Elise Stendal

About Elise

Elise Stendal is a Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor who earned her Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from West Chester University. She works with children, teens, and adults on PTSD and complex trauma, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and grief, and her niche includes schizophrenia-related disorders. Many people carry parts of themselves that learned to cope with whatever capacity was available at the time, and those parts, protective as they were, may no longer serve the way they once did. Through ego state therapy, a model close to IFS that supports structural dissociation, the relationship with those parts can move from shame and regret toward compassion and collaboration. She integrates EMDR, DBT, and ACT into an attachment-based, trauma-focused approach, and she keeps a collaborative space where clients of every background hold autonomy in their own healing.

Healing can be uncomfortable and it can be awkward, and Elise stays alongside her clients through it with self-compassion and patience. Originally from Pennsylvania, she moved to Maryland to be near the people she loves. She sings and plays guitar, mostly indie and folk, and lifts weights most days. To decompress she heads for the sofa with her cat Eevee and her dog Sophie.