Adrian J Connolly LLC — Counselor in Washington, DC

I’ve been seeing Adrian for two years. Adrian is a skilled and compassionate therapist. My outlook on life has improved because of his counseling. I highly recommend him.

If you are seeking therapy to be told that you are blameless for your problems, there are hundreds of therapists you can choose from. What is nearly impossible to find is a therapist who will brace you psychologically as you work to overcome deep-seated maladaptive patterns that are holding you back. Intensive healing means learning to understand where these patterns come from and gaining the courage to replace them with healthy patterns that work so much better. For that kind of change, you need a therapist who can keep up intellectually and emotionally, who has studied every therapeutic modality and can adapt on the fly, whose mind is always working, who is organized and deeply compassionate, and who can handle the hard stuff of trauma recovery and not flinch. I have only met one clinician in my life who works at that level, and that is Adrian. I know that in therapy clients seek different things, but if you are ready for deep healing and transformation in multiple arenas of your life, there is no guide more gifted and supportive than Adrian.

After moving to DC almost 6 years ago, I wanted to find a local therapist who could help me navigate the complexities of C-PTSD. Prior to this, I had always found therapists through personal referrals. I tried that route again this time, but was not satisfied with the results so I searched online with some trepidation. I am so pleased to report that I found a gem of a human and a therapist in Adrian! Adrian is bright, experienced, empathic, and very relatable. As a prior reviewer stated, "If you are looking for someone to confirm your biases he may not be for you. And this I deeply appreciate." I also appreciate this immensely about Adrian! Adrian will professionally and lovingly challenge you to be the best person you can be. I always feel heard and understood by Adrian, but he is going to hold a mirror up to you; it's not always easy, but if you put in the time with Adrian, I promise that you will flourish!

I have been working with Adrian for over a year for issues I’ve been seeking to work through, including trauma and PTSD. He is an excellent provider who displays compassion and empathy for his patients. He took the time to carefully understand my situation and helped me approach them through a variety of methods. He is personable, patient, caring, and skilled at what he does. I’ve observed that he is also a lifelong student of his craft, attending various conferences, events, and workshops to improve his expertise, which directly benefit his patients. I highly recommend considering Adrian if

Adrian is an excellent provider that utilizes a variety of approaches to meet the needs of his clients. In addition to his expertise he is also personable and provides guidance in a digestible way.

Adrian has been a trusted advisor for many years. His knowledge of therapeutic interventions is extensive. I consistently gain new insight from our conversations. If you are looking for support, I highly recommend Adrian.

Adrian Connolly is an amazing therapist. He is deeply concerned with the well being of his patients. He operates his practice with a wealth of knowledge accumulated over years of experience. Dr. Connolly wants to see his patients lives improve. You get a sense that he knows how to help his patients but he allows you to develop at your own pace. He operates based on logic and his own life experiences of what it means to live a healthy fulfilling life and will show love and compassion as he gets you to question the assumptions you make about yourself and the world you have made for yourself. He encourages being gentle with yourself and being curious on where the emotions you are feeling are coming from. He will politely hold up a mirror for you to observe your world and actions from which may reveal some true causes of pain, almost showing you how you are holding yourself back from being healthier. But he does this all while having very real compassion for you. If you are looking for someone to confirm your biases he may not be for you. And this I deeply appreciate. He challenges you to take actions to grow, encourages you to prioritize yourself and check in with your own emotions, and will support you through difficult suppressed feelings. I am a firm believer that the therapist you choose needs to be able to relate or be able to understand you in order to empathize with you. On my search to find a therapist, it wasn't easy to find someone who would be able to offer me this level of care. I can be extremely stand off-sh particularly around males, but I have found myself able to very slowly open up to him which continues to carry over a degree of openness into other areas of my life. I can assure you that you will grow but you have to be willing to. Dr. Connolly will be the most peaceful person when it comes to gently suggesting considerations you may want to observe in your own behavior. I can understand how another reviewer in these threads may have had a poor consultation meeting with him yet my guess is this stemmed from Dr. Connolly politely standing his ground offering a very real observation that struck to the core of an issue that the patient he was seeing wasn't able to receive and accept. I do not believe this is a fair representation of who Dr. Connolly is. I will continue to work with him confident in the reality that he balances out my neuroticism with a specific looking glass into the grounded realities this world contains. Be gentle with yourself and consider giving Mr. Connolly's practices a try. If he is not for you, it may simply be a disconnect in perspectives on what contentment is. But I assure you that you will leave any meeting with him questioning what you should be really focusing on. And this is the basis of all extraordinary growth in what ever direction you may choose to travel.

I've never written a negative review of a therapist but I feel compelled to do so given the substandard, non-trauma-informed care offered by Mr. Connolly, coupled with his inability or unwillingness to take responsibility for his unprofessional behavior. For context, I’ve enjoyed positive and productive relationships with the several therapists I have worked with over the previous decades. When seeking a therapist, I generally interview 2-3 individuals to assess if it is likely to be a good fit (for both myself and the clinician). I am comfortable and experienced navigating those dynamics and have always appreciated engagement with therapists- even those that were not, for whatever reason, the ‘right fit.’ In contrast, during my consultation with Mr. Connolly, he demonstrated a lack of professionalism, reflecting substandard care far below the standards of a licensed professional counselor generally and especially dealing with trans clients. As someone who holds himself out as a resource for people managing PTSD and related disorders, I find his failure to demonstrate baseline clinical competence worrisome. I would strongly advise seeking care elsewhere.

Adrian is a wonderful, welcoming, kind, and thoughtful therapist. I highly recommend him for anyone that is ready to dive deep into trauma work.