately it is God’s healing presence in the midst of this process that redeems and restores.

Adelle is a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA), the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC), and the Northern Virginia Licensed Professional Counselors Association (NVLPC). She holds a Master of Science degree in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola University Maryland and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Oregon School of Nursing.

Her therapeutic approach varies based on the client’s needs. In taking an integrative approach she draws from the following therapies.

Therapies Offered

• Psychodynamic (emphasizes making use of a person’s past in order to help create a healthier present and future)

• Attachment based (sees relationships with others at the heart of human growth; uses empirically based research)

• CBT - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (focuses on recognizing and changing faulty thoughts and belief patterns that influence our mood and behavior)

• EFT - Emotionally Focused Therapy (helps couples to identify, understand, and manage emotional reactions and break unhelpful communication cycles)

• Emotion-focused therapy (for individuals; distinct from Emotionally Focused Therapy)

• Family Systems (understanding family dynamics is relevant to current growth and change)