Susan Schwerd, MD, LCPC

Susan Schwerd is a licensed clinician practicing in Maryland who brings a blend of clinical training and organizational experience to her therapeutic work. She holds the credentials MD and LCPC; LCPC stands for Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. After completing a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology at Temple University, she began practicing in 1999 and spent the first seven years working in a large outpatient mental health organization, serving several years as an assistant clinical director before moving into private practice. Prior to training as a psychotherapist, she spent ten years as Director of Human Resources for a mid-sized corporation, a background that informs her coaching work around personal growth and professional productivity.

Susan describes her orientation as psychodynamic and practices using an active eclectic approach, integrating cognitive behavioral, Adlerian, and solution-focused techniques to help clients explore underlying patterns and develop healthier responses to current challenges. Her practice supports people coping with mood disorders, chronic mental illness, anxiety and stress, trauma, anger management, emotional self-regulation, chronic pain and medical illness, grief and loss, and major life transitions. She also works with issues related to career and family functioning, compassion fatigue, and veteran and armed forces concerns.

Neurofeedback, Eye Movement Integration, and Clinical Hypnosis are frequently used as adjuncts to psychotherapy in her practice. Online clients can learn self-hypnosis and breathing techniques to help manage anxiety and chronic pain. She has extensive experience working with veterans and their families in the Washington DC area and has received specialized training from military organizations for non-military professionals. Susan offers live video and phone sessions, will respond to a limited number of messages between sessions, and does not provide therapy via live chat or ongoing messaging. Please note her summer hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12 noon - 6 pm; Tuesday and Thursday 5 pm, 6 pm, 7 pm.

Psychodynamic, Hypnotherapy, and Solution-Focused Options for Online Care

Hypnotherapy is an approach that uses guided relaxation and focused attention to help clients access mental states that support new ways of thinking and coping. It can be helpful for managing anxiety, improving sleep, and learning self-regulation techniques that reduce the impact of chronic pain and stress.

Psychodynamic therapy explores how past experiences and recurring patterns influence current emotions and relationships. By increasing awareness of these patterns, clients work toward deeper understanding and long-term change in mood, self-esteem, and interpersonal functioning.

Solution-Focused Therapy emphasizes practical, goal-oriented steps and builds on clients' existing strengths to create rapid, measurable progress. It often suits people seeking concrete strategies to manage life transitions, career concerns, and everyday stressors.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process, and a licensed professional will collaborate with each client to determine the best fit based on needs, goals, and preferences. Susan incorporates these methods flexibly and discusses options so the client feels involved in planning care.

For online work she offers live video and phone sessions and will respond to a limited number of messages between appointments. These remote options increase flexibility for scheduling, reduce travel time, and make it easier to maintain continuity of care during busy or changing periods of life.