Justin Barrasso, MS, LPC, NCC

202-237-1196 ext 706 [o]
240-281-1059 [c]
Justin@thesibleygroupdc.com

Justin has more than 20 years’ experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families. His experience spans the fields of teaching and counseling in both residential and special education settings, as well as private practice psychotherapy.  He has also spent many years coaching sports including football, basketball, baseball, and volleyball and played Division I football at Lehigh University.

For Justin, therapy begins with the relationship.

Justin believes the most important factor in successful therapy is the “person of the therapist” (see addendum below). While training, clinical knowledge, and therapeutic techniques are important, therapy is ultimately an experience between two people. The therapist’s ability to be genuinely present, curious, thoughtful, and engaged with another person is what makes therapy meaningful and effective.

With this in mind, Justin strives to create an accepting and nonjudgmental environment in which people can feel understood while still being encouraged to explore themselves in new ways. He seeks to understand each person’s experience from the inside out rather than simply focusing on symptoms or behaviors. He also believes that therapy does not require a therapist to hide behind a professional facade. Justin brings his genuine personality into the room, including warmth, humor, curiosity, and thoughtfulness, while maintaining the clinical perspective and boundaries that therapy requires.

Justin works primarily from a person-centered perspective, with a strong respect for the autonomy and individuality of each person. He has training and experience in several therapeutic approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT), and process-oriented group therapy.

Rather than viewing any one approach as the answer for everyone, Justin draws from these different perspectives according to what may be most helpful for the individual. Much of his work centers on helping people slow down, become more curious about their own experience, and develop greater flexibility in how they understand themselves, other people, and the world around them. 

Justin is a generalist who works with people experiencing a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, anger, self-esteem difficulties, relationship challenges, life transitions, emotional regulation difficulties, and the many challenges that arise simply from being human.

Justin earned his MS in School Counseling as well as a Post-Master’s Certification in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Johns Hopkins University.  Justin is a board-certified counselor through the National Board for Certified Counselors and is licensed in Washington, D.C. as a Licensed Professional Counselor.  Justin is also licensed in Maryland as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor.

Addendum:

“The Person of the Therapist” has a “curative contribution [that is], arguably, as evidence-based as manualized treatments or psychotherapy methods” (Norcross & Lambert, 2018, p. 306). “The impact of the individual therapist on clinical progress has long been known to exceed the effects of whatever intervention is in vogue or under study. In fact, the variance in outcomes attributable to therapists (5%-9%) is larger than the variability among treatments (0%-1%), the therapeutic relationship (5%), and the supposed superiority of an empirically validated or supported treatment over placebo (0%-4%)” (Prescott, D. S., Maeschalck, C. L., & Miller, S.D., 2017). “Therapist effects are far more powerful than any treatment provided and are only second to client factors in potency.” (Elkins, 2015, p. 29). “A full knowledge of psychiatric and psychological information, with a brilliant intellect capable of applying this knowledge, is of itself no guarantee of therapeutic skill.” (Rogers, 1939, p. 284).

Elkins, D.N., (2015). The human elements of psychotherapy: A nonmedical model of emotional healing. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Norcross, J.C. & Lambert, M. J. (2018). Psychotherapy Relationships that Work III. Psychotherapy Vol. 55, No. 4, 303-315. American Psychological Association.

Prescott, D. S., Maeschalck, C. L., & Miller, S.D. (2017). Feedback-informed treatment in clinical practice; Reaching for excellence. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Rogers, C.R., (1939). The clinical treatment of the problem child. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.