DAVE TAYLOR, MA, LMFT

About Dave

Originally from the Washington, DC area, Dave pursued a career in counseling after spending time in the world and entertainment industry. He has always held a deep interest in mental health and a desire to connect with people from all backgrounds.. Dave's relational approach with couples and individuals focuses on building a strong rapport with clients where curiosity and acceptance are front and center. With couples, Dave works with partners on conflict and communication problems for a more connected and life-giving relationship. With adult and adolescent individuals, Dave works on a range of issues, including depression, ADHD, anxiety, parenting struggles, addiction, trauma, and life transitions.

Prior to becoming a therapist, Dave held a variety of jobs, including registrar at a doctoral program for clinical social workers, IT tech, Starbucks barista, kids' musician, actor, transcriber for film and TV, substitute teacher, wedding deejay, and stay-at-home parent. Dave has always found a special joy through creative writing, music, and improv comedy. Performing improv has furthered Dave’s interest in mental health because of the connections between therapy and improv. In particular, the improv rule of “yes and...”—of saying yes to another person's initiations and then exploring and building on them—can be a powerful part of the therapeutic process. It can also be a way of connecting across relational boundaries due to age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or politics. In improv, performers fully invest in one another's ideas. And in therapy, Dave thinks it should be the same.

Dave's approach to therapy

Working with Individuals

Dave believes that your story matters. Your experiences and perspectives should be treated with compassion and respect. As such, he views the therapy space—really, the therapy time—as  something sacred. Dave draws on Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems model to conceptualize mental health struggles, such as depression or anxiety, as protective parts of the personality. These protective personality parts develop in response to pain and trauma, and don't represent the true self.  Dave is also a big proponent of mindfulness and finds it useful in dampening anxiety and furthering self-exploration. He has spent extensive time learning about complex PTSD and the effects of adverse childhood experiences on healthy functioning in adulthood and brings this knowledge to his work with clients.   

Working with Couples

It can be challenging and uncomfortable for partners to be vulnerable with one another—especially when there's conflict or disconnection. Dave recognizes that and hopes to provide a space for couples to experience each other in new ways—ways that will change their day-to-day interactions and routines, ways that will deepen their connection to each other. Like other therapists at Grow, Dave has found inspiration in Susan Johnson’s empirically-supported model of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). EFT encourages the discovery and expression of deeply held, but often suppressed, core emotions that can transform how conflict plays out in an intimate relationship. EFT helps isolated, distressed, angry, resentful, and even betrayed couples find ways to take steps toward one another and heal.

EFT helps isolated, distressed, angry, resentful, and even betrayed couples find ways to take steps toward one another and heal.

DAVE TAYLOR