About Al
Al Balaa is a licensed clinician in Maryland with an MD and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor credential. He brings 12 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar mood concerns, and ADHD. His style centers on building self-compassion and helping clients notice practical steps they can take in daily life.
He focuses on grief, trauma and abuse, and complicated feelings like guilt and shame. He also helps people who feel stuck about career choices, relationships, or life purpose.
Background and approach
Sessions aim to strengthen coping skills and rebuild a sense of self-worth. Al uses a mix of approaches to match each person’s needs. He draws from client-centered work to create a respectful, listening space.
He also uses cognitive behavioral tools to address unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns. For people overwhelmed by strong emotions, parts of his work include skills from dialectical behavior therapy to manage intense feelings and improve emotional regulation. He may incorporate existential questions about meaning and direction when clients want to explore life purpose.
Clients can expect focused conversations that translate into concrete steps between sessions. He often addresses compassion fatigue and addiction-related struggles alongside mood and anxiety symptoms. The goal is steady progress toward clearer priorities, more stable moods, and greater self-love.
How his approaches translate to online therapy
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and understanding. It gives the client space to tell their story while the therapist reflects what he hears and helps the person clarify goals. This approach is useful when someone wants a supportive, nonjudgmental space to sort out feelings.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. It uses short exercises and homework to test new ways of thinking and behaving, which can help with anxiety, depression, ADHD-related routines, and mood regulation.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, teaches concrete skills for managing intense emotions and improving relationships. These skills can help when emotions feel overwhelming or impulsive behaviors cause distress.
Finding the best approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each client about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped before. Together they decide which methods to try and adjust them over time based on what works.
Online therapy offers flexibility for people with busy lives. Video calls let clients keep face-to-face interaction without travel. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth or cameras are limited. Live chat and text messaging allow shorter check-ins, quick skill reminders, or support between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, family, or school schedules.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Life purpose
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 12 years
- Licensed
- Maryland
- Languages
- English
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