Is there a therapy office in Dupont Circle?

No. Washington DC clients are seen virtually by secure video; the practice office is in Florida. Clients who want in-person therapy have many options within Dupont Circle itself.

Can my therapist still see me if I move from DC to Virginia or Maryland?

Only if the therapist is licensed where the client is physically located during sessions. Telehealth licensure follows the client's location. Jordan Nodelman is independently licensed in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia, so a move within the DMV does not interrupt care.

Are you an LGBTQ+ affirming therapist serving Dupont Circle?

Yes. Jordan Nodelman trained at an agency serving the LGBTQ+ community, and a substantial portion of the practice is LGBTQ+ clients, including many gay men. Dupont Circle is Washington DC's historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood.

Do I have to describe details of my work in therapy?

No. EMDR does not require detailed verbal disclosure of events. The client needs to be able to bring an experience to mind, not narrate it. This often makes EMDR a better fit for people in diplomatic, legal, journalistic or cleared roles.

Is online EMDR as effective as in-person EMDR?

For most clients, yes. Virtual EMDR uses adapted forms of bilateral stimulation. Significant dissociation is the main presentation warranting careful assessment before proceeding virtually.

Do you take insurance in Washington DC?

Private pay is available for clients who prefer that nothing be submitted to an insurer, and a superbill can be provided for out-of-network reimbursement. Current details are on the practice's insurance and FAQ page.

Therapy in Dupont Circle, Washington DC

Virtual EMDR and trauma therapy — LGBTQ+ affirming, licensed across DC, Maryland and Virginia

I’m Jordan Nodelman, LICSW, BCD, an EMDRIA-Certified therapist and Approved Consultant. I work with Dupont Circle clients by secure video.

Worth saying plainly: I don’t have an office in Dupont. You’re standing in one of the densest concentrations of therapists in the country — if what you need is someone within walking distance, you have excellent options and should use them.

People come to me for narrower reasons. Here are the three that come up most.

[Request a consultation → Click Here] · Call 754-946-6600

You will probably move, and you shouldn’t have to start over

Dupont is where a lot of people in this city live for a few years before life moves them — to Arlington, to Logan Circle, to Bethesda when the lease or the relationship or the job changes.

If your therapist is licensed only in DC, that move ends the work. Telehealth licensing follows where you’re physically sitting, so a therapist who can see you on 18th Street legally cannot see you from an apartment in Clarendon.

I hold independent licenses in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. You can move across the river, or spend half your week at an office in Tysons, and nothing about your care changes. In a neighborhood this transient, that’s not a technicality — it’s whether you get to finish what you started.

[More on why multi-jurisdiction licensing matters in the DMV → Click Here]

LGBTQ+ affirming care, in the neighborhood that earned the name

Dupont Circle is DC’s historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood. For decades the 17th Street corridor was its center, and a great deal of this city’s queer history was made within a few blocks of the fountain.

A substantial part of my practice is LGBTQ+ clients, including many gay men. I trained at an agency whose work was caring for LGBTQ+ people, and my practice is based in Wilton Manors, Florida — another neighborhood built by this community. The cultural fluency is already in the room; you won’t spend sessions explaining it.

What clients most often bring:

Minority stress — the cumulative weight of stigma, concealment and vigilance. It rarely arrives labeled as trauma; it shows up as anxiety, exhaustion, difficulty trusting, or a background sense of being not-quite-right.
Family rejection and conditional acceptance, including the deniable middle ground where you’re tolerated but never quite welcome.
Religious and spiritual trauma — years in a community that taught you something was fundamentally wrong with you.
Coming out at any age, including late, after a marriage, with the particular grief that carries.
HIV-related trauma and long-term survivorship, and the largely unspoken grief of people who lost most of a generation in this city.
The disappearance of the gayborhood itself. Dupont is not what it was, and for people who found themselves here decades ago, watching it change is a real loss stacked on older ones. That grief is legitimate and almost never treated as clinical material.

[More on LGBTQ+ affirming therapy → Click Here]

Dupont’s other working population

Embassy Row runs through this neighborhood, the think tanks cluster around it, and it’s thick with lawyers, lobbyists, journalists and policy staff.

That work comes with a specific problem: a lot of it can’t be discussed. Diplomatic, legal, journalistic and cleared work all carry confidentiality that people assume rules therapy out.

EMDR doesn’t require detailed verbal disclosure. You need to be able to bring an experience to mind — not narrate it to me. We work with what it did to you: the physical response, the belief it left behind, the thing your body now does automatically. Not the operational detail.

If you hold a clearance and have wondered whether therapy creates a problem, I’ve written about that in more depth. [Therapy, clearances and confidential work in the DMV → Click Here]

What I treat

PTSD and complex trauma — single events, and the accumulated kind that never had a name.

PTSD triggers — a sound, a tone of voice, a particular crowd, and your body reacts as though it’s happening now. [More on PTSD triggers → Click Here]

High-functioning anxiety — invisible from the outside, which is how most of DC carries it.

Imposter syndrome and negative self-belief — endemic in a city organized around proximity to power, where there is always someone more senior in the room. [More on imposter syndrome → Click Here]

Burnout and moral injury — particularly for people who came here to do something that mattered and found the institution wouldn’t let them. [More on moral injury → Click Here]

Compartmentalized trauma — the thing you sealed off years ago to keep functioning, now surfacing. [More on compartmentalizing trauma →]

Why a specialist, in a neighborhood full of therapists

Most therapists who list EMDR have completed a basic training. That’s the entry point.

I’m an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant — credentialed to train and certify other clinicians in EMDR; therapists pursuing certification complete their required hours with people at this level — and a Board-Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work.

Practically, that means I see the cases that stall: processing that loops instead of resolving, clients who destabilize when reprocessing starts because preparation was rushed, dissociation that went unrecognized at intake. If you’ve tried EMDR before and it didn’t go the way you hoped, that history is useful information rather than a reason to stop.

[How EMDR therapy works →] · [What to expect in your first session →]

Frequently asked questions

Do you have an office in Dupont Circle? No. I work with DC clients virtually. My office is in Florida. If in-person therapy matters to you, Dupont has many excellent clinicians and that may be the better choice.

Can you still see me if I move to Virginia or Maryland? Yes. I’m independently licensed in DC, Maryland and Virginia, so a move within the DMV doesn’t interrupt your care. This is one of the more common reasons Dupont clients come to me.

Are you LGBTQ+ affirming? Yes, specifically rather than decoratively. I trained at an agency serving the LGBTQ+ community, and a substantial part of my practice is LGBTQ+ clients, including many gay men.

Do I have to talk about my work? No. EMDR doesn’t require detailed verbal disclosure. You need to be able to bring an experience to mind, not describe it. For people in diplomatic, legal, journalistic or cleared roles, that’s often the deciding factor.

Is online EMDR as effective as in person? For most clients, yes. Roughly three-quarters of my EMDR caseload has been virtual since 2020. Significant dissociation is the main presentation that warrants careful assessment first.

Do you take insurance in DC? Private pay is available for clients who prefer nothing be submitted to an insurer, and I can provide a superbill for out-of-network reimbursement. See the insurance and FAQ page for current details.

Get started

A short consultation call costs nothing and commits you to nothing. You describe what’s happening; I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right person — and if I’m not, I’ll point you toward someone who is.

[Request a consultation →] · Call 754-946-6600

Nodelman Counseling & Psychotherapy, LLC is not a crisis service. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. 988 is the free, 24-hour US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.