Caitlin Kasmar

Practical Help Getting Unstuck, at Work & at Home

A former law firm partner, Caitlin decided to transition to social work after twenty years of practicing law, out of a desire to help people on a more personal level. She understands the pressures of a demanding career and brings that understanding into her work with clients.

Caitlin sees adults and young adults across Maryland and Washington, D.C. for anxiety, depression, trauma, ADHD, and OCD, and she has a particular passion for working with parents. Caitlin provides secure teletherapy for clients located in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Clinical Focus

After witnessing first-hand the mental health challenges facing lawyers and other professionals, such as burnout, career malaise, chronic stress, perfectionism, and anxiety, Caitlin developed expertise in working with high-achievers. She helps them identify their goals and values and figure out how to get “unstuck” in their careers and personal lives.

Caitlin also has a passion for working with parents who are struggling to find work-life balance, who are facing the challenges of raising children and young adults, or who are having difficulties in their marriage or partnership. She especially enjoys working with young adults navigating transitions and the uncertainty that often accompanies this phase of life.

Her clinical areas of expertise include treating anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, trauma, ADHD, and autism, and she also works with OCD, where Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) involves planned practice facing feared thoughts or situations while reducing compulsions. She is experienced in working with neurodivergent folks.

Therapeutic Approach

Caitlin’s approach to therapy treats the client as the expert on their own life. Each client is unique, and no two treatment plans should be the same. She helps you identify your goals for therapy and works alongside you to develop a structured treatment plan that will help you meet them.

Caitlin draws from a range of evidence-based modalities. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you catch and test the thoughts that drive stress and self-criticism. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is about acting on your values even when difficult thoughts or feelings make that challenging. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) gives you concrete skills for riding out intense emotions and handling difficult conversations. Solution-focused brief therapy starts from what is already working in your life, and mindfulness-based practices help you notice what is happening before you react to it.

Her creative and eclectic approach puts the client first and empowers you to be part of the process in mapping your own journey.

Background, Education & Experience

Caitlin earned her MSW from the University of Maryland. She also holds a JD from the University of Chicago and a BA from Carleton College, where she majored in psychology many years ago.

Caitlin’s clinical experience during her master’s program included a year-long internship at DBT Maryland, where she provided DBT to individuals, families, and children. She also led DBT skills groups for families and young adults, teaching the core DBT skills of mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Before DBT Maryland, she interned at the MedStar Georgetown Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, where she provided therapy to children and adolescents, and with Well-Being in School Environments (WISE), where she treated middle-school and high-school-aged students in a D.C. public charter school.

Outside of work, Caitlin enjoys cooking, trail running, and spending time (preferably outside) with her teenaged children, husband, and two rescue dogs.

Caitlin Is Licensed to Serve Clients in Maryland & Washington, D.C., & Is In-Network with Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), CareFirst, Cigna & Evernorth

• Maryland Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW – #35432)
  • Supervisor: Melissa Murphy, (LCSW-C: #26030)
• Washington, D.C. Licensed Graduate Social Worker (LGSW – #LG200019044)
  • Supervisor: Melissa Murphy, (LICSW: #LC200002289)

• Anxiety & Chronic Stress: Help with the worry, pressure, and constant vigilance that come with a demanding life, and practical ways to turn the volume down.
• Burnout & Career Malaise: Support for professionals who are depleted, questioning the path they’re on, or unsure what they want next.
• Perfectionism & High-Achievers: Work on the standards that drove your success and now drive your stress, with a therapist who spent twenty years in a high-pressure field herself.
• Lawyers & Other Professionals: A former law firm partner who understands the mental health challenges of the profession from the inside.
• Parents & Work-Life Balance: Space to sort through the demands of raising children and young adults while holding a career and a partnership together.
• Marriage & Partnership Difficulties: Individual support for sorting out what is happening in your relationship and what you want to do about it.
• Young Adults & Life Transitions: Help with the uncertainty of early adulthood: new jobs, new cities, new relationships, and figuring out what comes next.
• LGBTQ+ Clients: Individual therapy for LGBTQ+ adults and young adults.
• Depression: Support when motivation and energy have drained away, and a structured plan for rebuilding everyday routines.
• ADHD: Strategies for focus and follow-through built around how your attention works, with self-compassion along the way.
• Autism & Neurodivergent Adults: Affirming support from a therapist experienced in working with neurodivergent folks.
• Borderline Personality Disorder: DBT-informed care for intense emotions and unstable relationships, drawing on Caitlin’s year at DBT Maryland.
• Trauma: Care that goes at your pace and builds skills for the present alongside processing the past.
• OCD: Structured, goal-driven Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for intrusive thoughts and compulsions.
• DBT Skills: Mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness, drawing on Caitlin’s experience leading DBT skills groups.