ABOUT

Christy Donley is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) and a Registered Play Therapist (RPT) with a background in elementary special education. With more than 20 years experience working with children, Ms. Donley has spent the last 13 years working with students with autism. Her eclectic approach focuses on child-centered play therapy and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), with an emphasis on parent involvement and communication.

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Prior to starting her own practice, Ms. Donley worked in private practice with CAAT (Center for Assessment and Treatment) and counseled 1st-8th graders in the Model Asperger Program (MAP) at the Ivymount School in Rockville, MD.  At Ivymount, she taught programs on emotional regulation, mindfulness, social thinking (modeled after the teachings of Michelle Garcia Winner), team building, and sibling support. She also provided individual and group therapy.

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Ms. Donley is a dog lover and is pursing licensure as an Animal Assisted Play Therapist (AAPT). While at Ivymount, Ms. Donley saw firsthand the benefits of a therapy dog to help students overcome personal challenges, and she looks forward to expanding her practice to include animal-assisted play therapy to clients.

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She is currently volunteering at the Warrior Canine Connection (WCC) and is a puppy parent for a service dog in training. Ms. Donley has enjoyed beginning to involve dogs and partner with them to help the children and families she works with.

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Ms. Donley has also helped children and adults overcome fear of water utilizing a combination of traditional therapeutic strategies including behavior modification, self-actualization and relaxation techniques, as well as getting into the water with clients to do exposure therapy with them and share the physical and emotional experience as their CBT coach.