Meet your Therapist
Founded by experienced Licensed Professional Counselors, NOVA Mental Health Counseling blends expertise with empathy. We value honest conversation, a touch of humor, and a human approach to therapy. Growth is easier when it feels safe, supportive, and authentic — and that’s exactly what we provide.
waiting room
in session room
Hi, I'm Blake McDonald. I believe a counselor's job is to hand you the tools and the map — and that the choice to use them is always yours.
You are not what has happened to you. You are what you choose to become. - Carl Jung
What Blake wants you to know:
“Sessions start with who you are, not what's wrong. I'll want to hear about your music, your games, your team, the show you're rewatching — because how someone talks about what they love tells me a lot about how to help.”
About Blake
Blake works with teens and young adults (ages 12 and up) who are struggling with low self-esteem, people-pleasing, social anxiety, or feeling isolated and wanting more connection. He's especially good with introverted or shy clients, and with teens navigating ADHD. He also welcomes adults who recognize those same patterns in themselves.
Blake holds a Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Virginia. Before graduate school he spent three years on the clinical support team at a residential treatment program for adolescents, co-facilitating DBT-informed groups on emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and relationships. He completed his counseling internship at George Mason's community clinic, working with clients on anxiety, ADHD, and self-worth
Blake’s Approach
Sessions with Blake start with who you are, not what's wrong. He'll want to know about your music, your games, your team, the show you're rewatching — because how someone talks about what they love tells him a lot about how to help. From there he draws on CBT (noticing how thoughts drive feelings and behavior, and where those thoughts came from), DBT (skills for big emotions, black-and-white thinking, and speaking up for yourself), and person-centered work that lets you set the direction. Sessions are loosely structured on purpose; structure comes in when it's useful, not by default.
Clients can expect someone calm, warm, collaborative, and quick to laugh. Blake believes a counselor's job is to hand you the tools and the map — and that the choice to use them is always yours. That respect for your decisions is the point, not a disclaimer.
Here's how Blake puts it: no one will ever experience or understand your life the way you do. Someone out there may have been through something similar, but they didn't have your thoughts about it, and they can't know what it was like from the inside. What he can promise is to be the person in the room who genuinely wants to understand — and who'll keep trying, even knowing he'll never fully get there.
Services and Fees
20 Minute Consultations: FREE
50 Minute Individual: $105
*Sliding scale services and discounts are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please email info@novamentalhealthcounseling.com for more information.
Credentials
Blake is joining NOVA Mental Health Counseling as a Resident in Counseling; his residency registration is pending with the Virginia Board of Counseling, and he will practice under the supervision of Katie Pancione, LPC. Join his waitlist and we'll reach out the moment he's able to begin — with a free 20-minute consultation or the choice to jump right into conducting full sessions.
Anticipated approval date is early October 2026. George Mason University – M.Ed. Clinical Mental Health Counseling
University of Virginia – B.A. Sociology ·
