Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
Meet Kate
Anxiety & Change Therapist in Silver Spring, MD
You've probably gotten really good at thinking things through. You consider every angle, replay conversations long after they're over, and try to prepare for whatever could go wrong - and somehow, you still don't feel ready.
If you've had disappointing therapy experiences before, you might be expecting another round of generic coping skills, or someone who nods along while you talk in circles without actually helping you get unstuck.
I believe the goal of therapy isn't just insight - it's a different way of moving through your life. Before any tool or technique, I want to understand what's actually driving the pattern you're stuck in.
I'm Kate, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who works with overthinkers, planners, and people navigating a change they can't quite name yet - the ones who know exactly what they "should" do, but still can't seem to do it.
In my own words
I've Been There…
I used to believe that being anxious was just who I was - something to manage, not something that could actually change. I know what it's like to say one thing in a conversation and then replay it for days afterward, convinced I'd said the wrong thing, even when there was no real evidence.
Here's what changed: my ah-ha moment was realizing that my anxiety wasn't an emergency. It felt urgent - it always does - but urgency and danger aren't the same thing. Once I could actually separate those two, something shifted. I wasn't just coping with my anxiety anymore. I was in control of it. That didn't mean the work was over. It meant the real work was just starting: practicing that shift, over and over, until it stopped taking effort and became instinctual.
I still get anxious. I don't expect that to ever fully go away, and I don't think it needs to. What changed is my relationship to it - I know how to work with it instead of being run by it. Now I help my clients build that same relationship with their own anxiety.
Understanding why you overthink is only useful if it leads somewhere. That's the work - not just naming the pattern, but building a different way through it, together.
"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."
— Carl R. Rogers
Maybe you've spent so long anticipating problems that you've stopped trusting yourself to just decide.
Maybe you know exactly what would help - and somehow that knowledge alone has never been enough to actually change anything.
If either of those lands somewhere familiar, you're not broken. You're just tired of carrying it alone.
My Values as a Therapist
Understanding Before Action
Insight without action doesn't change anything - but we don't skip the "why" to get there.
Readiness Isn't Required
You don't need to have it all figured out to start. Waiting to feel "ready" is usually just another form of the same stuck pattern.
Honest and Gentle
I'll listen closely - and I'll also tell you when I think you're getting in your own way.
Practical, Not Just Reflective
Tools you can use this week, not just concepts to think about.
Collaboration
You're the expert on your own life. We figure out what's driving the pattern together.
Change Happens Between Sessions
What we build here needs to hold up in your actual week, not just in the room.
Therapy with Me Is…
- Collaborative - you're not a passive recipient of advice
- Practical as well as reflective - insight and tools, not just talk
- Paced to challenge you, not just to keep you comfortable indefinitely
- A space where "I'm tired of carrying this alone" is reason enough to start
Therapy with Me Is Not…
- A place where I just nod along while you talk in circles
- About collecting more coping skills to help you tolerate a pattern that needs to change
- Going to ask you to have it all figured out before we begin
- About becoming a different, less-anxious version of yourself - it's about learning to trust the one you already are
Less Formally
I'm a wife, a mom, and a pet parent who's most likely to be found at a show or connecting with other musicians when I'm not working. Music has been part of my life long before it became part of my work, and it's still one of the fastest ways I can get out of my own head. When I'm not doing that, I'm probably outside; it's where I think most clearly and worry the least.
People have been trusting me with their stories for as long as I can remember. Back in 5th grade, when classmates had something going on and needed to talk, they'd come find me - and we'd meet on the four square courts, because they were tucked away and no one else was ever out there. "Yes, we can talk. Let's meet on the four square courts." That was the deal, every time.
Looking back, that was probably the first version of this work I ever did. Now it's an honor to sit across from you - in the room or on a screen - and make space for you to be fully seen. I love this work, and I look forward to what we build together.
"Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us."
— David Richo
Education & Licensure
- Graduate Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling — Bradley University
- Bachelor's Degree — Shenandoah University
- Board Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC)
- Neurologic Music Therapist (NMT)
- Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) — Maryland & Rhode Island
Services Offered
Ready to Stop Carrying This Alone?
You already know how to push through, plan around, and think your way past discomfort. That's not the problem - that's how you've survived this long. The work now isn't about trying harder. It's about learning a different way through.
Kate Steadman, LCPC
Anxiety & Change Therapist in Silver Spring, MD
Telehealth serving Maryland & Rhode Island
240-554-5911