Leslie Coates Burpee, LPC, NCC

About Leslie Good therapy begins with feeling genuinely understood—and with the sense that change is possible. As a licensed professional counselor, I work with adults navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, relationship difficulties, chronic pain, and other persistent health concerns. My approach is grounded in psychodynamic theory and informed by Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), with a particular interest in how our histories, relationships, emotions, and nervous systems shape the ways we experience ourselves and the world around us. I also draw from Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and solution-focused techniques, integrating these approaches thoughtfully according to the needs, experiences, and goals of each person. What It’s Like to Work With Me My style as a therapist is warm, engaged, and conversational. I’m an active participant in therapy—I’ll listen closely and make space for what you’re experiencing, but I’ll also ask questions, offer observations, and help us notice patterns that may be difficult to see from the inside. I also place a strong emphasis on understanding the why behind what we experience. I regularly bring psychoeducation into our work, drawing on current research in neuroscience to help make sense of how the brain and nervous system shape our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical experiences. I find that understanding what is happening—and why—can be powerful in its own right, often replacing fear or self-judgment with curiosity and creating new possibilities for change. I value curiosity over judgment, and I believe there is usually a reason we develop the ways of coping that we do, even when those strategies are no longer serving us particularly well. Part of our work may involve understanding where those patterns came from; another part is discovering what becomes possible when you no longer need them in quite the same way. Therapy often involves difficult and deeply personal work, but I also believe there should be room for warmth, humor, and the full range of what it means to be human. Most of all, I want therapy to feel like a place where you can show up as yourself—and where, together, we can be thoughtful about what might help you live with greater freedom, flexibility, and connection. Chronic Pain & Persistent Physical Symptoms A particular area of my practice is working with people living with chronic pain and persistent physical symptoms. I have advanced training in Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), an evidence-based approach informed by our growing understanding of the relationship between the brain, nervous system, emotions, and physical symptoms. Many of the people I work with have spent years seeking answers for symptoms that are very real, disruptive, and sometimes medically difficult to explain or treat. Therapy can provide another avenue for understanding these experiences—not by dismissing physical symptoms as “just stress,” but by exploring the complex ways the brain and body respond to perceived threat, past experiences, emotion, and prolonged stress. I especially enjoy helping clients regain a sense of trust in their bodies and expand lives that may have gradually become smaller because of pain, fear, or physical symptoms. Education, Training & Professional Experience I earned my undergraduate degree from Davidson College and a master’s degree in Psychology from Harvard University, where I worked with Dr. Ellen Langer on research related to mindfulness. I later earned a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marymount University. My postgraduate training has included advanced study in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Drs. Aaron and Judith Beck, as well as specialized training in Pain Reprocessing Therapy. Over the course of my clinical career, I have worked extensively with adults experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, chronic pain, and complex emotional and relational concerns. In addition to my work with clients, I have provided individual and group supervision to early-career clinicians and contributed to clinical training for doctoral externs and counseling residents. I am a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA), Virginia Counselors Association (VCA), Virginia Mental Health Counseling Association (VAMHCA), the Association for the Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms (ATNS), and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA).