Angela Van Berkel, PsyD

Practice Philosophy:

Dr. Van Berkel is a licensed clinical psychologist who works with adults struggling with a wide range of mental health concerns. She pivoted to a career in mental health after working in emergency management where she worked with survivors of disasters around the world. Her approach to treatment is informed by these experiences, which helps her relate to people across cultures and occupations.

Easy to connect with, Dr. Van Berkel creates a friendly, safe environment for clients, using culturally sensitive, evidence-based treatments that foster collaboration and trust. With humor and compassion, she encourages clients to accept themselves as they are while helping them to identify what is getting in the way of constructing the life they want to live. She individualizes treatment to each client’s unique needs, values, goals, and personality. She also helps clients improve their self-efficacy, develop healthier relationships, and practice skills to regulate their emotions and tolerate uncertainty. Clients gain new hope for the future as they learn new ways to think about their past, present, and future while processing painful experiences that have interfered with their current functioning.

Areas of Expertise:

Dr. Van Berkel specializes in treating adults with complex psychiatric and comorbid conditions such as trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mood disorders, suicidal thoughts, phobias, and anxiety and depression. These issues often present as struggles with work concerns, relationship conflicts, career and life transitions, substance use, and cross-cultural adjustment. Dr. Van Berkel has been intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and is the
Program Director of Adult DBT at The Ross Center. She has also completed advanced training in trauma interventions such as Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive Processing Therapy. She frequently utilizes Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy approaches in treatment. Dr. Van Berkel also provides ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder psychological assessments for teens and adults.

Experience and Training:

Dr. Van Berkel earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Eastern Kentucky University, where she focused her research on the cross-cultural integration of DBT in different treatment settings. She completed her clinical internship in New Orleans at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Department of Psychiatry.
She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Arlington/DC Behavior Therapy Institute in Arlington, VA. She has experience treating those who work in high stress environments, including veterans, physicians, first responders, and those in the aviation community. Dr. Van Berkel has provided inpatient and outpatient services in community hospitals, university clinics, academic medicine, and private practice. She is an active member of the Association for
Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the Virginia Academy of Clinical Psychologists. She has a particular interest in the integration of mental health care within specialty care and is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Integrated Specialty Care Advisory Group. She has been appointed by APA to the position of Federal Advocacy Coordinator, where she works with APA’s advocacy team to help educate members of Congress about issues that impact
mental health.

Dr. Van Berkel is a Psypact Licensed psychotherapist, and has the authority to practice interjurisdictional telepsychology to residents of the following states: PSYPACT MAP.