“I believe each person has within them the ability to lead a full and enriching life. My work is to partner with my clients as they explore, try, learn, and step into their fullest beings. I bring psychotherapy or theological expertise, but they are experts of their lives.”

— Stacey Mayo, Co-Founder

Stacey sees her therapeutic role as offering three things:

1.) Storytelling: to help you tell your story – who you are, what did and is happening from your unique perspective, what you think, and where you’re going. What is your history and what is the bright future you are building?

2.) Empowerment: growing in assertiveness that seeks a win-win where your needs and wants are articulated and sought, as well to care well for other’s needs and wants, so that you are building an interconnected life.

3.) Toolbox Building: offering practical ideas for how to move forward. She uses psychological techniques, psychoeducation, and collaborative brainstorming.

Stacey Mayo is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a Master of Science in Couple and Family Therapy and of Fuller Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. She also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and International Business, with a minor in French and certificate in Public Relations from Indiana University. She is a licensed MFT in DC (LMFT000238), Maryland (LCM685), and Virginia (#0717001738).

She is a member of AASECT (American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists).

Experience

Four core areas of expertise:

1.) Interpersonal relationships – Stacey was trained as a couple and family therapist, so she thinks of people in terms of their relationships and systems. She understands how families-of-origin and communities-of-origin (this includes faith communities) both shape us in the past and inform our present decision making. Specifically, Stacey focuses on clients who want to work on:

Dating – deciding on values and desires, singleness, and longings to be married.
Pre-Engagement and Pre-Marital work – helping two different people to understand one another and join together into one cohesive partnership with shared values, strong communication, conflict resolution skills, and assertiveness. Stacey’s goal is for the couple to feel confident in navigating their unique relationship dynamics and how they co-create their patterns and conflict cycle. She also supports couples in interfaith and interracial relationships. Stacey utilizes the Prepare/Enrich Assessment tool that she pairs with a 6-session package that includes practical homework exercises.
Family relationships - examining dynamics, structures, communication patterns, history, naming pains and grievances, and working towards forgiveness and reconciliation.
Business relationships and work culture – improving relationships between managers and supervisees, developing mentorships, changing work culture, improving conflicts, managing personality styles in a professional setting, and confident career decision making.

2.) Faith – Stacey has a firm understanding of the context of Christianity from both her personal faith journey as well as her Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. This means she can walk alongside clients in understanding and making decisions about their theology, doctrine, and church communities. This includes Christian faith formation, deconstruction and reconstruction, as well as religious trauma and spiritual abuse.

3.) Sex – As a member of AASECT and in pursuit of a sex therapy certification, Stacey has clinical and educational tools to work with clients on sexual challenges (desire, arousal, and pain), creating their sexual ethics, out of control sexual behavior, purity culture, moral incongruence, sexual orientation (Stacey is LGBTQ+ friendly and knowledgeable), and conception (including loss and infertility).

4.) Anxiety – Stacey helps clients create a toolbox to address the physical, emotional, and cognitive symptoms of their anxiety. Using education on neuroscience and how the amygdala and prefrontal cortex generate anxiety, Stacey helps clients understand their unique presentation of anxiety and to see how it attempts to be a helpful tool, often beginning at earlier times in life. Then, we work together to finesse the tools to be empowering and useful in today’s contexts.